There was absolutely no denying that.
I was also exceptionally pragmatic, and if I had to say that sleeping with my neighbor was a bad idea one more time, I was going to cut out my own tongue.
“Look,” I said, leaning forward. “It’s not that I don’t find you hot. I do. You are.”
“That’s the tequila talking,” he teased.
“It absolutely is,” I agreed, grinning. “But you’re my neighbor.”
“And?”
“I don’t want to have to look you in the eye a week after having to fake an orgasm?”
“I love the fact you think you’ll have to fake one.”
I snorted. “Do you know how common it is for a woman to orgasm from intercourse alone?”
“This is exciting,” Amanda half-slurred, joining the conversation. She slipped her arm around Kai’s shoulders. “I do, Kai. With me, it’s every time,” she said in a stage whisper.
AKA, not a whisper at all.
I finished the last mouthful of my tequila and put my glass on the bar. Ignoring his wide-eyed stare at me, I said sarcastically, “I think I’ll leave you to it.”
“Ivy—”
“Yes, do. Run along.” Amanda wiggled her fingers at me and took my seat the second I stood up.
Would she jump in my grave as quick?
Only if she fell in, drunk.
Welp, that was bitchy, Ivy.
I pushed the roof door open and let myself into the brightly lit stairwell. It was like a fucking funfair in here, and I was delighted to find that I was actually sober enough to make my way down the stairs without tripping or stumbling.
Only just.
Score one for flat boots.
It was a bit more difficult getting my key into the slot on my apartment door, but I managed it after a good thirty seconds of scrambling. After letting myself in, I let the door close behind me and let out a long breath.
I didn’t know if I was mad at myself for not telling Kai to come back to my place or amused that I’d left him on the roof with Amanda.
I opened the fridge and stared into it. Against my better judgment, I pulled out the bottle of wine, noting there was barely enough left for half a glass. At this point, that wasn’t going to make a massive difference, so I kicked off my boots and grabbed a clean glass to pour it into.
I sipped it and sighed. It was far more palatable to me than the tequila I’d been drinking all night, and I leaned against the kitchen island so I could check my phone. There were a thousand texts from Tori I had no intention of opening right now, so I put it down on the island, screen down, so I wasn’t tempted.
What a night.
At the next party, I was going to be busy. Even if I wasn’t. I’d go sit in a McDonald’s for six hours if it meant getting out of it.
I took a deep mouthful of wine. Three knocks rocked my front door, and I paused.
If this was Kai, I was going to kick him in the balls.
“Who is it?” I called.
“It’s me,” Kai’s muffled voice came through the door.
“Sorry, I don’t know who ‘me’ is!”
“Ivy!”
“Nope. Goodnight, Me.”
He banged again. “Ivy, open the damn door.”
“That’s a negative!” I sipped my wine.
“Ivy!”
“Yes, that is my name. Good boy.”
He wiggled the handle and the door swung open. Kai stared at me flatly for a moment before he said, “If you’re trying to keep someone out, maybe you should lock the door.”
I tilted my glass in his direction. “A very valid point. Alternatively, you could not just barge into an apartment when the person who lives there has told you to go away.”
“Also a very valid point.”
Apparently, not valid enough for him to leave, because he just shut the door behind him.
“I’m surprised you got away from the maenad.” I put my glass down.
“The what?”
I waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind. I’ve been binging True Blood.”
“That vampire show? I think my sister likes that.”
“Yep. I tell you this, I’m not into biting, but I would let Eric Northman eat me for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Probably a midnight snack, too.”
Kai’s lips curved to one side. “A midnight snack would be most fitting if he’s a vampire.”
I clapped my hands over my mouth. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
“I know. That’s why I made a point to respond.”
“Ugh. What do you want?”
“You.”
“Kai, we’ve been over this.”
“No. You’ve just had a one-sided conversation in which you tell me all the reasons us having sex would be a bad idea, but you haven’t let me raise a counter argument.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “This isn’t a courtroom.”
“You’re right. If it were, I would have already won by now.”
“You are extremely arrogant and cocky.”
“Cocky, yes. Arrogant? Not yet. I haven’t started my argument.”
“Fine. You have thirty seconds to convince me why having sex with you—my next-door neighbor—would be a good idea. Bearing in mind I do not have one-night stands and I never have.”
He stalked across the room with a mischievous glint in his eye. I was too close to the island but before I could move, he was on me, gripping the edges of the counter, leaving me with no chance of escape.
I swallowed, ignoring the way my heart thumped against my ribs.
Kai dipped his head. The tip of his nose brushed against mine, and his exhale fluttered across my parted lips. “Thirty seconds?” he murmured in his deep voice.
“Thirty seconds,” I confirmed, trying not to let him know his closeness was affecting me as much as it was.
“Hmm.” The noise rumbled in his chest, and my stomach clenched in response.
He barely moved. He stayed exactly where he was, hands holding tightly to the counter, feet either side of mine, toned body just millimeters from my own decidedly less toned one.
Face right in front of mine.
I was buzzing. My blood was thundering around my body courtesy of my rapid heartbeat, and it felt as though a thousand needy electric currents were darting all over my skin, leaving goosebumps trailing in their wake.
Yet still, all there was, was Kai’s lips hovering over mine, and the tickling sensation of every single exhale teasing me.
And then, right as the longest thirty seconds of my life were about to be over, he said, “Because I’ll fuck you so hard that you’ll still feel my cock inside you next week.”
CHAPTER FOUR
I’d had worse offers in my life.
“What if I don’t? Can I get a refund?” I breathed.
He smiled, leaning in. “Not feeling my cock inside you would be an easy fix,” he murmured. “Simple process of seducing you and fucking you all over again.”
I swallowed. “I don’t do one-night stands.”
“So I’ll fuck you tomorrow, too. Problem solved.”
“That’s not a solution.”
“I think you’re protesting too much because it’s easier to argue with me than admit you want me, too.”