“I never called you Tiger,” Kennedy said.
“I swear you did,” Rob said. “Homecoming sophomore year. Youwere plastered and you called me Tiger and rawred at me. Legit rawred.”
“Oh God.” Kennedy cringed. “I really don’t remember muchabout that night. But I do vaguely remember hearing about something like that.”
Rob laughed. “Don’t be embarrassed. I know I’m the hottest ofthe four of us. I don’t blame you for having a thing for me back then.”
Kennedy looked over at me. And she didn’t need to say it. Icould see it all over her face. She didn’t think Rob was the hottest. Shethought I was.
“Sorry to cut the night short,” I said. “But I have to getgoing. Kennedy, can I walk you out?”
“Yeah, sure.” She stood up. “It was really nice seeing you guysagain. We definitely need to do this again sometime.”
“Anytime,” Mason said. “I’m so glad you’re back in the city.”He hugged her goodbye, giving me a not at all subtle thumbs up behind Kennedy’sback.
She gave hugs to everyone else too. Tanner whisperedsomething in her ear and her face flushed.
Seriously, what kind of stuff had he been saying to her allnight?
“Later, guys,” I said as Kennedy joined me by my side. Ididn’t care that we’d just told all of them we were friends. I put my armaround her shoulders as I led her to the door. Friends did that too, right?
“You’re really bad at this,” Kennedy said as we stopped infront of the elevator.
“At what?”
“The friends thing.” She lifted my arm off of her.
“Friends touch each other too,” I said.
She laughed. “Not the way you want to touch me.”
I smiled. “And how do you think I want to touch you?”
She rolled her eyes and stared at the elevator doors. “Ithink Tanner’s right about you.”
“What did Tanner say about me?”
“Oh, a lot of things. He was wingmanning hard for youtonight. I like him. He’s an interesting guy.”
“That he is.”
“And the things he was saying were particularly interesting.”
“Are you going to make me beg you to tell me what lies he wasspewing?” I asked.
“Lies? I highly doubt that he said anything untruthful.” Thesmile playing at the corner of her mouth was driving me insane.
All I wanted to do was kiss it right off her face. I was havingan increasingly hard time keeping my hands to myself. “What did he say?”
The elevator doors dinged open.
She walked in backward so she could keep her eyes trained onmine. “That you’re madly, desperately, insanely in love with me.”
The doors started to close and I quickly hopped in, closingthe distance between us. She stepped to the side, trying to move away from me. ButI kept advancing until her back was pressed against the side of the elevator. Icouldn’t even be mad at Tanner. Because Kennedy was looking up at me like shefelt the same way I did. Her chest rising and falling faster and faster as shestared into my eyes.
“And how did that make you feel?” I asked.
“Terrified.”
I swallowed hard. “Are you scared of me, Kennedy?” I reachedout and touched the side of her face. “Or of what we could be?”
“It’s just…what if Tanner’s right? What if it was alwayssupposed to be me and you? And it just took us some time to find our way toeach other?”
I knew Tanner had a meddling hand in that. But I believed ittoo. She was standing here in front of me for a reason. There was a reason Icouldn’t stop smiling for the first time in years. There was a reason why ithad been easier to breathe since Kennedy had come back into my life. There wasa reason for all of this. There had to be.
My fingers slid to the side of her neck. “What can I do tomake you feel less scared?”
She stared at me. “I don’t know.”
“Would it help if I told you I might have a way out of thisthing with Poppy? I’m meeting up with a friend tonight.” Since when had Iconsidered Nigel a friend? “He has connections all over the city. If anyone canhelp me dig up dirt on Poppy, it’s him. I’m going to keep Scarlett safe. AndI’m going to get to be with you. You have my word.”
“Well…” she bit the inside of her lip as she looked up at me.“I mean, I guess that makes me feel a little less scared.”
“What else?”
She didn’t say a word.
I smiled at her. “It seems like all you really want is for meto get down on my knees and beg you for information tonight.”
She laughed as I got down on my knees in front of her. I leanedforward and kissed the inside of her thigh, right beneath the hem of her skirt.Her smile faded and her lips parted with a sigh that made me instantly hard.
I kissed a fraction of an inch higher. “Tell me what youwant,” I whispered against her thigh. I’d been trying to go slow for her. Awhole life of one-night stands made it difficult. I’d been dreaming of thismoment. Waiting for her to say she was ready.
She didn’t say a word as I kissed higher, pushing her skirtup her hips.
“Tell me what you need.” I kissed higher still. “Or tell meto stop.” I ran my thumb along the front of her lacy thong. “Just say the wordsand I’ll stop, baby.”
“Please don’t stop.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
I slowly pushed her thong to the side, letting my thumb brushagainst her clit.
She shuddered.
“Do you ever touch yourself when you think of me?” Iwhispered as I slid my index finger along her wetness.
“Yes,” she moaned.
“I thought about you last night when I had my hand wrappedaround my cock. About how your lips would feel wrapped around me. Have youthought about my lips on you?”
She gripped the back of my head, pulling me closer.
I took that as another yes. I leaned forward and tasted herfor the first time. Fuck. She was so wet for me. I pulled one of her legsover my shoulder to get
