When he takes his mouth off mine, I groan and slide my hand into the back of his hair and try to bring him back to me. I want more—I want everything. After dropping a soft kiss on my lips, he smiles down at me.
“There’s smoke and fire here, baby. If you can look me in the eye and tell me that you’ve ever felt anything like that, you’d be lying to both of us. This isn’t some bullshit temporary thing, beautiful.”
I’m getting into this too fast. Shaking my head, I push him away. “Don’t crowd me, Exton. Give me space and call me next week. We’ll take it from there.”
He opens his mouth to say something else, but I quickly cover it with my hand so that he can’t speak. “It’s been a great night, please don’t ruin it.”
The look he gives me says that he has more to say, but instead of arguing, he nods before kissing the palm of my hand.
“Alright beautiful, I’ll keep my response to myself for now. Get yourself home safely and we’ll talk later.”
Letting out a sigh of relief, I smile. “Thank you.”
Just like in the restaurant he’s a perfect gentleman, helping me into my car and closing the door once I’m inside. During the entire drive home I think about him and the kiss as I run my index finger over my swollen lips. I know that I’m doing the right thing by setting up parameters and keeping my distance. This is just the way that it has to be.
AFTER SPENDING FORTY MINUTES in bumper-to-bumper traffic to drive the nine miles between work and home, I’m cranky and ready to relax. Throwing my keys on the counter, I blow out a deep breath and let the traffic tension go. I’m home, it’s Friday and I’m about to have some great food, which I’ll follow up with by doing absolutely nothing, which is exactly what I want.
Grabbing my cell, I call my favorite Chinese food restaurant to order my Friday standard. It’s not depressing at all that the entire staff always knows that it’s me before the phone is even picked up—thanks a lot, caller ID—or that Mrs. Tan knows that my order is a small wonton soup, an eggroll and some cashew chicken with a side of fried rice without me saying a word. It’s kind of shameful that I’ve ordered the same exact thing almost every Friday night for the last two years. Sometimes I think that I should switch it up, but honestly the food is so darn good that I can’t help myself.
A relaxed sigh escapes me as I take off my work clothes and change into a pair of yoga shorts and a tank top with a super soft tee shirt over it. After throwing my hair up into a messy bun, I go into the bathroom and scrub my face. Heading into the kitchen, I pour myself a large glass of white zinfandel. There is nothing, and I do mean nothing, like coming home, taking my bra off, getting comfortable and relaxing with a glass of wine. While I wait for the food to arrive I putter around the apartment, opening bills and wiping down the counters in the kitchen.
The bell chimes announcing the arrival of my food, and I make my way to the door to take possession of tonight’s feast. Opening the door with a smile, I stop dead in my tracks when I find Exton standing there dressed in a white shirt and jeans. It takes a few seconds for me to realize that he’s also holding two enormous bags in his hands.
“I, uh . . . what’re you doing here,” I squeak.
Stepping forward he drops a kiss on my lips. My mind is spinning when he pulls back to walk past me. Looking back at me over his shoulder he says, “Delivery.”
I’ve no choice but to follow him as he walks down the hall toward my kitchen. When he gets there he sets the bags he’s holding onto the table.
“Deliva what now?”
Chuckling quietly, he pulls a chair at the table out, motioning for me to sit down. “Delivery, Beautiful. I brought dinner.”
I take a deep breath as I try to calm my nerves. Exton is in my home at my kitchen table. Holy. Hell.
“How did you get here?”
“I got in my car and drove.”
Throwing my hands dramatically in the air I snap, “No shit, Sherlock. I mean how did you know where I live?”
“Oh, that,” he says with a laugh. “Fact is, I went through Sabrina’s Christmas card address list this morning while Vivi kept her occupied in the back yard.”
“You’re saying that you had a child cover for you so that you could snoop?”
“I sure did,” he says with a smile that clearly indicates that he’s not ashamed. “I’ll do whatever it takes for you, Arden. Vivi’s the one that got Sabrina to agree to my plan yesterday too. Vivi likes you so it’s not like I had to beg her to help. She’s got an angelic face and she melts hearts with her smile—which means that she’s pretty much the most badass sidekick of all time.”
Struggling not to laugh at that I blurt, “Well, you wasted your time because I ordered dinner already.”
“I know, babe. I got it right here,” he says with a wink.
Gesturing to the table, I shake my head. “I definitely didn’t order all of that.”
My breath catches in my throat when he throws his head back and laughs. He’s so sexy that even his laugh does things to my body.
“I have your usual here, and then I ordered a bunch of other stuff. We’re going to eat way too much Chinese food and maybe eat more in about two hours when we’re hungry again. You know how that goes.”
Sputtering stupidly, I put my hands on my hips and glare at him. “Listen buddy, I told you to call me next week! What are you doing?”
Letting go of the back of the chair he’s been holding out, Exton steps toward me. I let out a squeak when he slides one of his hands down to my ass while at the same time tangling his other hand in my hair. When our mouths meet, we simultaneously let out gasps when an electric shock sparks between our lips.
Pulling my head back with the hand tangled in my hair, he looks at me with a look that I can only classify as pure sexy caveman. “You feel that, Beautiful?”
Nodding helplessly, I lick my lips and stare at him in a kind of shock.
“That’s what I’m doing here. This is not the kind of thing you walk away from or leave to chance for a week—that’s just not going to happen. You aren’t running and I can’t stay away,” he says firmly.
“But—”
I get no farther as he covers my mouth with his and silences my arguments. I thought I got the full treatment from Exton’s mouth and tongue last night, but it wasn’t even close. He isn’t just kissing me now—he’s claiming and consuming me all in one fell swoop. I kiss him back mindlessly as I struggle to fight through the dizziness that I feel. My hands are running up and down the front of his shirt, feeling the city of warm muscle that it covers.
As my hands span his abs, he lets out a feral growl and I moan in response. By the time he lifts his head I’m so dizzy I feel like I might fall over. Fortunately for my balance, Exton still has a firm grip on me.
We’re both breathing heavily as we stare at each other wildly. Leaning in again, he drops soft kisses along my jaw line. “You’re so fucking sexy that I could feast on you for hours. If it were my call, I’d say fuck the food. You don’t even realize what you do to me,” he growls against my ear.
I have never had a reaction to anyone that is as visceral to the one I am having to Exton Alexander. Not even close. I want to say something back, but I just don’t have any words.
When he lifts his head again, all I see is a determined certainty on his face. Taking his hands off of me, he gives me a wink. “Now that we got that out of the way, how about I feed you?”
I’m pretty sure I must’ve lost a fair amount of brain cells during that make-out session because instead of arguing more about the fact that he’s just invited himself to dinner at my house, I let it go. Walking across the kitchen I grab another plate and some cutlery before going back to the table and setting it down all while Exton remains standing as he watches me silently. Looking up at him I ask, “Water, iced-tea or soda?”