“I wasn’t the one who walked,” she reminds me.

“Not last night, but you were planning to on Sunday,” I promptly remind her, and she nods her head, acknowledging the truth of my statement.

“Exactly, I thought this was handled last night.”

“I changed my mind. You know this is more than some quick vacation fuck,” I say to her. Yeah, not my most romantic line.

“I don’t have time for a relationship,” she repeats herself like a damn iPod on repeat.

“We’ve established that. I don’t need much, but for some reason, I need you.” I clench my lip through my teeth, trying to think of a response to whatever argument she’ll toss back my way.

“There’s not enough of me,” she divulges, and I’m confused to the meaning of her comment. “That’s why my initial plan was the perfect situation,” she says.

“Oh yeah, the part where you were going to use me and throw me away like some stray cat?” I smirk with my last feeble attempt at comedy. Humor and laughter seems to be what we do best.

“It’s usually your M.O., I know.” She coyly smiles back, but I don’t think I’ve accomplished enough headway just yet.

“Kailey, let’s just spend the rest of the week together and see how thing go. You at least owe me that much for objectifying me,” I tease her, although I’m partly serious.

“Nothing’s going to change,” she says, but her eyes reveal the truth—she wants more. “Why are you being so persistent? You know you only wanted me for a ‘nice vacation screw’.” The thought she knows what my true intention was when I first met her makes me wish I could jump into a time machine and retrace my steps back to this moment without being the ‘manwhore’ I’ve become.

“I don’t know, I like you,” I say with as much conviction as I’m able to convey. She already thinks I’m scum, so no need to tack on any more bullshit.

She shifts and rises to her feet, and I quickly stand to hold her up. “Just sit down,” I tell her.

“The meds are kicking in, I’m fine.” Allowing her green gaze to peer into my brown eyes, contemplating her decision. “Alright,” she agrees, quickly holding up her hand to my chest, “but no promises.” She tacked that qualifier on, but I don’t care. At this point, I’ll take what I can get of her.

Not about to wait a second more, “I’m going to kiss you now,” I inform her while gently taking her hand off my chest and slipping my fingers through hers. I rest our clasped hands at the small of her back before gently pushing her toward me. Bending down to reach her lips, she gasps and her tongue slowly moistens her lips while our eyes never lose focus on one another. Once my lips are mere millimeters from hers, I ask, “Is that okay with you?”

She remains quiet, but nods her head, giving me approval. Not wasting a second, I let my lips finish their path to a destination I’ve been waiting to reach since she first told me her name. The soft feel hits me first as we mold together like two puzzle pieces entwined together. Tracing the part in her lips with my tongue, I wait for her to open, allowing me access to her deliciously warm mouth. When she gives me the slightest opening, I snake my tongue inside, finding hers. The pace of our lips increase, and our tongues tangle between them. As though we each need the other for air, we ravage each other until she eventually pulls back. Leaving us both gasping for our breath.

“Wow,” slips out of me breathlessly, not able to hold it in. It’s the hottest kiss I’ve ever had.

She bites her lip with the cutest smirk across her lips. “Yeah,” she adds.

Without saying another word, I release her hand, placing both my hands on either side of her face, pulling her toward me again. As I taste her cherry lip gloss, her fingers run across the stubble on my scalp, and rest at my neckline, holding me against her. In all my conquests, I’ve never wanted to take someone as much as I do her in this moment. But because of all the using each other talk, I fight the urge to throw her across the couch, fucking her senseless. She deserves nice and slow, cherishing every second love making.

Chapter 5

I’ve spent all day at Kailey’s aunt and uncles’, fetching Kailey soup, water, or medicine. Anything she desired, I’ve been at her beck and call. Clyde and Holly went out shopping for a few hours for reasons I’m pretty sure were just to give us time alone.

Instead of watching movies or playing our popcorn ‘getting to know you’ game, we, meaning Kailey, decides on the Life board game after me begging to play strip poker. She appears more comfortable from her fall, which makes me hope she’ll join me tonight at Jessa’s sister, Sam’s, party. We’d talked about going before the whole debacle last night, so I’m optimistic that she’s still up for it.

“Let’s make a bet?” I say, placing all the little buildings in their designated slots around the board.

“What?” she questions with a curiosity laced sigh.

“A kiss for every spin.” I wink, handing her the white car with a small plastic pink peg in it.

“That’s all?” she’s says, shocked that’s all I would request. Crap, should’ve asked for more.

“Do you want to up the ante?” I ask, placing my green car at the starting line with the blue peg in the driver’s seat.

“Well, first, my girl here can drive,” she says, moving her pink peg from the passenger spot to the driver’s side. I laugh. “Secondly, what do I get when I win?” I love her cockiness.

“Hey, baby, win or lose you can have anything you want—as long as it entails me.” I slyly smirk, and a giggle escapes from her.

After staring over at me for a few beats of the heart, she flirts right back, “I would expect nothing less.”

When I pick up my head from concentrating on the board and find her looking at me, I don’t think, I just move. Bending across the board, my lips land right on hers. Snaking my tongue in instantly, she quickly joins me and places her hand on the back of my head. Her fingernails scrap against my hairline while my hands remain planted on either side of her cheeks.

Reluctantly, I tear myself away from her, worried I may be rushing her. The fear that if I sleep with her now she’ll disappear from my life is very real. I smile when her bottom lip pouts out in displeasure that I ended it too soon for her liking. This is good; I need to keep her wanting me. So, I sit back, and we play the game, giving sexual innuendos back and forth. It’s been ages since I’ve flirted with someone and it’s exhilarating feeling those flutters in my stomach every time she turns me on with her words or an accidental brush of her fingers on mine.

Kailey, in fact, does win the game, leaving me in the dust with two carloads full of kids, a shitty job, and no money. I demand a rematch, but she reminds me I have a bet to ante up on first. Not about to miss that, I knock the board to the floor and grab her by her hips, bringing her onto my lap as I sit back down on the couch.

“Ouch,” she whimpers, and I quickly apologize for the abrupt movement to her sore back. “It’s okay, sometimes pain is worth it,” she replies with a hint of seduction.

Her hands find their now usual spot on my hairline, while mine clasp together and rest along the side of her hip, almost caging her in my arms. This time she bends down to me, making the first move and gradually brushing her moist lips against mine. Desperate to see what she has in store for us, I allow her to take the lead. Her tongue slowly parts my lips, but only enters slightly. Not allowing my own to join hers just yet, she moves her swirling tongue, teasing my lips until mine has no choice but to end this cat and mouse game.

Almost like a bolt of electricity strikes from the mere tip of our tongues colliding. Our mouths quickly become more frantic, while our hands remain firmly in place. It’s taking every ounce of restraint I possess not to lift her up and make her straddle me. I’m desperate for her to feel what she does to me, to feel the hard bulge in my pants up against her, even if it’s through pieces of fabric.