Crossing Boundaries (Miles for Love Book 1)
Page 21
We have a nice dinner, and my other brother calls from Afghanistan, so we put him on speaker and chat at the dinner table. Sitting next to Kayla, my hand is in hers. We’re taking turns stroking the insides of each other’s palms in such a rhythmic motion. I love it that she’s so affectionate. I notice that when someone speaks to her, if she’s in reaching distance, she finds a way to place her hand on their arm or back. Not so great for my horny little brother. A couple of times I’ve wanted to punch him for trying to cop a feel.
As we drive back to my house, I find myself kissing Kayla at every stoplight. “You keep kissing me and you’re going to end up doing a lot more, mister.” She murmurs against my lips.
I chuckle softly while we’re nose-to-nose. “I can’t help it.”
“I’m not complaining.”
The light changes and I start driving again. “My sister likes you.”
“I like her too.” Kayla gives my hand a squeeze. “She’s got her work cut out for her.”
“Yeah,” I sigh, “never thought I’d see the day that would happen to her.”
“You hoped for better for her.” She states.
“She deserves better than this. Damn Mark. I should go kill him a little. If he hadn’t screwed around on her she wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
“That’s only half true, babe.” She strokes my hand. “It was her choice to get into bed with this other guy. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
“Yeah…you’re right.” I pause. “At least my parents are happy for her and not pulling the whole wholesome Carlton card family thing.”
“You would be surprised how people change once there’s been illness in the family. Gives a whole new perspective.”
I pull her hand to my lips. “You’re so wise, baby.”
We pull up to my house and walk in. Kayla’s arms snake around my neck as soon as our shoes are off. Her lips are on mine and I revel in her touch.
“I feel like going for a run after today.” She says after our lips part. I give her a look and then clue in on what she’s alluding to.
“You’re making it very hard to say no.” I whisper against her lips.
“You say hard again and I’m yours.”
I wrestle with my conscience and the need growing below my belt. “I don’t want to hurt you, babe. I think it’s still too soon. You only took your bandages off last week.”
“But I feel fine.” She argues, and then pulls me close, lowering her voice to a sultry level. “More than fine.” She smells so good and her breasts feel so soft and plump against my chest. I’m dying to rip her clothes off and sink myself into her. Her hand slides down my belly but I gently stop it before it goes further.
I give her a warm smile. “Tell you what. We’ll pick a date. No holds barred. Whatever you want. Anything you want. It’ll be our night to make up for lost time.”
She cranes her neck back but plays along. “How long until this said date?”
“At least another week. Maybe two.”
She slits her eyes until they’re almost shut. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“Well it’s not going to be very good if you get hurt, sweetheart.” I say sincerely. “You may feel better doing regular things now, but if you really get down to business, it could be something entirely different.”
She sighs. “You’re right.” She kisses my lips, letting it linger.
“You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you.” I rub her nose with mine.
“It’s been a while, Daniel.”
“It’s been a while for me, too, baby. But we want to play it safe, right?”
“It would be so much funner living on the edge.” She says and I can feel the need in her voice. I deserve a medal for this.
I kiss her softly. “Come on. Let’s go cuddle on the couch and watch a movie.”
“Okay. But I get to pick the movie.”
“As long as it isn’t Fifty Shades of Grey, I’m game.”
Chapter 26
Kayla
As we sit together on the couch watching a movie, I snuggle into Daniel, enjoying his hands lovingly sliding up and down my back. He has such a tender touch no matter where he connects with me. My hormones are raging since I started feeling better a week ago. I know that Daniel is right about waiting until I’m completely healed. Our love life is in its infancy, and it would be awful to stint it with a poor experience, but at the same rate I’m dying to make love to him again.
It’s so difficult being this close to him without touching him the way that I want to touch him. He feels the same way and I know because I’ve observed the odd bulge below the belt, as mature as that sounds. It takes everything in me not to crawl to my knees and unzip his pants.
If I thought Daniel was sexy before, he’s ten times sexier now. As the movie finishes, he’s half asleep next to me. “You want me to stay the night?” I ask.
“That could be dangerous.”
“Or delicious.”
His voice is low. “Take a deep breath.”
“What?”
He kisses me on the lips. “Deep breath. In through the nose.”
I do it and feel a twinge where the incision was, plus another one on the left side, where two of my ribs were broken. I try to hide the pain, but he sees right through me.
“Hurts.”
“Just a little.” I admit.
“It’ll hurt an awful lot more if we make love, babe.”
Slightly irritated, I huff the breath out and wince. Just as Daniel is about to say something, the front door unlocks, and Christopher’s head appears. His hair is disheveled and there is a big red hickey plain as day on his neck. “That’s crazy shit about Mallorie, eh?” He comments.
“Doesn’t seem to faze you that much, seeing as you look like you were just with a vampiress.” Daniel says condescendingly.
He wiggles his eyebrows. “She was hot.”
“I’ll bet.” Daniel says.
“Do I detect a note of jealousy?” Christopher teases.
“Just forget it.” He bites back. “Let me take you home.” Daniel addresses me.
“Hey, don’t leave on my account.”
“We’re not. It’s late.” Daniel kisses my head.
Christopher gives Daniel a confused look.
“Not that it’s any of your business, genius, but just think about it for a minute, before your imagination gets the better of you.” Daniel says. His tone is warning to his brother. I know Daniel told Christopher about Greg, but maybe he needs reminding.
Christopher shrugs. “It was weeks ago. What’s up with that?”
“You’re in medical school and you don’t know that it takes that long to heal internal bleeding and fractured ribs?” He shakes his head. “God help your future patients.”
“Ever done it gently, Daniel?” Christopher pushes.
Daniel lifts a finger. There are daggers in his eyes as he stares his brother down. “You watch your mouth.”
Foolishly, Christopher ignores the warning. “You don’t have to have rabbit sex, you know.”
“You better shut your mouth.” Daniel sits up and I worry that he’s going to go punch his brother. I want to intervene but I’m not sure what the proper etiquette is when siblings fight.
“You want me to show you how to get busy, sweetheart?” He giggles, and I know he’s joking, but I get the feeling that the last comment crosses a line with Daniel. Daniel darts up and in two long strides is nose-to-nose with Christopher. He grabs him by the scruff and opens the front door, shoving him back outside.
“Get the hell out of my house.” He seethes. “You’re not welcome here anymore.” He slams the door in Christopher’s face, locks it and throws the latch over so his little brother won’t be able to get back in, even with a key.
Christopher bangs on the door. “What the fuck, Daniel! I was kidding!”
“Sorry about that. Let’s go upstairs so we don’t have to listen to him.” Daniel says to me, taking my h
and in his.
Feeling awkward, I rise. “Maybe you should just take me home.”
He takes a step towards me. “You don’t have to go home just because of this.”
“You were going to take me home anyway.”
Christopher bangs on the door again. “Come on, Daniel! Look, I’m sorry! I was just messing around. Kayla knows that!”
I stare at the floor. Not knowing where else to look. “Why don’t you go and talk to him.”
“I’ve said what I needed to say. If I talk to him I’ll just say things I’ll regret.” Daniel says to me. He reaches for my chin and gently forces me to look at him. “I’m sorry you have to be here to witness this.”
“It’s okay.” My voice is low. “Are you just going to let him stand out there and make a scene?”
“He knows I’m not letting him back in. He’ll give up in a minute.”
“Are you really kicking him out?”
He purses his lips together. “I only say what I mean, Kayla. I’ve made so many concessions for him. What he did just now, that’s where I draw the line.”
“Well aren’t you going to give him a chance to apologize? He already did technically.”
His hands find my waist. “Baby, if you let people disrespect you like that you’ll have people walking all over you. He had no right to say what he did. It was completely inappropriate and insensitive, and the fact that he said it in front of you fuels the flame. I’ve let him get away with so much already. I’m not letting him get away with this.”
“I don’t want to come between you and your brother.”
He slides his hands over my waist. “Believe me, baby, you’re not. He’s been asking for this for a while. There’s a lot that you don’t know about my brother.”
“Well, aren’t you going to at least let him get his stuff?”
He purses his lips into a half-smile. “He’ll be fine. Please stop worrying about him. He’s an adult. He just needs to grow up.”
We hear a car door slam and watch Christopher take off down the street in his car. “Where do you think he’ll go?”
“My parent’s place. Probably. He obviously loved this poor girl and left her, seeing as he didn’t have the decency to stay the night with her after sleeping with her.”
“Maybe she didn’t want him to stay.”
“That’s his problem. Not mine.” He kisses my lips. “What do you think…you want to go home still?”
I look at him and tell him with my eyes that I want to stay.
He slides a finger down my cheek and looks at me so intently that I feel a lump in my throat. “I love it that you’re willing to put your health on the line because you want to be with me so badly. Any other guy would jump at the chance. But I don’t ever want anything to happen to you. You’ve been through so much, babe. I love you too much to take any risks with you.” He kisses my head. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”
I don’t see Daniel until class a few days later. He was asked to cover a couple of extra shifts at work and he had class on top of that. By the time I actually see him in class three days later, we all but fall into each other’s arms.
“God, did I miss you.” He whispers in my ear as we hug each other like we haven’t seen each other since some life-altering moment. One of his arms is wrapped around my neck, the other is around my waist. Both my arms span his middle.
“I missed you too.” I say, kissing him, not caring if our classmates are walking past, staring. I want so badly to kiss him properly, but that would be completely inappropriate…I keep telling myself.
Class is…boring. Daniel sits behind me and I feel him rolling strands of my hair around his fingers. I don’t stop him even though it’s so distracting. I don’t see how being in this class is worth it anymore. Since missing so many classes I’ve just about lost my passion for it. Coupled with what happened with Greg and Brenda, and now our project is totally kyboshed, I’m almost reluctant to continue. Gladstone was willing to give us an extension, but I’d almost rather just start over next semester. Daniel has to finish it though if he wants to graduate.
When class is over, Daniel and I take a walk, hand-in-hand, down the hallway leading to the parking lot. “So, what have you decided to do about the class? Is your heart still in it?” Daniel asks me.
“Not really.”
“Come on, babe. I’ve got all your notes. There’s a whole week to study for this test. We can study together.”
I give him a look. “Daniel, studying together under this celibacy agreement is just going to frustrate me. I…I can’t do it.”
“What if I give you all the notes and just quiz you? You can even interview the Dietician I’m going to interview. I’ll set it up for you and everything.”
“Wow. You really want me to finish this, don’t you.”
“I want you to succeed, Kayla. If I can help you do that, I will.”
“Tell you what. You come over tonight and we’ll work on it together.”
“What’s with the sudden change of heart?”
“You’ve inspired me.”
He lifts his brows and smiles. I gently grab him by the scruff, pulling him towards me. He plays along and leans into me. “Also…I went for a run today.”
A ‘v’ forms between his brows. “But you don’t r—“ Recognition comes to his face. He leans into my lips and kisses me, and then he murmurs against my lips. “We’ve been through this, baby.”
“I know.” I kiss him, letting it linger, and then bite my lip to stop myself from kissing him again, this time slipping my tongue in his mouth. I’m dying to feel his tongue, his mouth, his everything. “Consider it positive reinforcement.”
He chuckles. “Or bribery.”
“Either way we both get what we want.”
He sighs, pressing his forehead against mine. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“Don’t I?”
Another chuckle. “Alright. Let’s go.”
Daniel drives behind me as we head to my place. He blows kisses to me that I can see in the rear view mirror. God, I want this man. As I unlock my front door, he’s already rubbing my back, and it feels electric. We take our shoes off and he heads to the kitchen table with his notes.
“You want something to drink?” I offer.
“Water, please.” He says as he scans his material. I pour us each some water and join him at the table. We manage to get through an hour of studying before I find myself allowing my eyes to scan his lips as he speaks.
“You hungry?” I ask. My eyes haven’t left his lips. He dips his head down, meeting my gaze.
He gently tips my chin up with his index finger and thumb. “My eyes are up here, babe.”
I look into his eyes, dividing my gaze between them. They’re so blue and honest I’m melting. My thighs are damp just taking in his scent and feeling his body heat so close to me. “You want something to eat?”
“Are you hungry?” His eyes go from my eyes to my lips and back to my eyes.
For you, yes.
“I’m going to make some popcorn. You want some?”
“Sure.”
I rise and get the popcorn out of the cupboard while he finds a bowl. Sliding past him I purposely run my fingers over his chest. He looks at me and winks but keeps moving.
As the microwave is cooking the kernels, I grab our glasses off the table and bring them over to refill them. Daniel takes a dish out of the cupboard and scrapes a knife full of butter on the plate. Sneaking behind him I snake my arms around his middle from behind. He lets out a sexy chuckle as he turns around.
“Can I help you with something?” He asks. The tone in his voice is unintentionally sultry. His hands slide in, pulling me by the waist as he turns to face me.
“You have a little spot…right here,” I bend up on my toes and kiss the skin between his ear and his shoulder on his neck, “that looks a little lonely.”
As I pull back from the kiss, he gives me a sexy little smile. “I know what you’r
e doing. It’s not going to work.”
Oh yeah?
I press my body closer to him, taking care to push my breasts into his chest. “And a little spot here,” I kiss him full on the mouth, but keep it chaste. He kisses me back but pulls back.
“I have to tell you a secret.” I lie, standing tall, reaching for his ear. He bends slightly as I nip his earlobe, and then suck it, and then do a combination suck and nip, while he tips his head a little sideways.
“Hmm…” he snuffles a slight giggle. His eyes are half-open as I pull back. “You’re trying to seduce me, but it’s not going to work.” He murmurs; his eyes are hooded.
“If I wanted to seduce you I would just strip.” I say, unbuttoning the top three buttons on my shirt, revealing a generous amount of cleavage. I don’t want to remove my shirt, or he’ll see my scar and be reminded of his celibacy thing, and it’ll be over. His eyes go to my chest but he’s smiling like I haven’t won him over yet. Game’s not over yet, baby.
Reaching his linen shirt, I unbutton it halfway down. “Kayla…” he says, tenderly taking my hands in his before I reach the bottom. I ignore him and bend down slightly, kissing his pecks. They’re so firm I have to stop myself from biting them. When I reach his nipple, I peer up at him and he’s daring me to do it with his eyes.
Taking his nipple in my mouth, I suck it gently. He takes in a puff of air and grunts. “Kayla. You’re looking for trouble.” He says on exhale.
That’s an understatement.
Darting my tongue out I lick his nipple, flicking it with my tongue and he exhales out another sexy grunt. “Kayla…” his tone raises an octave in slight warning. “You’re turning me on.”
I move to the other nipple and do the same. Daniel’s hands find the sides of my face and he gently lifts my head so I’m looking at him. “Baby, I’m trying really hard to be a gentleman here. But you’re making it really difficult to do the right thing.”
I lean up and kiss him full on the mouth, but I keep my tongue to myself. Glancing at him intently, my nose is almost against his as I reach down and feel his hardness. He’s solid as a rock behind his zipper and it spurs me on. Unzipping his fly, I kiss him full on the mouth again. He kisses me back with slightly more vigor. Unbuttoning his pants, I slide my hand inside his underwear and feel his rock hard cock against my palm.