Celina (Connelly Cousins #1)
Page 4
“Didn’t you?” Her voice was so quiet, so trusting.
She searched his face, looking for an answer. What was he supposed to say to something like that? That the last person who’d pissed him off was still recovering in the hospital? Or that the last person who’d actually given a shit whether or not he’d skipped a meal had been buried years ago?
She shifted and dropped her eyes back to his chest, looking oddly disappointed when he didn’t respond. “That’s all I wanted to say. I’ll go now.”
He didn’t move, so she took a step around him and headed for the door.
Keep your mouth shut. Don’t say anything. Don’t say anything. “Wait.” Damn it. She stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“You really want to know what my eyes look like?” he asked.
“Only if you want to show me.”
Just say no, Kyle. Just say no. “I want to show you.” And then he was standing toe to toe with her, her face tilting upward. He wanted to cup that face in his hands and see if it was as soft as it looked. Capture those perfect, full lips that he just knew would taste like heaven.
No, don’t show her. Don’t take off the shades, man. He reached up and removed the sunglasses. Fuck.
Her eyes widened and a soft gasp escaped over her lips. As she stared into his eyes, it felt like she was stroking his entire body at once. A shiver of fire slid down his spine. Each breath drew her fresh, mouth-watering scent into his lungs. This close, he could even hear her heart beating against the confines of her chest. Or was that his?
Damn, he wished she’d stop looking at him like that, while at the same time, wishing fervently that she’d do it naked.
“I knew it,” she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. “They are so beautiful.” Many women had told him the same thing, but when Celina said it, he couldn’t tell what throbbed harder – his cock or his heart.
* * *
Kyle’s amazing blue eyes sent a cascade of tingles through her entire body, starting around her lips and ending at the tips of her fingers and toes, though they seemed to grow warmer and collect around her core. His eyes were framed with lashes so thick and dark he could have been wearing eyeliner. She watched as his dark pupils alternated between dilating and constricting. Dilation of the pupils, she’d heard, was a sign of sexual desire. Given the size and rigidity of the arousal she’d literally stumbled against earlier, that might actually be true.
But what about how they were contracting? She struggled to remember back to her intro-level biology class, coming up with a possible answer. Perhaps he was super sensitive to light. That would explain the shades in the low-level lighting.
Only with some effort did she snap herself free of those mesmerizing pools of infinite blue, and shake her head to clear it. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Chapter Four
Those eyes. Those lips. The flames at the base of his spine now settled uncomfortably in his groin, where they set up a slow burn. How did she do that? She never even touched him, yet he was so turned on he could’ve hammered nails with his cock.
She felt it too; he’d seen the blatant desire that had overtaken her delicate features and transformed her from the wholesome girl next door into a sultry sex goddess from one heartbeat to the next. Just that quickly it was gone again, but he was sure he hadn’t imagined it.
With a little smile, she took a step back as if to go, and he had to clench his hands to keep from ensuring she stayed right where she was. She couldn’t just drop that shit on him and leave.
“You got a bike?” It was the only thing he could think of to say. He had to keep her here, just for a little while longer.
She smiled, and goddamn, his whole body filled with liquid sunshine. “No, I’d love to, though.” Her eyes flicked to the model she’d been admiring earlier. “My brother Johnny lets me ride with him sometimes.”
Warning bells tolled in his head. “Johnny? Johnny Connelly?”
Now he knew where he’d seen similar golden hair and flashing green eyes. Jesus. Johnny’s little sister. The one he’s been trying to keep a secret from all the wolves in the pack. Like me. Johnny probably figured that Jamie was no great threat, though, if he even knew about him. The thought made Kyle chuckle inwardly. If Johnny only knew why Jamie had come to him in the first place...
“Yeah. You know him?”
“Fuck yeah, I mean - yeah,” he said, correcting himself, and she smiled again. If she was Johnny’s sister she was probably used to hearing a lot worse than that. “So Johnny’s your brother, huh?”
Johnny was a fellow biker - big, tough, and one hell of a decent guy, as long as you didn’t piss him off. Somehow Kyle thought Johnny would be very pissed off if he knew Lina was in here alone with him at this time of night. Not that he could blame him.
“Yeah, but don’t hold it against me, ‘k?”
There was that smile again. It lit up her whole face. I’ll hold anything and everything against you, sweetheart. But she was Johnny’s sister. That could be a problem.
Then a stray rational thought slammed into his head. What the hell was he thinking? This chick was Jamie’s piece, not his. And he was not about to go toe-to-toe with one of his best buds over his freaking little sister, no matter how hot she was.
Another voice piped in, reminding him that Jamie mentioned something about going out of town on business for a week, and Johnny didn’t have to know. Besides, Celina might be younger than he was, but she was still well over eighteen. Old enough to make her own decisions.
“Feel like going for a ride?” He hadn’t meant to ask her that. It just popped into his head. The smart voice inside him hadn’t even gotten a chance to tell him what a bad idea it was before he took a page out of her book and just blurted it right out anyway.
At first he thought he’d made a mistake when he saw the stunned look on her face, but then her eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning. “I’d love to,” she said, and his heart swelled.
Kyle stripped out of his jumpsuit - well aware that her eyes grew as large as saucers as he did so - and grabbed his keys. “Come on,” he said, leading Celina around into the back bay. Unlike the one he’d been working in, this area held only machines that looked in pristine condition.
“Isn’t your bike out front?” she asked.
“My everyday bike is, yeah,” he smiled back. “But this is not every day, is it?” Kyle pulled the cover off of his baby. Painted a deep candy apple red, it had been layered with so many coats of clear lacquer it was like looking into a pool. Gleaming silver chrome shone bright, not a speck of dust anywhere to be seen. He was pleased with the way she sucked in her breath, the way her eyes widened at the sight of it. Clearly, she was a woman who could appreciate true beauty.
“Here,” he said, lifting his leather jacket from the peg and holding it out to her. She slipped it on, though it fell to mid-thigh and her hands were lost somewhere in the sleeves. He helped her roll them up until her fingers peeked through, not missing the way she buried her nose into the collar and inhaled deeply when she thought he wasn’t looking. His cock twitched.
“What about you?” she asked. “Won’t you get cold?”
Kyle drew the left half of his mouth up in a cocky half-grin. “No, I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” he told her. He’d be lucky if he didn’t spontaneously combust.
He opened the door and walked the bike out of the bay, then quickly locked up behind them.
Kyle swung a leg over the bike, settling comfortably on the seat. He was about to offer to help her up, but Celina already had one small foot on the mounting peg. With her hands on his upper arms, she lifted herself up and slid in gracefully behind him as if she’d done so a hundred times. It made sense when he thought about it; she was probably used to riding with Johnny.
“Is this okay?” she asked, snuggling her sweet sex tight up against his ass and placing her hands lightly on his sides.
“Yeah.” Oh, hell yeah. That felt good. Too good. The scorc
hing heat from her hot little body seeped into him.
“You might want to hold on tighter,” he suggested, pulling her hands farther around his waist. She snuggled even closer against him, wrapping her arms around him in a good, strong hold. Her fingers splayed against his abs, and her forearms rested comfortably on the head of his cock, making him question the sanity of his impulsive decision.
Before he had a chance to change his mind, Kyle hit the throttle and drove out of town toward the mountains. Under normal circumstances, he didn’t like riding with a passenger, and never on this particular bike. It was too personal, too close to his heart.
But Lina was a natural. It was as if she was made to ride this bike with him.
She nestled snuggly against his back, without hindering his movements in any way. She leaned into the turns with him, shifting her weight in perfect coordination. She was doing so well that he felt comfortable opening it up all the way, loving the way she gripped him tighter with her entire body and laughed in pure abandon when he did.
The chilled night air whipped at his bare arms and went right through his cotton tee, but the blazing warmth of her body pressed against his back evened it all out nicely. He was glad he hadn’t worn a jacket. He would have been a freaking puddle. The high-speed cooling air was the only thing keeping him from pulling over and driving into her hot body every other mile or so.
They crested the top of a hill, and the road became an easy downward slope. Kyle felt her melt into him, resting the side of her face against his upper back. She’d neglected to close the front of the jacket, and he could hear the ends whipping in the wind. Whether she’d done so accidentally or on purpose he didn’t know, but what he did know was that the only thing between him and her lush, full breasts were a couple strips of thin cotton. He was fully aware of how hard her nipples were, rasping against him every time she shifted slightly. He took to weaving from one side of the road to the other, just for that reason alone.
What the hell was he doing? And why did he have to like it so much?
All too soon it was time to head back to town. In just a few hours the sun would be rising. They’d spent half the night cruising, but it felt like mere minutes. He coasted through the silent town, bringing them to a stop beside her car. He got off first, then lifted her up easily and set her down. Was it his imagination, or was her body straining to keep contact with his?
“That was wonderful!” she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. In the light of the nearly full moon, her skin and hair glowed as if lit up from within. She shrugged out of his jacket and handed it back to him. It was so warm. And he knew that if he held it up to his face he would smell baby powder and cocoa butter and oranges and Celina.
She pulled a key from her pocket. In one quick, smooth move, Kyle snatched it from her hand, then unlocked and opened the door for her. Instead of getting in, she just stared at him for several long moments. What the hell was she waiting for?
Celina rose onto the tips of her toes to brush a kiss lightly against his cheek. He blinked against the shooting stars that obscured his vision and the hot molten lava in his balls. It was such a chaste, gentle kiss, but it hit him with the force of a freight train.
When the light show faded sufficiently from his vision, she was already in the driver’s seat, looking at him expectantly. Oh yeah. He had her key.
He held it out, then snatched it back when she tried to take it. “There’s going to be a full moon in a couple of nights. Perfect for a midnight ride,” he said impulsively. It wasn’t exactly subtle, but after having her pressed up against him for the last couple of hours, it was the best he could do.
She was staring at him again, piercing him with those big green eyes. Why was it when she looked at him like that he felt it deep in his chest?
He cast his gaze toward the sky, leaning casually against her car door. In reality, his heart was pounding, shooting fiery blood through every vessel in his body, though one area in particular seemed to be getting the lion’s share. Even the pessimistic voice that had been harping in his brain all night had gone eerily silent, awaiting her response.
“I know the perfect spot for a midnight picnic,” she said, her voice a soothing stroke to his libido. Like it needed it. Alice Cooper’s “Feed My Frankenstein” was definitely on his playlist tonight.
“Pick you up at eight on Saturday?”
She smiled, and he damn near forgot everything else. “Better make it eight-thirty. It’ll give me more time to soften Johnny up.”
Right. Johnny. But hell, it was worth it. He’d do that and a lot more for another ride with Lina. “Eight-thirty it is.”
Celina turned the key, bringing the engine to life. Her left hand was on the steering wheel, her right on the six-speed on the floor. He tried not to dwell on the sight of her hand palming the head of the stick shift, and turned his gaze to her face instead. It did nothing to relieve those powerful, carnal urges riding him hard. Think of something else.
“Nice car.”
“It is now,” she agreed. “You should have seen it when Johnny had it towed from the junkyard about ten years ago. He likes tinkering. He and my dad used to spend hours in the garage together, working on one car or another.”
She bit her bottom lip, and Kyle didn’t have to know her long to know something was on her mind. He waited patiently. It was no hardship; he could look at her sitting there all night, her face radiant, hair wild and windblown from the ride. Unbidden images slammed into her, images of her flat on her back and naked on his bed with that same look.
So much for thinking of something else.
“Kyle?”
“Hmmm?” He leaned in further, placing his face only inches away from hers. His broad shoulders extended past the width of the opening, his biceps bulging under the weight of his upper body.
Lina turned to him, her eyes roaming over his arms just as he’d intended, across his collar bones and jaw, pausing at his mouth. She blinked once, then ran her tongue between her lips before lifting her gaze slowly to look into his eyes with blatant desire. It was the same look he’d seen in the workshop earlier.
Lots of women looked at him that way. Sometimes it amused him; most of the time he ignored it. But when Celina did it, it was as if a wrecking ball slammed into his chest, exploding into a primal urge to toss her into the back seat and show her exactly what his lips were capable of. And his fingers. And his... yeah.
He met her hungry gaze with one of his own, until a soft hum escaped her throat and she withdrew, shuttering it away again.
“I wanted to ask you about that bike – the small one in the back of the shop. Are you fixing that up for someone?”
It was Kyle’s turn to blink. Her question was not what he expected, but then his mind seemed decidedly one-tracked tonight. “No, just playing with her ‘til she finds a home.”
“What if – I mean, do you think maybe I could give her a home?”
Kyle’s lips curved into a slow, sexy smile. He’d known she had the heart of a biker within that amazing chest, and he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather do a custom for at that moment. He was already designing the specs in his head. Truth be told, she’d been in his mind when he found it (when wasn’t she in his mind these days?). No need to let her know that, though.
“She’s not cheap.”
“But she’d be worth it,” Celina said, her eyes full of hope.
Kyle knew that look. It was the look of someone with passion in her soul, begging to be set free. He wanted to be the one who stoked it and made it burn with the brilliance he knew it was capable of. Outwardly, he appeared to consider the idea, but he’d already decided.
“Yeah, okay then. Stop by tomorrow night and we’ll work something out.” He gave her his best cat-waiting-to-pounce grin, but she wasn’t the least bit intimidated. Her face lit up in a smile that extended from ear to ear and her eyes sparkled.
“And would you, you know, be the one working on her? Johnny says you’re the best.”
“Well, I don’t know about that, see, because I’ve got a couple of customs that Mo’s chomping at the bit for and ...” That was true, but that was par for the course. Business was never slow for him; demand for his skills was always high.
“Oh, sure, of course,” she murmured, but her disappointment was instant and obvious. Celina, he’d come to realize, broadcast every emotion as though she had a built-in mega-watt amplifier.
“I’m sorry.” Her lashes dropped, as did her gaze. “I shouldn’t have asked.” He felt his heart go with it.
“Well maybe, you know, since you’re Johnny’s sister and all ...” - her eyes flicked up again - “... I could work on it in the evenings, after Mo takes off.” Hell, he was doing that anyway. For some inexplicable reason, he hadn’t felt like hitting the clubs lately and had been spending nearly every night at the shop.
She gave him that look again. Like he’d just given her the world on a silver platter. Dazzling smile, bedroom eyes sparkling like multi-faceted emeralds. “Can I – I mean, would it be okay if maybe when I stopped by tomorrow night, I could hang around for a little and just, um, watch you work on it?“
“Doesn’t a pretty lady like you have something better to occupy her time?” Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed again. Hadn’t anyone ever given her a compliment before? Didn’t she know how incredibly beautiful she was? Somebody should be openly worshipping her every minute of the day.
She licked her lips, her hand absently squeezing the shifter. “No, not really.”
If she didn’t stop looking at him like that he was going to shoot a load right in his pants like some punk teen. “Sure, why not? Mo’s usually gone by seven. I’m there... much later.” Hell, he’d pack a sleeping bag and spend the night if it meant another visit from her.
“Great!” Her eyes lit up again, and it was hard to believe all he’d done was say she could watch him work for a couple of hours. What kind of assholes was she used to seeing, anyway, that she’d get so excited over something so small?