He inched forward, his long fingers sliding up my neck and into my hair, caressing my skin with gentle, adoring touches. His minty breath washed over my face, igniting my passion. “I need closer,” he murmured. “I need more.” He bent his head, bowing his back to lower himself. My arms shot out, wrapping around his neck, bringing his mouth down to mine.
Time stood still.
The room disappeared around us.
There were no bright lights or camera filming.
No Beth.
Only him.
Only us.
Warm lips met mine. Full, firm, but gentle. His tongue swept inside, sliding over mine sensuously.
A small moan escaped my lips as he worked my mouth. His taste was overwhelming—sweet, hot, and something so unique—something so Daniel; I knew I would never get enough of it.
Slow and gentle became deep and carnal. Teasing and light became powerful and hot. He possessed me. Commanded me. Wrecked me.
I gave myself to him. All of me.
His hands descended in a slow path, running over my sides in a torturous circuit, wrapping around my back, crushing me to his body. Deep rumbles from his chest made me shiver. He groaned low and deep in his throat, his lips never leaving mine, never ceasing their exquisite possession.
I never wanted them to.
He straightened abruptly, one hand slipping under my ass and lifting me. I gasped in his mouth as I wrapped my legs around his waist. His other hand slid under my shirt, spreading wide across my back, fingers pressing and teasing, causing goosebumps to erupt on my skin.
Ignoring the pain in my fingers, I buried my hands in his hair, tugging the soft strands roughly.
His grunt of approval was muffled in my mouth.
Then I felt the cold, flat surface of the wall hit my back; I hadn’t even felt us move. Daniel surged against me, his arousal now evident between us. Our lips separated as we gasped for air, but we remained close, our bodies melded together.
Our eyes met, blue versus green, want and desire merging and swirling. Swollen lips glistened under the lights, our chests heaved, and quiet pants of yearning passed between us. A look of understanding dawned, a silent, short conversation happening.
Our lives had just changed—we both felt it, knew it. There was no going back now—and neither of us wanted to.
My hands tightened on his neck, needing his mouth back. His head lowered, and I whimpered as his lips hovered over mine.
“Well, I think we got what we wanted.” Beth’s shocked voice exploded in the room. “We’re done.”
Daniel’s head snapped up; his startled gaze meeting mine. We had forgotten we weren’t alone. However, his grip didn’t loosen and he didn’t move away.
“Okay, good,” he said roughly over his shoulder, barely sparing a glance her way.
“We’ll, ah, just, um, leave you to, yeah, ah, finish up. Or whatever . . . you, ah, want. Yeah. Come see me before you leave, Avery.”
Hurried footsteps and the quiet click of the door let me know I was now alone with Daniel. I shut my eyes, letting my head fall back to the wall with a small thud.
“Hey. Look at me.”
I opened one eye, squinting at him.
His smile was wide. “Can you, ah, see me?”
“When you’re this close, yes—well, mostly, anyway. Can you see me?”
His face moved closer, his lips a mere breath away from mine. The pulsating heat started moving up my spine again, small flames of desire burning through my skin.
“Yes.” He dropped a gentle kiss on my mouth. “I didn’t think you could be lovelier than earlier,” he murmured.
“Earlier?”
“I thought you were beautiful when you walked in the room,” he explained. “But now, seeing you look like this? You are exquisite.”
“Like this?” I asked. I was, it seemed, unable to do anything, except repeat the words that came out of his mouth. His perfect, sexy mouth.
“Hmmm. The way you feel pressed up against me. Your lips all swollen from mine, your cheeks flushed, and the way your eyes are looking at me. You’re a siren, Avery.” He growled. “A fucking siren.” He buried his face in my neck, his tongue swirling over my skin, trailing a hot, wet path up to my ear and tugging on the lobe. “I know we were only supposed to kiss, but I want you. God, I want you so much.”
I groaned, arching toward him. I could feel how much he wanted me. I wanted him. I had never experienced desire like this until now. Until this man.
His mouth covered mine, and I was lost.
Lost to him and his kisses.
His warmth.
Him.
Something buzzed, startling us both.
Daniel pulled away with a curse, gently standing me on my feet. He slid his glasses back on, reached into his pocket, and grabbed his phone, answering gruffly with a “hello.” He listened intently, his thumb grazing over my lips as our eyes locked. He groaned in frustration, tilting back his head.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He slipped the phone back into his pocket.
“You have to go.” Sadness filled my chest, and I was unable to look him in the eye.
“One of my patients isn’t doing well.”
“You’re a doctor?”
Long fingers slipped under my chin, forcing me to look at him. Even blurry, I could see the frown on his face.
“I’m a veterinarian. I had to perform emergency surgery on a dog brought in this morning and she isn’t doing well. I have to go.” He paused and sighed. “But I don’t want to. I want to stay here with you.”
“Really?”
His arms wrapped around me, hugging me close. “You silly girl. Yes. I want to stay with you. I want to take you out and talk to you. Get to know you.” His arms tightened. “Kiss you some more if you’d let me. No cameras this time.”
“I’d like that, Dr. Spencer.”
“You’d like to see me again? Or kiss me?” He teased, his lips nuzzling my head.
“Both.”
“Can I see you tonight? Take you out?”
“On a date?”
“Yes, a date.” He cupped my cheek. “But I need something to tide me over. Tell me three things.”
I frowned in confusion. “Three things?”
“About yourself.”
“Um, blue is my favorite color.”
He grinned, ghosting his finger under my eye. “Green is mine.”
His inference why made me smile.
“Beth is my best friend.”
He nodded. “One more.”
“I’m an accountant.”
“Smart and beautiful. That’s an amazing combination.”
I blinked.
Lovely. Beautiful.
I wasn’t used to hearing those words when someone described me.
“You are.”
Oh, God—I had uttered that out loud.
“See? We’re getting to know each other. Now, tonight?” he repeated. “I have more questions. Lots more.”
I tilted my head up. “Yes.”
He kissed me. Long, slow, deep. Then again.
And again.
With a groan, he stepped back. “I have to go.”
“I know.”
Shyly, he handed me his cell phone and grabbed his coat, shrugging it on. “May I have your number, please, Sprite? And your address.”
“Sprite?” I asked. I fished my glasses out of my pocket, putting them on so I could see the phone screen.
“Yeah, earlier . . .” His voice trailed off and a frown marred his face.
“Avery, I have something to tell you before I go.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” My heart beat a little faster at the sound of his voice. “Are you married?”
“No.”
“Girlfriend?” I squeaked.
He chuckled. “No. Not when I walked in here, anyway.” He winked.
My breath caught at those words. “What then?” I whispered.
He took in a deep breath. “I st
epped on you.”
“What?”
“Earlier. Outside. I stepped on you. I, ah, crushed your peppermints and your fingers.”
“That was you?”
“Yes.”
“But, your glasses—you weren’t wearing any glasses!”
“I only need my glasses for reading and close up work, not driving. So, most of the time, I have them shoved up on my head or in my pocket.” He chuckled. “Otherwise, I leave them in the strangest places.” He slid his glasses onto his head. “See?”
I shook my head.
With a chuckle, Daniel pulled off my glasses, as well. “See now?”
I gasped. Now I realized why his touch felt so right and his voice familiar. “It is you! Mr. Blurry!”
He laughed and slipped my glasses back on, kissing the end of my nose.
“I’m sorry. I was so worried about being late and nervous about being here, I didn’t see you.” He lifted my hand, ghosting his lips over my fingers. “I went to get you some things to help with the pain and when I got back, you were gone.”
“Beth kept texting me. I honestly didn’t think you’d come back.”
“I did. I was very sad to see you were gone. I didn’t know how to find you.” His voice dropped. “And then you walked in here. You found me, Sprite.”
There was that name again. “Sprite?”
“You look like a picture from a book I was reading to my niece the other night. A woodland Sprite.” He caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers. “It suits you.”
“Oh?”
He chuckled. “Mischievous, stubborn, and willful. You displayed all those traits in the few minutes I had with you, before you disappeared. Another trait you share with them. Disappearing. We’ll have to work on you not doing that again.”
I giggled.
Daniel opened a bag beside him and snapped a package in his hand, wrapping it around my fingers. Instantly, soothing cold soaked into my skin. “The ice should help the pain and the swelling.” He passed me the bag. “There’re splints if you need them, some Tylenol, and of course, your peppermints.”
“Oh.”
“Halitosis, Avery?” he asked, amused.
“I was worried,” I admitted with a smirk.
Something pressed on my lips, and I opened them so Daniel could slip in a mint.
I rolled it around on my tongue, gasping as he kissed me deeply.
He eased back, looking mischievous, and opened his lips so I could see my mint now resting on his tongue. “So much sweeter now,” he crooned.
Desire exploded in me. How did he make something like stealing a mint from my mouth so incredibly sexy? I was sure I whimpered.
Stepping back, he shook his head. “I dreaded coming here. And now I don’t want to leave.”
“I’ll see you tonight.”
“Can I call you this afternoon?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry about your hand.”
“You can kiss it better later.”
His eyes darkened. “I’ll kiss anything you want. Just promise me you won’t disappear again.”
“I promise.”
His warm lips nuzzled my forehead. “Until tonight.”
My eyes followed him to the door. He turned, winked, and pressed his fingers to his lips before he disappeared through the door.
I sighed and slid down the wall to the floor.
What just happened?
Avery
I was so lost in the mixed thoughts swirling in my head, that I was startled when another body slid down the wall beside me.
“Hey, Beth,” I mumbled.
“Avery.”
I peeked sideways at her.
Her hazel eyes bore into mine, and her brow furrowed.
“What?”
“What? You’re seriously asking me what? You come in here unwillingly, looking as though you were facing the death squad, and fifteen minutes later, I almost had to use a crowbar to pry you two apart! And now you’re asking ‘what’?” Her head fell back, hitting the wall. “Jesus, Avery.”
I gaped in shock. “Fifteen minutes? We were kissing for fifteen minutes?” It only felt like a minute or two. Certainly, not long enough, in my opinion.
She laughed. “Well, about twelve. You did sign some paperwork. After a fashion.”
“After a fashion? What does that mean?”
“The two of you were so busy playing peek-a-boo with each other, neither of your signatures are legible or on the right lines. Both of them look like chicken scratch.”
I couldn’t help my grin. I had been rather distracted, and I liked knowing he had been, as well.
She tilted her head toward me, a huge smirk on her face. “That was one of the hottest things I have ever seen. I swear the camera almost melted.”
“It felt pretty hot.”
“I had to send Cliff out of the room.”
“Why?”
“He was sporting a boner five minutes into the kiss. When Daniel shoved you onto the wall, I was afraid he was gonna come in his pants. Hell, I was afraid I might, too. I texted Ryan and told him to meet me for lunch. And it ain’t no sandwich he’s gonna be eating.” She winked. “If you catch my drift.”
I hid my face in my hands, embarrassed beyond words, but unable to stop laughing. I wasn’t sure I could ever look at Cliff again—or Ryan, for that matter. However, nothing embarrassed Beth.
Beth bumped my shoulder, chuckling. “I thought I was going to have to turn the hose on the two of you.”
My head fell back, and we shared an amused glance.
“Has, uh, that happened to anyone else?”
“Nope. We’ve seen some hot kissing, a few pecks, and some really uncomfortable attempts, but nothing, and I mean nothing, like the inferno we witnessed in here.” She paused. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“It was him, Beth.”
“Him, who?”
“Mr. Blurry.”
“The guy who stepped on your fingers? It was Daniel?”
I nodded, touching my lips. They were still on fire from his possessive mouth.
“Avery, what’s going on? I’ve never seen you like this—ever.”
“I have no idea. I’m seeing him tonight, though.” I drew in a deep breath. “There’s something between us, something I can’t explain. I felt it. He felt it.”
“That’s his cock. I’ve tried explaining that to you.” She patted my knee. “I even spelled it out for you.”
Another giggle burst out of me. I had felt his arousal pressed against me—hard and prominent. I arched an eyebrow at her. “Besides that, Beth.” I hesitated, because I wasn’t certain how to explain to her what I was feeling. “Something . . . profound. He made me feel so comfortable. I forgot to be shy. He made me feel safe. As if I was home.” I swallowed the thickness in my throat. “I think he felt it, too.”
“Holy fuck,” she whispered. “Avery—you’ve never said anything like that.”
“I know.”
“You were only supposed to kiss him. Not fall in love.”
I stared. I wasn’t in love with Daniel. I only met him an hour ago. That was impossible.
Wasn’t it?
Beth shrugged. “Stranger shit has happened.”
Oh. True.
She chuckled. “Wait until Daniel finds out that you mutter out loud a lot. I’m sure it will amuse him.”
“I think he already knows.”
She laughed.
My phone buzzed.
I grinned when I saw his name appear.
He’d made sure we exchanged numbers before he left and he had my address. He told me he’d be googling it on his way to his truck so he knew where to pick me up later.
I never got your last name, Sprite.
Connor.
Avery Connor—it suits you. But I prefer Sprite. I am off at 6. I can pick you up at 6:45?
I replied quickly.
Looking forward to it.
Actually, if I take a sho
rtcut I can be there about 6:41.
Please be safe. I would rather wait the 4 extra minutes.
OK. 6:45. I am adding 4 minutes onto the end of our date—I will not be denied 4 minutes of time I could spend with you.
I blushed at his words.
Okay. Duly noted.
If, in fact, the date ends at all. Just saying.
I shook my head at his words. He made me feel so . . . wanted.
You had better have a pocketful of those peppermints. You’ll need them.
Done.
Beth grabbed the phone away and read our texts.
“Sprite?”
She started to grin as I told her why he called me that, and by the time I finished talking, she was smiling so wide, I was sure her cheeks had to hurt.
“He’s already named you, Avery. He’s an animal guy. You know what that means. Once they name you, they keep you. You are so done.”
Before I could protest, my phone buzzed again. We both looked at the screen.
Is it 6 yet? BTW, dibs on tomorrow, too.
Sorry, I forgot my manners. My mother always told me to say please. So, please. Dibs on tomorrow.
“Oh shit,” she muttered. Then she pushed herself up on the floor, pulling me up with her. “I had better get busy with research.”
“Research?”
“Booking a church and all. Takes time, you know. At this rate, I have a feeling you’re gonna need it.”
I chuckled as I walked behind her. “Beth?”
“Hmm?”
“Did you see how big his feet were?”
She stopped so suddenly, I stumbled into her back, almost knocking both of us down. She started to laugh and flung her arm over my shoulders.
“I did notice, actually. I was certainly impressed. But for you to notice? Now that is impressive and I know it’s serious—for both of you. C’mon, Sprite. We got some talking to do.” She winked. “Maybe another trip to the drugstore is in order. Feet that big—we need some MAGNUMS.”
I fanned myself.
Was it extremely warm in here?
Around three, I started pacing. My nerves had kicked in. Should I change into a different outfit? He said my skirt was pretty. Maybe he wanted me to keep it on. Oh, God—maybe he wanted to be the one to take it off.
Why was it so hot in here?
I didn’t know what we were doing on our date.
Although, I hoped some of the evening involved kissing.
It Started With a Kiss Page 3
