“Yeah, I played it back in college on Old-School Game Night,” he said. “And it was your choice.”
It was indeed, Nia groaned inwardly.
“But don’t you need at least three people?” She hoped for a reprieve from the potentially close contact. “If we’re playing, who’ll referee and spin the board?”
He opened the box and skimmed the rules on the inside lid.
“We’ll improvise,” he said. “I’ll spin for you, and you can spin for me. We’re allowed to take our hand off the spots only long enough to spin the dial.”
“Is that in the rules?”
“We’re playing the special snowbound edition,” Kyle raised a brow, “where the only rules are—there are no rules.”
Nia crossed her arms over her chest. “Then it’s only fair to warn you, I won’t take it easy on you because you’re company.”
He squared his broad shoulders. “Bring it.”
They moved operations to the living room, which was warmer and had more space to accommodate the large plastic mat.
“How about raising the stakes with a wager?” Kyle proposed as he spread the mat out in front of the fireplace.
Nia narrowed her eyes. “I don’t have much money, and if I did, I wouldn’t gamble it.”
“I’m thinking of something more interesting than money.”
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense.”
“If I win, I want a do-over of this morning’s breakfast,” he said. “But instead of cold cereal, I want you to put the bacon and eggs I saw in the fridge earlier to good use and serve them up for dinner.”
The bubble of laughter tickling Nia’s throat exploded as she recalled the incredulous look on this face at the sight of the Lucky Charms box.
“And if you lose, you’ll do the same?”
Kyle kicked off his shoes and stood on the opposite side of the mat. “I don’t know the first thing about cooking.” He shrugged. “But it doesn’t matter because I don’t lose, either.”
“Well, in the event you do lose, and I win, I’ll come up with something else for you to do.”
“Deal.” Kyle extended his hand across the plastic mat.
She shook it, trying hard to ignore the delicious tingle the brief skin-on-skin contact left in its wake.
He offered her the first spin, but she deferred to her guest. Kyle spun the plastic spinner on the cardboard dial, when it stopped he called out the results. “Right foot, red.”
The aged plastic mat crackled as Nia walked on it and selected a red spot to place her socked foot.
Kyle passed the dial to her.
“Left hand, yellow,” she said, as Kyle plunked his hand down on a yellow spot at the other end of the mat.
When Kyle called out her next moves, Nia was careful to select spots on the side of the mat she’d staked out. But as her fears of close contact ebbed, her competitive streak grew bolder.
“Right hand, blue,” she said, but couldn’t resist adding a taunt. “Hmm, that’s going to be a stretch. Sure you don’t want to pack this away and get out the Scrabble board?”
The long limbs of his agile body made the difficult move look easy. “No way, but if you’ll tell me where you keep your apron, I’ll be glad to get it out for you.”
Nia’s snarky comeback died on her lips when he called out her next move. She looked over her shoulder at the green spot closest to her foot and groaned inwardly. She’d practically have to do a split to get to it.
“Are you sure you can make that one? There’s no way for us to call for help if your hip pops out of its socket.”
Nia glared at him and then extended her leg as far as it would go. “There,” she said proudly.
“That’s not your foot,” Kyle protested. “It’s just your toe.”
“It’s on the green spot, isn’t it? That’s all that counts.”
“Barely,” he grumbled.
Nia laughed. “Who was it who said, the only rules are there are no rules?”
She pulled her hand off the designated spot just long enough to take the next spin.
“Right foot, blue.” She shot a glance at the closest blue circle to his foot, which was on the opposite side of the mat. “Don’t envy you on that one,” she said.
The taunt turned out to be premature.
“Didn’t even break a sweat,” Kyle crowed, easily planting his foot inside the circle.
Caught up in trying to win, Nia didn’t notice their play had shrunk the distance between them until he was next to her.
“Left hand, red,” Kyle said.
The closest red spot called for Nia to make a move that put her close enough to feel the heat radiating off his body. No taunts accompanied their next moves, twists and bends, only a subtle shift that morphed their harmless game into something altogether different.
“Right hand, green.” Nia’s voice cracked. She held her breath, bracing herself for Kyle to make a move that would leave him hovered over her, his large palms planted on either side of her head.
Goosebumps rose on her unsteady arms as his warm breath fanned over the back of her neck, liquefying her spine.
“You finally ready to give in?” His husky whisper was as intimate as if his lips had touched her skin. They both knew what he was asking, and it had nothing to do with the game.
She shook her head, summoning the last dregs of her willpower. It was getting harder to fight what she now knew they both wanted.
Kyle’s next spin did little to change their position, and he remained hovered over her.
Nia took her turn and called out his next move. Unfortunately, it called for Kyle to shift his hand only inches from where it was planted.
The next spin was his.
“Left hand, red,” he said.
Nia assessed her options. She’d have to flip over and practically do a back bend to touch the colored circle. Difficult, but not impossible.
“Unless you’re a contortionist, it’s not happening,” Kyle, still hovered over her, whispered against her ear.
Nia flipped her body around and outstretched her palm backward. Her hand missed its target, making falling inevitable. She braced herself for hitting the floor, when a muscled arm caught her around the waist.
“I got you,” he said.
Nia stared up at his intense brown eyes, and the cracked facade of her resistance crumbled.
“Kyle.” His name tumbled from her mouth in a breathless pant. “I’m ready to give in.”
Before doubt could challenge her decision, Nia slid her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Chapter 8
The soft, honeyed sweetness of Nia’s lips were everything Kyle had imagined and more.
It was the aching need it set off in him he hadn’t expected. After all, it was just a kiss.
One he’d craved all day.
Kyle locked his arm around Nia’s waist, while the other kept them both from collapsing onto the plastic mat covering the hardwood floor. He’d planned to go slow. To take his time exploring the lips he’d hotly anticipated tasting and savor their every nuance.
Then Nia traced his bottom lip with the tip of her tongue—shooting his plan to hell and unleashing the pent-up desire she’d unknowingly stoked all day long.
He eagerly sucked her tongue into his mouth, no longer tasting, but devouring.
Nia’s tongue stroked his in a scorching seduction, but Kyle knew the real seduction had been unintentional and had started before they’d ever touched.
First, she’d tempted him with those big brown eyes. Eyes he’d first judged as too large, but later found so captivating he couldn’t look away. Then she took it further, teasing him with her smile. A smile so beguiling, he’d shoveled snow in a blizzard just to get another gl
impse of it.
In between, Nia had tantalized him with her luscious, denim-clad derriere. A softy rounded bottom that left him in a state of arousal with every stolen glance.
Never had he been seduced so sweetly and so completely.
Kyle wanted to look into those eyes and hear his name on those full lips when he made her come.
He lowered them gently to the mat, never breaking contact with her mouth. The kiss deepened as their bodies came into play. His hardness desperately seeking her softness.
Finally, the need for air superseded their desire, and they broke off the kiss.
Nia stared up at him, her breasts rising and falling as she caught her breath. He felt the stiff peaks of her nipples through their clothing begging for the same attention he’d given her mouth.
“If we both touch the floor at the same time, which one of us wins our wager?” she asked, her breath still coming out in pants.
Kyle raised a brow. “I thought you already gave in.”
Nia shook her head slowly, and her kiss-swollen lips eased into a smile laced with wicked promise.
“My giving in has nothing to do with the game.”
“So, let’s say, we declared you the winner.” He nuzzled her neck until she giggled. “What happens next?”
Nia rose to her elbows. Her face flushed, and her throat wearing the beginnings of whisker burn. “Then naturally, I’d expect you to honor the bet and pay up.”
All day, the unconventional beauty had turned him on without even realizing it. But the woman beneath him now knew exactly what she was doing and just how hot it made him. The growing evidence was pressed against her belly desperate to demonstrate how badly he wanted her.
“And have you decided what you want?” he asked.
“Feels like you already know.”
His cock twitched, and it was all he could do not to give it to her right now, right there on the unyielding surface of the cold, hard floor.
“I want to hear the words from your lips.”
Nia leaned forward. She took his earlobe between her teeth and gently tugged.
“I want you,” she whispered against his ear.
And his erection turned to concrete.
Kyle kissed her again. Her breasts filled his hands while his tongue plundered her mouth in a preview of what was to come once he stripped her naked. She moaned low in her throat, while her hands started their own exploration up to his shoulders, down his back, gripping his behind.
Then reality pricked Kyle’s conscience. Reluctantly, he broke off the kiss.
The eyes he adored stared up at him. In them, he saw an unvarnished lust that fueled his own. He also saw a glimmer of trust.
A trust he didn’t want to violate by not telling her why he was there.
“Nia, I want this more than you’ll ever know, but I have to tell you I’m no Prince Charming,” he began. “I’m...”
She shushed him with a touch of her hand to his lips. “I’m not looking for a happily ever after.” Her hand slid between them until it palmed his erection. “I only want one thing from you, and I want it now.”
* * *
Nia’s mind was made up. Now nothing was going to stop her from having this real-life, fantasy man.
In one sweeping motion, Kyle scooped her off the floor and cradled her in his arms. She wrapped her own arms around his neck, and he kissed her again. Long, slow and deep, making her wish the snow outside would fall forever.
“Bedroom?”
His question was rhetorical, because before she could answer, his long strides had eaten up the narrow hallway to her bedroom door.
Kyle blinked as they crossed the threshold, and she laughed.
“Not what you were expecting?”
“I feel like a time machine just returned me to the present,” he said.
He laid her in the center of her queen-size bed, covered with a plush duvet the color of French vanilla. The room was done in soft, modern beige-on-beige tones that helped her keep centered in a house filled with remnants of a time long past.
Nia thought briefly of lighting the room’s fireplace, but the thought vanished as Kyle stretched his long body over hers. She was already plenty hot. He leaned in and captured her mouth in another kiss. The touch of his mouth against hers sent a shaft of heat through her body, setting off fireworks between her legs.
Eager to touch the bare torso she’d spent hours daydreaming about, Nia reached under his shirt and ran her hands over his broad chest. He must have read her mind. The next thing she knew he broke off their kiss. Standing, he yanked the annoying garment up and over his head.
Nia raised herself up to her elbows. The breadth of his shoulders and defined pecs could only be described as drool-worthy, but it was the bulge in his jeans that commanded her attention.
“Did I really point out the Twister game or did you pick it to coax me out of my panties?”
He cocked his head to the side and raised a brow. “And if I did?”
Nia undid the top button on her jeans and slowly tugged the zipper down. Her gaze remained riveted to the sizable bulge, which grew even larger as he watched her. Emboldened by his reaction, Nia raised her hips and pushed both her jeans and underwear down over them. She shimmied the garments down her legs, before flinging them both across the room leaving her naked from the waist down.
“Then you succeeded,” she said. “Only now I’m wondering, how do I get your underwear on the floor next to mine?”
An easy smile spread across his face and moisture pooled at the apex of her thighs.
“First, you have to get rid of your sweater,” he said, then added. “The bra, too.”
Nia rose to a kneeling position and pulled the sweater over her head. Reaching behind her back, she undid the hooks on her bra and slowly removed it. Her breasts bounced free, earning a sharp intake of breath from the man standing beside the bed.
“God, you are so beautiful,” he said.
Nia flinched inside at the compliment. Knowing it was simply words tossed out in the heat of the moment—a moment she wasn’t going to allow herself to be cheated of by old insecurities. The man was a fantasy, and she was going to enjoy every minute she had with him.
Concern creased his handsome features. “You still okay with this?”
Nia eased back on the bed and leaned back on her elbows. “The only thing bothering me is your pants are still on.” She eyed his erection, which looked like it would break through his zipper at any moment. “What do I have to do to get them off?”
He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her lips.
“All you have to do is ask?”
“Then would you please take off those jeans?” she asked. “First, I want to see you, and then I want to ride you.”
Kyle’s jeans and underwear vanished so quickly Nia thought she’d witnessed magic. She squeezed her legs together at the sight of his long, thick hardness.
Big, black, magnificent.
The bed dipped as he joined her, and Nia’s hands trembled.
“It all looks so good, I’m not sure what I want to touch first,” she said.
“I don’t care what you touch. I just need to feel your hands on me.” Kyle’s gaze zeroed in on her breasts, and her nipples tightened in response. “In the meantime, I already know what I want.”
He covered one of her breasts with his large palm, while his mouth sought out the aroused peak of the other. He teased one nipple with his thumb and took the other between his teeth and gently tugged.
Nia squirmed on the bed, reveling in the sweet sensation of finally having his hands and mouth on her.
“You like that?” He released her nipple from his mouth and kissed the top of her breasts.
“Oh, yes,” Nia hissed.
Tired of waiting for her to make up her mind, her hands moved on their own accord. They started at his shoulders and skimmed down to his sculpted biceps, before venturing lower and palming one of his tight butt cheeks.
Kyle’s hand smoothed down her stomach and over her hips to the top of her mound. He parted her slick folds with his fingers and dipped one inside. Nia threw her head back and gasped at the intimate invasion.
“God, you feel good,” he said. “So hot. So wet.”
Any need for pretense long gone, Nia made her feelings plain. “I’ve been hot and wet since I saw you in the bathroom with your shirt off.”
Kyle’s finger slid deeper and Nia hips rose to meet it. Each stroke fueled her desire for more. He slipped another finger inside, and she rode them until she could no longer bear the erotic torture.
Lust ruled, pushing aside all thoughts except the man in her bed and his skilled fingers. She’d vowed to never be the kind of woman to let passion overrule reason, but just this once...
She pressed gently against his hard chest. “I need you inside me,” she said. “Now.”
Kyle captured her mouth in another kiss and rolled over until she was on top of him, not breaking contact with her mouth.
Never in her life had Nia been so bold, but she couldn’t remember ever wanting a man as much as she wanted this one. There’d be plenty of time for her to explore and justify her wanton behavior once the storm was over.
Right now, she didn’t want to think. All she wanted to do was feel.
“Condom,” he said.
“Please tell me you have one.”
“My wallet,” he said, and she nearly collapsed on top of him in relief.
Kyle retrieved his wallet from the pocket of his discarded jeans. He pulled out the condom and tossed the wallet aside. When he moved to open it, Nia rose to her knees and placed a hand over his.
“Let me,” she said.
Kyle stretched out on the bed. She’d intended to quickly sheath him, but the sight of his engorged shaft, roused and ready, was something to behold and deserved a moment of reverence.
He watched as she rolled it on, and his gaze shifted to her face.
Sweeter Temptation (Kimani Hotties) Page 7
