Painful, page 21
Because if you can’t, then I won’t be able to either. We might as well leave and go to my place, so we can sit in a dark room and spend the entire night crying in each other’s arms. And I don’t want to spend my last moments with you being sad. So, please, say yes to this memory I’m offering you.
Kiera’s beautiful ever-changing eyes studied me for long seconds, until finally, she broke eye contact with me and turned to Matt, who was busy manhandling Rachel. She tapped his shoulder, diverting his attention, then told him, “I’ll take something…sweet.” Matt grinned and gave her a hug. I had to laugh at my normally reserved guitarist…and the look on Kiera’s face as she gently patted his back.
“I’ll hook you up, Kiera!” he exclaimed, and then he was off to make her something that I knew would be exceptionally strong.
“Thank you,” I told her, kissing her neck.
She pursed her lips at me in answer, and then a scream broke out in the living room. Kiera and I angled ourselves to see that Evan had found Jenny; he’d hoisted the tiny girl onto his shoulder and was playfully smacking her ass. Which gave me a fabulous idea…
After waving a greeting to Evan, I shifted my eyes back to Kiera. She knew exactly what I was planning. “Don’t even think about it, Kyle.” She even stuck a finger in my chest, like that would somehow stop me. She seemed to realize that, and stepped back from me, into one of the dining room chairs. The girl there looked pretty hammered…and thoroughly finished with the game.
Grabbing Kiera’s shoulders, she made her sit down. “Here, I’m done. You play.”
As soon as Kiera was in the chair, Matt handed her a drink, and the girl next to her gave her the dice. And then made her drop them. They tumbled from her hand and landed on snake eyes. Oh…man. That sucks. That was pretty much the opposite of beginner’s luck. Kiera didn’t know what a pair of ones meant, but everyone else did, and the entire table groaned in sympathy for her. Matt patted her shoulder and told her he’d make another drink for her while I explained her fate.
“Snake eyes means you have to pound your drink.” Her eyes widened as she absorbed that. It was really best if you rolled that when you only had a couple swigs left…and not a brand-new, super potent drink. I’d been in her shoes before…it led to bad things. I’d have to make sure she didn’t play this game for too long. I wanted her buzzed, not puking.
Rita handed me my beer, and I raised it in a toast to Kiera. “Bottom’s up, babe.”
She shook her head, not amused. “I wasn’t really playing…”
The entire table of drunken idiots started booing her. The look on her face was priceless, and I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me, but I watched her closely, looking for the Get me out of here now expression. She surprised me though and started chugging her fruity cocktail. When she finished it in record time, she practically got a standing ovation from the table. Some jackass made a sexual comment about how I was lucky because she was such a good sucker, and I started laughing. Until she glared at me. Then I stopped. Immediately. Oops. Sorry.
Hauling Jackass out of his seat, I stole his spot with a “My turn.” If Kiera was actually going to play this game, then I’d play with her. Although, there was no way in hell I’d play with hard liquor like she was. I’d already learned that lesson.
I watched Kiera closely throughout the game. I wanted her loose and breezy, not plastered. When she giggled as she drank, I knew she was getting close. When I made a suggestive comment about our sex life, about her being drunk improving my odds, and Kiera tossed it right back at me, saying, “Since when have you ever needed help with your odds,” I knew she was there. Yep, time to go. But first, I couldn’t let the ball die on my side of the court. If Kiera was going to play…then let’s play.
Staring her down, I murmured, “True…” I ran my teeth over my bottom lip, a move I knew from experience she found distracting. Then I lowered my voice to that seductive range that I knew she loved and started explaining just what I hoped I could get her to do to me later. “But maybe I could get you to do that one thing with your—"
She didn’t even let me finish painting that glorious picture for the table. Partially standing, she snapped, “Kellan Kyle! You shut the hell up!”
That’s right…I win.
Kiera’s cheeks flamed as she glared at me. Amid the laughter in the room, my own included, I playfully told her, “Just saying…” Her heated eyes grew downright ferocious. God, she was cute when she was mad at me. If she didn’t react like that, I wouldn’t tease her half as much as I did. I’d never tell them anything real, Kiera. And besides, I knew you’d stop me.
Knowing I needed to simmer her down a little, I let the love I felt for her show in my face and in my voice. “You’re such an adorable drunk, Kiera.” I love you so much for letting me harass you.
I really wasn’t sure how she’d react to me embarrassing her while she was buzzing. A playful smack of reprimand, or a semi-angry stomp out of the room…making me chase her, pin her down, get her to forgive me with my undivided attention to her body. Hmmm…
I was just about to decide for her when she stood from the table and playfully motioned me over to her. She wanted to kiss me, in front of all these people… She usually objected to my very public displays of affection. She was definitely feeling no pain right now. Good. Neither was I.
Rising from my seat, I leaned over the table and tasted her; warm, soft, and sweet like the drinks she’d been sipping. Perfection. The connection instantly turned me on, and I savored the moment, even if it was punctuated with whistling and laughter.
“All right! We playing spin the bottle?”
Knowing that voice all too well, I broke apart from Kiera and glared at my bassist. As I straightened to standing, Griffin clapped me on the back with a giddy grin on his face; spin the bottle was one of his favorite party games. “No, we’re not, Griffin.” There’s not a chance in hell that I would let you kiss Kiera, buddy. You will die tonight if you try.
Not intimidated by the look on my face, Griffin found an empty bottle on the table and spun it. Jackass. Gonna test me, huh? Crossing my arms over my chest, I stared him down. This isn’t happening, Griffin. Well, if it landed on Kiera, it wasn’t happening. I really didn’t care if Griffin wanted to kiss someone else.
But then the room exploded in gut-busting laughter. Confused, I looked at the bottle to see what was so funny. And that was when I saw it…the neck of the bottle was pointed perfectly…at me. Well, fuck. I hadn’t considered that possibility. That was a redo, right? He wouldn’t…
Shit…yes, he would.
My eyes instantly snapped to him. When he looked up at me, I said, “Nuh-uh,” and firmly shook my head. No way in hell, dude.
While the people around us died with laughter—even Kiera was clutching her stomach, her eyes watering with delight—Griffin shrugged. “Sorry, man. House rules, you play the bottle where it lies.”
It felt like the entire house was suddenly in the dining room, watching us, laughing their asses off at my death sentence. Or Griffin’s. I again shook my head at him. “Griff, we’re not playing—”
The fucker didn’t even let me finish. He grabbed my head and fucking laid one on me. Then the asshole tried to shove his tongue into my startled mouth. Oh my fucking God! Matt better have bleach, because I had an emergent need to gargle with it. I instantly shoved Griffin away from me, but the damage was done. I could still…feel him.
While I warded Griffin off with my hand, I heard a couple people falling from their chairs they were laughing so hard. They wouldn’t think it was so fucking funny if it had happened to them. “Dude! What the fuck?”
Griffin gave me a confused expression as he looked me over. “Huh,” he said. “Yeah, I don’t get what all the fuss is about…I’ve had better.”
Really. He was critiquing me on a kiss I didn’t want? Dick. Crossing my arms over my chest, I gave him my best fuck-you eyes. He just wriggled his finger and said, “Maybe if you did this thing with your tongue…”
Asshole. But now that my moment of horror was over and I noticed the state of the room, of my friends, and of Kiera…my mood shifted to amusement. At least he’d made Kiera laugh…and I didn’t think I’d ever seen her laugh quite so hard before; she had to continuously wipe the tears from her eyes. It was adorable.
I gave Griffin a light backhand across the chest, then shoved his shoulder away from me with a soft laugh. “Get the fuck out of here, Griffin.”
Griffin was—of course—offended that I wasn’t thanking him for his suggestion, then he planted one on Anna and made a crack about saving his skills for those who appreciated them. Please do. My bandmates were busting up laughing, so were their girlfriends, and so was well, everyone else. I could only close my eyes and shake my head. Why me?
Reopening my eyes, I smiled at Kiera, still laughing. Enjoying her joy, I grabbed my beer from the table and motioned to the drinking game we’d actually been playing. “Well, needless to say…I’m done.”
Someone took my spot, the game resuming as the snickering died down. Walking over to Kiera, I extended my hand. “Dance with me, beautiful girl?”
Kiera sighed at me, a lovesick expression on her face that warmed my entire body, made my stomach tingle with energy. How could she still do that to me? Make me feel like I’d never even held a woman before? It was mystifying…and intoxicating.
She nodded at my suggestion, then let me pull her to her feet. We both stumbled a little; she was farther along than I’d realized. I probably should have removed her from the game sooner. Myself too. I felt pretty light, airy, and uncomplicated. But more than that, I felt electric, overly sensitive to her touch. I couldn’t wait to wrap my arms around her.
I navigated us to the center of the packed living room. With the deep thump of the loud music and the sea of bodies around us, it felt like a club in here. But with Kiera’s eyes locked on me as relentlessly as mine were locked on hers, it felt private too, like we were alone. I didn’t really want to “dance” with her though. I wanted to move with her. I melded my body to hers, so every inch of us touched—chest to chest, waist to waist, hip to hip. Her arms looped around my neck, sealing us tight, while my fingers ran over her body in a loop, all the way up, all the way down. It was exquisite torture, a tease of the very best kind. But it wasn’t enough.
I shifted our legs so one of mine was between hers. Kiera sucked in a shaky breath as our moves became a lot more suggestive. It ignited me, and my heart began to race as fire surged through my body. God, I loved moving with her.
We were practically simulating sex as we moved, and even half-drunk my body was responding. Resting my forehead against hers, feeling her fast breath on me, I vaguely wondered how long I could tease myself like this before I broke down and did something. I was already aching, already getting far too hard for such a public place, but damn, I didn’t want it to stop. She was killing me…and I loved it.
I ran my hand up the front of her shirt, stopping right on her breast. Fuck, did she know how hot she was right now? How fast she was pushing me toward the edge of reason? Wishing there were far fewer layers between us, I ran my thumb over her rigid nipple. The soft noise she made…Jesus. I made myself smile at her, when what I really wanted to do was beg her to take me. And in a way, she did.
Her fingers reached up to clench my hair, yanking my mouth to hers. God, heaven. There was a frantic desperation to the way she kissed me, like she was about to explode if she didn’t have me. It enflamed me, made my body hurt, I wanted her so much. We were both breathing so heavily, it made thinking impossible. I need her. Now.
I squeezed her nipple, ran my other hand down inside her jeans to feel her ass as she grinded against me, but it wasn’t enough. More. Like she was reading my mind, Kiera pulled my head down to moan in my ear, “I want you…now.”
Fuck. Me.
I pulled back to stare at her, and I knew she could see the desire on my face; I felt drunk with the need of her. Her eyes widened as she stared at me, her lips parted. I couldn’t stop staring at her body, at what I wanted. Adjusting our hips, I let her feel what she was doing to me. Just lightly rubbing against her was driving me insane. I looked around, remembering where we were. We needed to get out of here.
There were several eyes staring at me as I searched for somewhere to go. Some of the eyes were amused, some were burning with interest, like if I grabbed one of them, they’d willingly come with me. I didn’t want someone with us…and I didn’t want to be interrupted by someone bold enough to try butting in. That meant I needed a door with a lock. And there was only one.
Untangling Kiera’s fingers from my hair, I leaned down so she could hear me. “Come with me.” My voice was rough, needy. So was Kiera’s grip on my hand as she nodded.
I worked us through the crowd, ignoring attempts to get my attention. All I could focus on was the hallway leading to the bathroom. But even still, once we were in the hallway, past the bulk of the partiers, I pulled Kiera into me, finding her mouth again. I couldn’t resist her, not even for a few more seconds. She moaned against my lips, killing me as I walked backward down the hallway. I heard laughs, amused murmurs, felt myself colliding with people, but I didn’t care. Kiera was the only thought on my brain. Kiera and privacy.
I found the bathroom door. The way her mouth moved against mine was so distracting, it took me three tries to open it. Once inside, I flicked on the lights and locked the fucking door. Kiera took that brief intermission to peek at where we were. Adorable frown on her face, she looked up at me. “This is a bathroom.”
She must have been expecting a bedroom. But those doors didn’t lock, and I didn’t entirely trust the people out there to leave us alone. I wasn’t going to tell her that though. “Yeah, I know.”
Needing her, I returned my mouth to hers. She instantly attacked me, clenching her fingers in my hair, pressing her body against me. The need was so intense, so focused, it almost felt like this was our first time together.
I was about to tell her how much I wanted her, but before I could make a sound, her throaty voice cut through the silence of our fast breaths. “You always make me feel so good…I’m going to make you feel good too, Kellan. I want you so much.”
I felt dizzy, lightheaded. High on her. Fuck. I wasn’t going to last long if she kept talking like that. But I didn’t want her to stop either. I closed my eyes, letting my head drop back as her lips attached to my neck; every touch was liquid fire against my skin. “Oh God…I love it when you’re like this.”
That made her stop. “Like what…drunk?” I was about to tell her no, but she ran her tongue up my throat. Holy hell…
What did she ask me? “No. Confident…like you finally get it.”
She pulled back to look at me, confusion in her beautiful eyes. “Get what?” Then she flicked my lip with her tongue; the world spun as need surged through me, making me ache in the best possible way.
Refocusing, because I needed her to hear this, I told her, “That I’m yours…that you can take me…anywhere, anytime, any way. That you own every piece of me.” Forever.
As I watched, her eyes started…sizzling. “If I own you, then I want to take you…now…here. I want to make you come.”
I gave her a seductive smile, but inside…I was burning. Oh…my…fuck. That was the hottest thing I’d ever heard her say. She was killing me right now. In fact, I might not actually survive this. But she wasn’t stopping with words. She pushed me against the counter, rubbing her hips against mine as she yanked my mouth back to hers, claiming me. Yes…take me.
“God…yes. I need you, Kiera. Can you feel how much I need you?” Can you tell I’m barely keeping it together? She whimpered in my mouth, her fingers drifting to my jeans, tugging. Goddamn, she wants me so much…
Blocking out the world, I started lifting up her shirt. She gave up on my jeans and helped me, then helped me remove my shirt. The skin-on-skin contact made me delirious. But even still, I paused to touch my necklace around her throat. You own me…do I own you too?
I slid my hand into her bra, gently squeezing her. The moan she let out was loud, aching…needy. It was punctuated by a voice on the other side of the door. “Uh, Kellan? You in there?” Ignoring Matt’s voice, I swept aside Kiera’s bra to feel that glorious nipple in my mouth. She panted as she held my head to her; her hips swiveling against me bringing me to the edge of something…wonderful.
“Dude, Kellan. I know you and Kiera are in there…people saw you two head that way. Open the door.”
“Goddamn it,” I muttered, my body somewhat cooling. I knew Matt well enough to know that he wanted something, and he’d pound on the door every five seconds until he completely destroyed the moment to get it. Untangling Kiera from me, I unlocked the door and cracked it open. “What, Matt?” I scowled, eager for him to leave.
Kiera’s head rested on my bare chest as Matt glared at me. “Are you about to have sex in my bathroom?”
Well, duh. Wasn’t that painfully obvious? “Yes,” I told him, closing the door.
Kiera giggled at my answer, but Matt wasn’t amused. He blocked the door with his hand. “Kell, we only have one bathroom. I don’t want people peeing in my kitchen sink.”
With a sigh, I opened the door wider. Matt took in my state of undress, then Kiera’s, then snapped his eyes to mine as his cheeks flushed a little. Shaking my head at him, I shrugged. “Bedroom or bathroom.” I’d prefer the room with the lock, but I really didn’t care anymore.
Matt’s face scrunched, like he didn’t understand. “Bedroom or bathroom? You pick, Matt.” Because there is no way I’m stopping…you have no idea what she just said to me. If you did, you wouldn’t be bugging me, so pick a place, and do it now. Because the sex is happening.
Matt relented with a sigh and an eye roll. “Fine, but make it quick.” Way ahead of him, I slammed the door shut and locked it.
Matt added something about cleaning up, but I really wasn’t listening to him anymore. Kiera was my only focus. As her mouth reattached itself to mine, I unhooked her bra. Once the material was off her, I ducked down to suck her nipple back into my mouth. She wasn’t quiet when she voiced her agreement, and her fingers again tried to unbutton my jeans. She couldn’t, so I helped her as I teased her about her lack of talent for stripping me while she was drunk. But then she slipped her hand into my boxers, wrapping her fingers around me, and I couldn’t speak, couldn’t make a sound other than a needy whimper. God, yes…
