Reckless

“Oh!”

Kyle’s throat suddenly felt tight as he watched her pink tongue flick along her bottom lip.

He leisurely took his fill of her up this close. He hadn’t noticed the light spattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, or the specks of deep green in her warm brown eyes. And she smelled of…was that gardenia?

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

“For what?” Her voice was a mere whisper as she returned the same attention to him that he was giving her.

Kyle smiled. “For going in on this with me.”

Her gaze darted around the room. “Sure, no problem.”

“Are you certain? Because I’m getting the impression that there is a problem.”

“Like what?”

He shrugged, his palms itching with the desire to reach out and touch her. “That’s what I’m wondering. You don’t seem to want to be in a room alone with me for any stretch.” God, but she smelled good. His voice lowered. “Why is that?”

He heard the catch in her breathing. “Don’t be silly. You’re Jesse’s best friend.”

And she was Jesse’s girl.

The thought should have been enough to chase Kyle away from the woman in front of him. Should have been enough to remind him that not only was she taken, but she had Jesse’s name stamped all over her. While they weren’t engaged, they were practically engaged. The two had been a couple for almost a decade.

“And any friend of Jesse’s is a friend of yours?” he finished for her.

She nodded, her pupils nearly eclipsing the rich color of her eyes as she stared at him unblinkingly.

And maybe that’s what she needed to do. What he needed to do. Give a good blink to break whatever spell being this close to each other was casting over them.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Then opened them to find that he should probably have shared his thoughts with her. Because Heidi was doing what he had hoped to prevent. She was leaning in to kiss him.

Chapter 4

OH, MY God…

Heidi wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing. It looked like she was kissing Kyle. But that was impossible. There was no way she would ever kiss her boyfriend’s best friend.

She heard a small sound and realized that not only was she kissing Kyle, she was doing so wholeheartedly—and enjoying it.

Enjoying it? Hell, she was afraid she might spontaneously combust from the simple contact of her mouth against his.

She abruptly broke off the kiss, only to find Kyle’s hands on either side of her face, allowing her no quarter.

Heidi swallowed thickly, incapable of movement, incapable of doing anything more than stare at him, wondering what he made of her actions…and, more, wondering how he might respond to her.

In that one moment, she knew that she’d risked everything she’d worked so hard for. Jeopardized every last plan, every last intention.

And when Kyle leaned in to kiss her again, she knew that she’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

She wasn’t sure what it was about this one man, what made her yearn for him in a way she was unable to resist. Perhaps it was the way she saw herself through his eyes: sexy, desirable, wanted. Or maybe it was her need of an unnameable something in him that compelled her to reach out. Something fundamental that transcended simple sexual need, consequences be damned.

Where before their kiss had been tentative, testing, now it was hungry and demanding. As if they both understood that they’d already thrown caution to the wind, risked so much, so why not just go the whole way?

Oh, yes. Why not?

Heidi couldn’t seem to kiss Kyle enough…touch him enough. She sought and licked and stroked from his crisp, thick hair to the back waist of his slacks. He pressed her against the wall, his mouth demanding as he grasped her hands and pulled them above her head, trapping them against the cool drywall even as he ground his hips into hers. Heidi moaned, the pressure he applied on the outside spreading to her inside, swirling and growing as she hooked her foot around his calf, drawing him closer still.

She struggled to regain control of her hands and he released her, moving her instead toward the preparation island. If she’d thought the wall was cool, she shivered when he hoisted her up to sit on the stainless steel, coaxing her knees apart with his hips and then filling the void with his body. Heidi tunneled her fingers into his hair, hauling him in for another kiss, a deeper kiss, her breathing coming in quick gasps. She reached for his shirt buttons and then roughly pulled the shirt up, separating herself from him briefly until the white cotton lay in a pile in the corner. He did the same with her shirt and her bra, leaving her bare to his attentions. The image of him running his tongue along her engorged nipples was almost too much to endure.

She’d never been intimate with any man except Jesse. Merely watching Kyle take liberties with her, claim her with a passionate certainty, nearly brought her to the brink.

“I have no fantasies,” she’d told Nina not too long ago.

Her friend had stared at her as if she were nuts.

But Heidi had never had any need for fantasies. Not when reality provided everything she wanted.

As she helped Kyle peel her slacks off, she wondered if perhaps she should have found something to fantasize about. Because maybe if she had, she wouldn’t have allowed definite fantasy material to seep into her reality.

Kyle’s fingers probed her throbbing flesh. She threw her head back and groaned, her hands flat against the counter, her hips bucking involuntarily.

How long had it been since she’d experienced this insane heat? This chaotic need? To be sure, up until recently, Jesse and her sex life had been satisfying.

Oh, but not this hot.

Two years? Five years?

The thoughts muddled in her brain as Kyle fitted a finger into her dripping wetness, rendering her helpless to do anything more than concentrate on him and only him.

Was this what it was like? Playing the field? Inviting intimacy with multiple men?

God, if this was any indication, then she’d lived a very sheltered life, indeed.

The problem was, she was terrified that the incredible heat she was experiencing wasn’t the result of exploring new territory with just any man…but only with Kyle.

“No…no…no…” she whispered, biting hard on her bottom lip even as she hastily undid the button on his fly and reached in to cup his silken length.

“Yes…yes…yes,” she countered.

If Kylewas tuned into her internal dilemma, hewasn’t letting on. Every bit of flesh he uncovered seemed to fascinate him endlessly, and his hands and mouth would follow his gaze, leaving no inch unexplored.

Heidi was in awe of his absorption. As was her body. She ached in a way that left her breathless, her heart racing uncontrollably.

Then came the moment when he would cross that last line, breach the last barrier.