Never Tied Down (The Never Duet #2)

I felt him laugh, but didn’t hear him. I did see his smile hiding behind his hand as his fingers covered his mouth. He was busted. I just smiled though, and leaned in a little farther, dipping my hand to pull a few popcorn kernels out of our tub and toss them in my mouth.

“Hey,” he said quietly. I turned my head slightly to look up at him. “Hit me.” His mouth opened wide and stayed that way. I laughed, but relented, placing a few kernels in his mouth. He smiled as he started chewing. The theatre was pretty empty, typical for a Wednesday night, but in that moment it felt like we were the only ones in the room. I stared at his jaw as he chewed, watched his Adam’s apple dip when he swallowed, and couldn’t tear my eyes away from him for anything. He made popcorn sexy.

He gave me a sharp nod. “One more hit, babe.” My hands were on autopilot and I deposited a few more pieces of popcorn in his mouth. He closed his lips around my finger before I had a chance to pull away. I drew in a faltering breath as he took his time sucking the salt and butter from my finger, his eyes never leaving mine. It was anything but innocent. It was raw, carnal, and only brought on images of Riot sucking on other parts of my body. Images I’d tried to bury for months, that hurt too much to think about for so long. Now, however, those pictures flooded my mind and I not only welcomed them, my mind took them farther, put him and me in new and equally hot scenarios where his mouth was latched on to my body for a variety of reasons in a variety of places.

He pulled his mouth to the end of my finger, his tongue flat and dragging along the bottom of it, and just before my finger fell away, he pressed a kiss to the very end of it. It was, possibly, the most erotic thing I’d ever witnessed firsthand. And we were in a movie theatre. Surrounded by other people. I let out a shuddering breath and felt the crimson blush heat up my cheeks. He smiled at my obvious mortification, but pulled my shoulder closer to him. My lungs tripped again when I felt his breath feather over the skin just below my ear.

“You taste good,” he growled, so low it was almost a whisper.

“It’s the butter from the popcorn,” I stupidly responded, my words rushing out with the only breath I’d been able to take in since he’d fucked my finger with his mouth.

“I give credit where it’s due, baby. You. Taste. Good.”

He might as well have been talking directly to my vagina for all the clenching he was causing. Riot and I had always done sexual tension well. It had been built up over the phone and explosive anytime we were physically near each other. It had been capped for so long, our desire for one another put on hold, forced into a proverbial darkness. Now that we’d kind of lifted the ban, I was afraid the passion we’d always had for each other was going to sweep us away on a wave of lust and potentially bad decisions.

All those thoughts didn’t stop me from melting into him when he pulled my shoulder closer to him. It didn’t stop me from watching that horrifying movie, pressing my face into his chest when I wanted to scream. And it didn’t stop me from loving the way it felt to let him hold me, his thumb absently rubbing up and down the side of my shoulder, causing goose bumps to spread all over.

When the lights came up and I heard the people around us shuffling to gather their belongings and leave the theatre, I frowned into him, not wanting to leave the little bubble of warmth we’d created. I was comfortable. More than that, I’d not had one heavy thought for two solid hours as I leaned against him, watching that scary excuse for a film.

His arm gave me a gentle squeeze and I knew it was time to get up. I frowned again, but moved away from him, leaning down to grab my shoes. We didn’t say anything as we stood, but he reached down and took my hand, linking our fingers, and leading the way.

It had been so long since I held his hand; all the schoolgirl butterflies came back, flooding my belly. Instinctively, my free hand wrapped around his arm, holding that sexy, strong part of him close to me.

He walked me all the way to my car, taking my keys from me and opening my door. I smiled at his familiar chivalrous ways, then turned to tell him thank you. I was startled by his body pressing into mine, forcing me to back up into the side of my car. His hands were suddenly resting on the curve of my hips, mine finding their natural resting place against his chest, and my face turning up to look at him. My breathing sped up and my eyes searched his, hoping I’d see something in them that would give me answers to the questions spinning in my head with his body pressed so firmly against mine.

“I miss you.” His voice was low and raspy, as if he didn’t want anyone else in the world to hear his words except me. “I like this, spending time with you, but I still feel like you’re an arm’s length away.” His tender eyes moved back and forth as he took mine in. Perhaps he was searching for answers too. I wanted to give him everything I could.