Hot Buttered Yum by Kim Law Page A

in between them, where she wasn’t so much “holding”
his finger as fondling it.
    “Oh, good
grief,” she muttered. She released him and smirked when he chuckled.
    Then he pulled
his sports coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders. “You’re shivering
again, but this time I think it’s from the cold.”
    It was from the
cold. And from him. It was harder than she’d have thought
not to lean back into him.
    “Will you answer
me one question before you go?” he asked.
    She eyed him carefully.
Something told her to be very wary around him. “Possibly.”
    “Wait,” he said,
holding up a hand. “Two questions. But the first is an easy one.” He continued
before she could butt in, “Will you let me take you home?”
    “I told you I’m
not—”
    “Just take you
home. Not go in, though you know I want to.” He motioned to the path leading
toward the sidewalk. “It’s cold. Let me drive you instead of you walking.”
    “How do you know
I walked?”
    He bent over and
picked up her silver heels, dangling them in one hand by the heel straps. “Because
you changed out of these.”
    Hmmm. Good
observational skills.
    “No,” she said. She
wasn’t letting him get anywhere near her house. “Second question?”
    Eyes that she
knew were almost as dark as the night sky shone back at her. “Will you kiss me?”
    Her mouth fell
open.
    “A kiss doesn’t
have to lead to sex,” he pointed out.
    “But you’re
hoping it will.”
    “Sweetheart,
right now I just want to have a single taste of you. You wouldn’t believe how
many times I’ve dreamed about it.”
    Which reminded
her of what he’d said before she’d gone on stage that morning. “You’ve seen me
play before, haven’t you? This morning you said I was brilliant onstage. Like you’d
seen me.” Her words slowed and she asked more hesitantly, “Or was that just to
calm me down?”
    He studied her
silently in the dark. Finally, apparently pleased with what he saw, he gave a
small nod. “Twice. I would have attended more if you hadn’t quit.”
    She glanced quickly
away, willing him not to ask her why she’d quit. A gust of cool air caught her
in the face and neck as she turned toward the ocean. She burrowed deeper into
his jacket.
    “So …” he
said from behind her.
    She steeled
herself for his next question. They were having such a nice moment. She wasn’t
ready for it to end.
    But she also
wasn’t talking about her past.
    “About that
kiss,” he finished.
    She glanced back.
Stupid as it may be, she wanted to kiss him too. Though it would only make her
want more.
    “Then you’ll
leave me alone?” she asked.
    He didn’t
answer.
    She huffed out a
sigh and faced him. “It’s not going to change anything, you know?”
    “Meaning, I’ll
still be in the contest and you’ll still think it’s unprofessional?”
    Pretty much. Or that
she knew Kayla would think it unprofessional.
    “Kiss me,” he urged.
    And he finally won.
Yes. Her breath grew shallow. Yes, she was going to kiss him.
    Then she would
march herself home, pull out her favorite adult toy, and imagine it was Lucas.
    Still, she
stalled. “Just once?” She watched a muscle in his jaw twitch.
    “If that’s all
you want.”
    Looking at the
man in front of her, she thought it might be all she could handle.
    Two small steps
and she was back in front of him. She had her arms
crossed over her chest, each hand grasping a lapel, and she tilted her face up
to look at him. They were a foot apart, and he had about a foot of height on
her. Hmmm .
    “Just a minute,”
she murmured.
    She stepped
around him and moved up two steps before facing him again. Then she nodded.
This would work. She was now much closer to his eye level.
    “You about ready?”
He was laughing at her.
    She gave him an
evil eye. “If we’re just going to get one kiss, it should be done right, don’t
you think?”
    A dangerous
gleam of white came from his mouth with his quick smile. “Oh, darlin’.” He