She was still staring at the pillow. He released her hand, putting his fingers underneath her chin, raising her head so she met his gaze. He’d never, ever seen her this shy, and was having a hard time understanding it. The uneasy look in her eye told him that she was anxious, waiting to see if his answer was going to crush her.
“Not in the slightest.” Her exhale was audible, and he could see her body relax as he spoke the words. “Is that why you were so upset last night?”
Drea looked away suddenly, biting her bottom lip nervously. “Um, well, it’s just that, I saw you two last night, and she was hanging off you and rubbing up against you.” She paused, swallowing hard. She turned back and looked at him, tears welling in her eyes.
“Oh, no, no, no,” Kyle said. He reached for her and pulled her close. She curled up in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. He raised his hand to her hair and stroked her curls slowly, trying to comfort her.
“I know it’s stupid, but she was all over you and the bonfire is kinda our thing. And then today she was asking me all about what you like and your favorite sexual position. Then she told me I was too nice to get involved with you and I just wanted to die.”
Favorite sexual position? Why would Staci have wanted to know…? It hit him suddenly and he burst out into a laugh. Drea looked up at him, tears still running down her face, now with anger flashing across her face. “It’s not fucking funny!” She shoved his chest.
“Oh, baby, no, no. She was asking about Dalton.”
“What?!”
“The reason she leeched on to me at the bonfire was because she was hoping to get Dalton’s attention. What you saw was her trying to use her succubus powers to try and entrap our first mate. So today on the boat, she was asking about his favorite sexual position, not mine.”
“I’m so embarrassed,” she whispered, swiping at her tears with her fingers.
“Oh, Dre, don’t be. I get it, I would have been just as upset if the roles were reversed.” He held her face in his hand, wiping at her cheeks with his thumb.
She looked deeply into his eyes, hers going dark with an emotion he couldn’t place. “You, you would?” she asked, breathy, pulling out of his hands and looking down.
He shifted her in his lap so that now she was full-on straddling him. She traced the outline of his pec muscles through his tee, trying to distract herself. She wanted so badly to kiss him, to grind herself against him and show him she was better than Staci. But she couldn’t bring herself to look up at him. She couldn’t bear to see the pity she just knew was in his eyes right now. For as much as she wanted more, she wasn’t willing to risk what they did have to get it.
“Drea, look at me,” he said softly. She raised her head slowly, finding his eyes. His hands found her face again, making sure she was looking at him. “Yes. You have no idea how much it killed me to watch you flirt with that meathead these last couple of days.”
She let out a huge breath, relaxing her tensed muscles in the process. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. She was so relieved to hear that Staci meant nothing, but the part that came after that had her heart still racing. He’d gotten jealous over her talking with Brig. What exactly did that mean?
Just as she was about to pull away, he tilted his head slightly, moving his lips closer to hers. She did the same until their lips were all but touching. She could feel his breath on her lips, like it was whispering a secret to her.
“Drea…”
“Kyle…”
No sooner had she uttered his name than his lips were on hers, moving slowly, testing the waters. She slipped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, enjoying the feel of his lips against hers. They were just as soft as she had imagined and yet somehow strong. He parted her lips with his tongue, slowly sliding it in her mouth and finding hers. He caressed her tongue softly, sweetly, like it was the only thing he had to do tonight. She let out a soft moan, urging him to continue.
His hands left her face, finding their way to her waist, toying with the hem of her tank top. She wiggled a little in his lap, deepening the kiss. He slid his hands up her sides, underneath her top, finding the bottoms of her breasts. Sliding his hands up over them, he gave a little squeeze once again, testing the waters. His thumbs found her nipples and swiftly brushed over them, which sent a lightning bolt of lust straight to her core. She whimpered, still not backing away from his mouth. She ground against his now-prominent erection, feeling it hit her clit as she did, now fully confident she would not be let down with whatever he was packing down there. Wanting to urge him on, she arched her back, pushing her chest into his hands. She could feel herself getting wetter as he continued to kiss her and play with her nipples.
As soon as he reached down into the cup of her bikini and pinched her nipple, she lost it. She pulled away from the kiss, and groaned out his name. “Kyle...shit…”
As if saying his name broke some spell, he pulled his hands out from under her shirt and shifted out from underneath her. She fell onto her side as he quickly pushed up from the couch.
“Drea, I’m sorry, I…” he stammered, covering his mouth with his hand. “I should go.”
“No, Kyle. Please, please don’t.”
“I’m sorry, I should have, shouldn’t have done that.” He turned and headed toward her front door. Opening it, he paused. “I’ll, um, see you tomorrow. I’m sorry.” He walked out, closing the door behind him, not bothering to turn around and face her.
Chapter Eleven
Sprawled out on the couch in Leona’s office, Drea tried to steady her breathing, her left arm flopped over her face, covering her eyes and blocking the light. She felt like shit, there was no other way to say it, and not just because of the headache she had from the almost-no sleep she got last night. After Kyle had made his lightspeed exit, she had just sat there on the couch for a few long moments, frozen in shock f
rom what had just happened. He kissed her—kissed her good. Inside a part of her was so excited, it had been her fantasy come true. But then he ran away. Had she done something wrong? Was saying his name out loud as he played with her nipples the wrong thing to say?
She had texted Leona as soon as she was able to function, but knew it was already too late and that she was probably asleep. She’d considered calling Dalton, but what exactly was she gonna say? Hey, your bikini got him to notice me, but how do I get him to take it off? She couldn’t do that. Not to mention, who knows what he was doing up at Paradise Point. As long as he was keeping Staci occupied, she didn't really care. She’d tossed and turned all night, replaying the whole evening in her head over and over. He had told her that he’d been jealous, right? Or had she imagined that? When her phone dinged with Leona’s response at six am, she sprang to her feet and rushed off to meet her best friend, skipping her run on the beach in hopes that Leona could help her make some sense of it all.
“Here,” Leona said, handing Drea a cup of coffee. “Before we get any deeper into this, this is gonna require caffeine.”
