Burn So Bright

Chapter 2-2

She sniffed and blinked back her tears. As he watched, he saw the truth of what he said sink in. Way to go, Marsh. A hot girl is practically naked in front of you and you take a pass.

“You may have a point.” She spoke in a small voice as she wiped away a tear that had managed to sneak through. “But he would never know. And he gave me the free pass. I think he wants me to do something so he doesn’t feel guilty.”

Wow, the red flags with this relationship were really piling up. This free pass concept seemed a little fishy, if you asked Josh. Either commit to a girl or stay single. Don’t try to have it both ways. Of course, he had no doubts about which camp he belonged in. Team Single all the way.

But maybe he just didn’t understand the mysterious ways of engaged couples. “How about a kiss?” he suggested.

“Just a kiss?”

“Yes. Just a kiss. Not enough to cause any trouble, but enough so you can know that you did something with the free pass.”

She ran her tongue across her lower lip, which was pink and plump and practically begging for his touch. “No one needs to know except us.”

“We don’t even have to know. We can pretend it didn’t happen if we want. It’s just a kiss. We’ll probably be laughing about this tomorrow.”

Laughing was better than crying. With relief, he saw her expression brighten and her tears evaporate. “You’re really smart, Josh! That’s a great idea. Just a kiss. No biggie.”

“Exactly. No biggie,” he agreed.

“No harm, no foul.”

“Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

“Easy come, easy go.”

“One up, one down.”

“What?”

He shrugged, having no idea what he’d meant with that one. “Baseball, maybe?”

“Come here, you.” Grabbing his lapel again, she yanked him toward her and this time he didn’t resist. He slid his hands down to the soft indentation of her waist and snugged her against his pelvis. She lifted herself onto her toes and craned her neck, straining toward his mouth. He bent his head—she was so tall in her heels that he barely even had to—and for a long moment simply hovered his mouth over hers. Anticipation crackled between them. He felt her n*****s harden against his chest. His c**k was doing exactly the same thing.

If they were going to have only one kiss, he might as well make it a good one.

He ran his hands up her back, savoring every smooth inch of that long, elegant curve. When he reached her head, he cradled it in both hands, tilting her face to the perfect angle, where he could devour at will. Her eyes drifted half-closed and her lips parted. She looked as if she were dreaming.

He brushed his lips against the soft, tempting mouth open before him. An electric vibration sizzled directly to his brain. He slid his tongue along the sleek flesh of her upper lip, then nipping the lower one until she opened farther, on a soft moan. He tasted champagne and a sweet wildness that had him driving deeper, sweeping his tongue inside the delicious cavern of her mouth.

She wrapped one long leg around his hip. He felt the heel of her shoe against the back of his leg—the visual of that nearly drove him nuts. He clamped a hand on her silk-covered ass and pressed her mound against his groin. His c**k pounded with nearly painful arousal. He bent her over so he didn’t lose his balance as he ravaged her mouth.

Moaning, she grabbed the back of his shirt and held on tight. Being Suzanne, she gave just as good as she got. Their tongues touched and teased in a wicked twining dance. Every stroke generated more electricity, more sparks, more need. The shock of it made him light-headed, and he had a sudden image of the two of them floating in zero-gravity space, locked together in a kiss as hot as a supernova.

Quick footfalls sounded outside the door and a female voice called, “I’ll be out in a sec. Don’t you go anywhere. Oh, look, someone left a club soda out here.”

They broke apart, staring at each other in a sort of daze, trying to reorient themselves. “Someone’s coming,” Suzanne finally whispered.

Josh shook himself out of his stupor. Sweeping her off her feet, he whisked her into the stall where she’d left her dress. He pulled the door closed behind them just as the outer door opened. He squeezed his eyes shut, cringing as the woman hurried to the sink, her heels clicking on the tile floor.

“Hi, it’s me,” the woman said. Suzanne pulled a worried face, but Josh put a finger to her lips before she could say anything. “Yes, it’s going fantastic, like a dream. All signs point to getting lucky tonight.”

Suzanne clamped both of her hands over her mouth, eyes wide with mirth.

“You were right. I’m definitely going commando from now on. It just puts you in the mood, you know? I think he can sense it. We’re connecting on a whole different level. Like, pheromonially. Like, my pheromones are speaking to his pheromones. You know? We’re pheromonially compatible.”

Suzanne’s shoulders were quaking with silent laughter. Josh bent to her ear and whispered, “I hope you’re taking notes. That commando thing is worth checking into. Not that I don’t love these.” He trailed his finger along the waistband of her panties.

In response, she tickled him in the ribs. He made a sound that caught the woman’s attention.

“Hello, is someone in here?”

“Yes, just fixing my dress,” Suzanne called. “Don’t mind me. Good luck with your date.”

The woman “hmmphed” and left the restroom. As soon as she left, Josh pushed open the door of the stall. He hurried to the door and snagged the club soda still sitting outside.

When he ducked back in, Suzanne was already dressed and twisting her hair back into a knot. Staring into the mirror, she waved off the soda. “Never mind. It’s already nearly dry and right now it’s the least of my worries.”

“Oh yeah? What’s the worst of your worries?” He tucked the club soda into her bag in case she changed her mind. “That she might have caught us eavesdropping? She shouldn’t worry. I’m erasing that from the memory banks starting now.”

“No, it’s not that.” She finished with her hair and turned to face him. A troubled expression darkened her deep blue eyes. “Logan has...well, he’s never kissed me like that.”

Josh shoved his hands into his pockets. “What do you mean, ‘like that’?”

“Don’t worry, it’s a compliment. To you, I mean. And I must have had a lot of champagne or I wouldn’t be saying all this. He’s never kissed me like…like he couldn’t ever get enough. Like he wanted a kiss more than breathing.”

Oooooh. Suddenly this seemed like a tricky situation. He didn’t want to come between Suzanne and her fiancé. A fiancé was a solid thing to have, and Josh had nothing solid to offer. He and Suzanne were completely different and they were headed in opposite directions. He couldn’t allow her to think that anything else was on the agenda.

“I like breathing too. It’s almost as good as kissing,” he quipped.

“But the way you kissed me…”

“I know. It was amazing.” He preened like some kind of cocky asshole. “I’ve been told I’m a champion kisser. Don’t let it worry you.”

Frowning, she pulled a shimmery blue shawl from her bag and draped it across her front, where the champagne had spilled. “So you kiss everyone like that?”

Her tone of voice was dubious, and he couldn’t blame her. That kiss was not a regular everyday kind of smooch. It was more of a once-in-a-lifetime thing. He needed some time to figure out why it felt that way. For now, he had to laugh it off.

“Listen, if Logan needs a few lessons, I can probably work with him,” he said, mock-seriously. “But my kind of skill and experience doesn’t come cheap.”

Ah, there it was. Suzanne’s patented “look of scorn.” He didn’t usually care much for that look, but right now, it was for the best. “I’m sure we’ll muddle through without the mighty Josh Marshall’s kissing lessons.”

“Good. After all, you probably picked up a few tips yourself during the kiss.”

Shaking her head in disgust, she pushed past him. “You know what? I think I’m going to block the whole thing from my mind.”

He followed her across the tiles toward the door. “I would too, but there’s no way I’m forgetting the way you moaned. ‘Ooooh, Josh. Oooh, baby. Oooh, that feels so good.’”

She flung open the freakishly well-oiled door, making it bang against the wall. “I didn’t say anything like that, you idiot.”

“There was moaning.”

“There will be moaning if you don’t stop saying silly stuff.” She clicked down the hallway in her little silvery strappy sandals, which made him remember how it felt when she wrapped her leg around him.

Which practically made him moan right there in the hallway. “See you around, Suzie Q,” he said in a voice too low for her to hear.