EXCERPT
A fat raindrop
plops on my nose, sliding down the bridge, followed by another and then a wet
succession.
“Aw, hell.” I
pull my jacket up on my elbows to provide some shelter for the two of us, but
the rain trebles, more coming down and faster.
“We still have
four blocks before my place,” I say. “Sorry, but the weather is unpredictable
this time of year.”
Rain has
already started molding the thin dress to her body, faithfully hugging every
swell and curve. A hard shiver runs through her and her teeth chatter.
“Come on.” I
grab her hand and duck into an alleyway. An overhang provides a tiny patch of
dry ground and shelter. “We may be able to wait it out. These showers sprout up
and pass over like they never happened.”
We’re
sandwiched between two buildings and there is barely any light, but the
moonlight finds her, sculpting shadows beneath her cheekbones and etching dark
crescents of her lowered lashes. The rain has smeared her mascara, and
water-slicked hair flattens to her head. She should look bedraggled, but she
manages to be the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.
I bend,
tentative at first, even after last night. Even after making love to her again
this morning when I chased her up the stairs. I approach slowly, giving her the
chance to refuse, but she doesn’t. She meets me, eyes open, lips eager, hands
bunched in my wet hair. It’s a freshwater kiss, made of rain and passion. Slow
touches pick up steam until we’re frantic against the wall, hands searching,
desperate to find the flesh under our soaked clothes. The inside of her thigh
is slick with rain, and I trace the droplets with my finger before inching
higher and burrowing beneath her panties, inside.
“Do that,
Doc,” she says, a breath-starved command. “Yes.”
I lean into
the damp, scented curve of her neck, leaving kisses there while my finger is
knuckle-deep in paradise. Every sound she makes gets me harder, ready. She
kisses my jaw, my cheekbone, pulls my bottom lip between hers.
“We should
stop,” I pant across her mouth. “I can’t . . . let’s stop before . . .” How do
I tell her that if we don’t, I’ll be fucking her in an alley with no regard for
who might see? How do I say that without sounding disrespectful and selfish?
“Don’t stop.”
She fumbles at my waist, tugging the belt from its buckle and pulling the
button loose, the zipper down. “Do it.”
“Baby.” I drop
my head back and groan. So tempting. I want to so badly. “The rain should let
up soon. We can make a dash for it to my house.”
“Or,” she
says, working her hand into my pants; finding me. Squeezing me.
“Dammit, Nix,”
I groan. “Don’t make me want you any more than I already do.”
“Or,” she says
again, “you can do what we both want. Take what I want to give. Right here.
Right now.”
Is it
surrender when you both want it? I’m not sure if it’s her will or mine that
wins out, but I hitch her up, my hands full of her ass, and lock her legs at my
back. I reach between us to push her panties aside and plunge in.
I feel like a
god.
Yet every time
she gasps and groans and tightens around my body, she conquerors me. She’s indelible. I may end up
with someone else, may even love someone someday, but there is a place Lennix
Moon has carved out inside of me in a matter of a few days where only she will
ever fit. It’s irrational and goes against all the rules I’ve set for myself,
but she feels like mine. For the next two days, she is mine.
And then we’ll
walk away.
THE KINGMAKER is available on audio!
ABOUT KENNEDY RYAN
USA Today bestseller,
RITA® Award Winner and Top 25 Amazon Bestseller, Kennedy Ryan writes about
women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the
center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect,
cherish and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts.
She is a wife
to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son. She has always
leveraged her journalism background to write for charity and non-profit
organizations, but enjoys writing to raise Autism awareness most. A contributor
for Modern Mom Magazine
and Frolic, Kennedy’s
writings have appeared in Chicken Soup
for the Soul, USA Today and
many others. The founder
and executive director of a foundation serving Atlanta Autism families, she has
appeared on Headline News,
Montel Williams, NPR and other media outlets as an
advocate for families living with autism.
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