Page 15 of Badd Baby

I chewed on my lip a moment. “Duncan, thank you."

He had an arm resting across the back of the bench—not quite around me, but nearly. “Hey, you know…what are friends for?"

I laughed at this. “We’re barely friends. For real, though. Seriously. Thank you."

He looked at me, nodding. "You're welcome."

We're close. Kissing close. I can't help but think about this morning, and my thighs clenched.

"Looking at me like that is dangerous, Rune," he murmured, his eyes on my lips.

"Like what?"

"Like you wouldn't mind it if I did this." He leaned closer, slowly, giving me all the time in the world to shy away. When I didn't, he growled wordlessly. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he breathed.

And then he was kissing me.

Chapter Three

Duncan

Her mouth was soft and warm and inviting. At first, there was no response from her—just a startled hesitation. And then a quiet gasp slipped from her throat, and she melted into me. Her lips softened, her mouth opened, her tongue danced delicately against mine. Quick, clever fingers stole into the messy thatch of hair at the base of my neck, sending a thrill shivering through me.

For a few moments, then, the world telescoped down and down and down, becoming smaller and narrower until there was nothing in this whole universe except Rune and me, our fused mouths slowly dissolving together, my heart pounding wildly in my chest and thrumming deafeningly in my ears, her soft curves pressed against me.

In that moment, in which nothing existed but Rune and me, I caught a glimpse of a future—one of a thousand, thousand possible futures—wherein Rune and I began with a kiss and found forever in each other.

I felt my heart skip a beat and then resume slamming madly against the prison bars of my chest. More—I needed more. I needed to feel the hot silk of her skin under my hands, needed to feel her muscles contract as she arched beneath me, needed to hear her whimper my name as she came apart. There was no thought in my brain except more—more Rune, more of that soft quiet shocked gasp, more of her pressing into my hands as I curled my arm low around her waist and pulled her against me.

"Mommy, what are they doing?" I heard a little boy's voice ask.

"Shhh, Tommy," his mother responded. "Something they probably should be doing in private.” The last two words were hissed in emphasis.

Rune and I broke apart, both of us panting. Rune's sapphire eyes were wide and wild, stunned, searching mine as if looking for something specific. "Duncan," she breathed. "I…"

I heard her swallow—a literal, audible gulp—and then she tore herself out of my arms and up off the bench, one hand raking angrily through the loose chaos of her stormcloud hair, the other pressing visibly trembling fingers to her kiss-swollen lips. Her eyes, the precise shade of blue of fire flickering from a burning stovetop, fixed on mine, searching and shaken.

And then she was gone, disappearing into a swarming thicket of tourists, leaving me sitting stunned and alone on the bench with tingling lips and a raging hard-on.

What just happened?

I felt like the world had tilted on its axis, wobbling uncertainly and with sudden, debilitating violence…all from a kiss; my cock was bent sideways behind my zipper, angled painfully, throbbing and hard as an iron girder…all from a kiss; my heart pounded and my breath came in quick panting huffs, and I felt almost dizzy…all from a kiss.

When was the last time I was this affected, physically, by a woman? How about never. Emotionally? Also never.

I didn’t know what I was feeling in that moment. Stunned? Left verklempt? Numb and yet greedy for a repeat. Greedy for more—for privacy to rip her clothes off and discover her body, find out what makes her scream, what makes her thighs quiver and her eyes roll back in her head.

Fuck, I needed her with a sudden and unexpected desperation that had me every bit as shaken as she looked.

I made the short walk to the Kitty in a daze—we opened in less than an hour. I pulled down stools and chairs and high-top seats, but my mind was elsewhere…specifically back on the bench with Rune's mouth on mine. I had to count the till drawer four times before I was sure it was right, as I kept getting distracted by the memory of her curves gracing delicately against me, a thigh on mine, chest against my arm, fingers dimpling my nape.

Fuck.

I took inventory, restocked the bar fridges, cleaned the liquor bottles…god, whoever closed last night did a shitty job, left a bunch of bullshit busywork for the opener.

That's a joke—it's me. I’m the closer.

I eventually managed to mostly banish Rune from my mind as the day progressed, mainly by virtue of being too busy to spare a thought for anything other than serving customers. It was a long-ass motherfucker of a day, closing last night and then working open to close today, but I couldn’t complain since I'm the asshole who wrote the schedule—Elias needed the day off, and in return, he was covering for me over the weekend so I could attend the wedding with Rune.