Page 50 of Badd Baby

"This." I grabbed her by the hips and yanked her flush against me; she gasped in shock at the move, stiff at first, and then she melted against me.

I cupped her face in one hand, tilted her mouth to mine, and kissed the everloving fuck out of her. All tongue, no chill.

She whimpered into the kiss, momentarily forgetting our surroundings as our natural chemistry took over. Shit, I lost track of everything myself as she stabbed her tongue into my mouth and shoved her chest against mine, rubbed her pussy against my thigh, and stole her hands into my hair.

She was the one to come to her senses first, yanking free with a shake of her head, stepping back and dragging her wrist across her mouth. "What the hell was that, Duncan?"

"Check out your ex before you lay into me," I said.

Her gaze flicked over my shoulder, and I knew my ploy had had an effect. She bit her lower lip in an attempt to not burst into laughter. "Oh. Oh god."

"That was gloriously done, sir," I heard a woman's voice say from my left elbow. "I applaud you. Bravo, bravo." She even clapped; the speaker, except for having white-blond hair, could have been Rune's twin sister—their facial structure was damn near identical, as was the shade of their sapphire eyes. "You must be Duncan Badd."

I extended my hand to her. "I am. I'm guessing you're Lindsey, the best friend?"

"Yup." She covered her mouth with one hand, spluttering a laugh, and then shook my hand. "Oh man, he big mad."

If looks could kill, I'd be dead—Hayes was glaring daggers at me from across the room; hate wouldn't be too far from the truth.

Rune, however, was looking at me, not Hayes, two fingers pressed to her lips. She looked like she was about to say something to me, but someone tapped her on the shoulder, and the moment was gone.

Lindsey leaned close to me, murmuring so only I could hear her. "How's it going with her?"

"No idea what you mean," I said.

"That was a hell of a kiss," Lindsey said. "She was shooketh."

"Things are weird," I admitted.

"She's a tough nut to crack," Lindsey said, watching Rune navigate three different conversations at once. "Her luck with men hasn't been the best."

"So she said."

"She likes you."

I sighed. "Maybe. But she's going back to LA. Once this wedding is done, that's it. She's established pretty clear boundaries."

Lindsey shrugged. "There are ways around that boundary."

"No, there's not." When she looked at me with an arched eyebrow, I shrugged back at her. "She set a boundary. Whatever this is between us, it's over when the wedding is over. She's clear on that. Trying to fight it isn't going to get me anywhere."

"I've never seen her react like that. To anyone, ever, let alone from a public kiss." She looked at me. "There's something there."

"Maybe there is," I said. "But there's no point in thinking about it."

She looked at me with disgust. "And you're just…giving up?"

I stared back at her. "Sorry, but I was raised to respect the boundaries a woman establishes. She's acknowledged there could be more, but she’s also made it extremely clear that's not happening."

Lindsey sighed, a frustrated sound of resignation. "She doesn’t know what she wants. She's run as far as she can for as long as she can from the damage that turd-sucker Hayes Motherfucking Willoughby did to her, and now she's going back to what's familiar."

"I get that," I said, "But I can't make her want something. We’ve known each other barely a week. Sure, there's killer fucking chemistry, but it takes more than that."

"Well, I'm not giving up. It takes a lot to shake Rune, and I'm telling you she's all shook up from that kiss." Lindsey patted me on the bicep, paused, frowned at my arm, and then blatantly felt up my bicep. "Damn, son. You got a permit for those guns?"

I snorted, pulling my arm out of her grip. "Okay, we're good."

"Oh, relax. She's my BFF, I'd never poach her man. I'm just appreciating a nice set of arms."