Page 61 of Free to Judge

I lift my chin, my pulse hammering, and lay my free hand against his chest. “Declan. Are you yelling at me because you’re angry or because you’re scared?”

“Both,” he rasps. His hands slide out of my hair before they come up to cup my face. His fingers brush under my cheekbones until they rest gently against my jaw.

I lean in. Our breath mingles together.

“You’re not the only one scared.”

With that admission, he slides one hand into my hair and wraps the other around my waist. Pulling me up, he stares deep into my eyes as his head dips. My heart goes into overdrive. My breathing becomes ragged as I determine if he wants this—me.

When his lips touch mine, I willingly accept them. It isn’t soft. It isn’t slow. It’s raw, desperate, and consuming. It’s every emotion Declan’s been holding inside. They reveal the inner storm that Declan has been fighting. His lips are proof that the gods want us to absorb the strength of lightning and thunder and remain standing.

I return his kiss with a hunger I never expected existed. I wrap my arms around his neck, drowning with the pleasure he floods my system with. Declan’s energy is overwhelming and the thought of resistance is nonexistent.

Not that I would. I’ve never wanted a man like this. His kiss causes a flood of lust to rush through my body, causing liquid heat to pool at the apex of my legs. It’s taking everything inside of me not to climb him like a tree and demand he give me more.

That he gives me everything.

His hands roam my back, pressing my hips against his rock hardness. I let out a low moan that I can’t keep in.

Which turns out to be a mistake. A huge one.

He freezes, his lips still pressed against mine. Slowly, almost reverently, he releases me. Then he steps back—one, two, three steps. I’m not certain if it’s the silence or the physical distance Declan places between us that makes my soul ache.

Then I realize it’s neither when he takes a sledgehammer to my heart. “This can’t happen again.”

My body stiffens. “No? It sure felt like it could when you had your tongue…”

“Kalie!” he snaps.

I back away before flopping back on the couch. Giving him the once-over, I notice his dick is impressive behind his dress slacks. Licking my lips to keep the drool in place, I murmur, “I wasn’t the one who kissed you first.”

“Let’s just chalk it up to bad judgment.”

I snort out a laugh. “Every girl’s dream.”

His brow scrunches together in confusion, so I educate him. “To be called someone’s ‘bad judgment’ after the single hottest kiss of their life.”

His countenance softens.Yeah, buddy. I don’t think so.I look down and pick at my nail polish. “But don’t worry about it. I’ll do a true comparison after my next date.”

Ooh, he doesn’t like that. That is if the way the flash of heat in his cheekbones is any indicator.Too bad, so sad.I fake a yawn. “If you’re done lecturing me about my family and my ability to kiss, you can see yourself out.”

He glares at me. “This isn’t a game, Kalie. I shouldn’t have gone there.”

“Maybe. But since you didn’t break a law, I don’t need to report either of us. After all, there’s no sanction against two consenting adults kissing.”

“I’m leaving.”

I wiggle my fingers at him. He starts to slip out the back slider when I call out, “Let’s see who initiates our second kiss before you call it a mistake.”

It isn’t until after he slams the slider that I let out a frustrated sigh. My world seems to be tilting on its axis. But while thelawyer in me wants to dot everyIand cross everyT, the woman in me knows I don’t need all the answers right now.

I just need a chance.

Hopefully, he’s willing to give us one of those.

CHAPTER THIRTY

If love is a battlefield,then Amaryllis Events must have been declared by the State Department as an official war zone sometime between yesterday and today. The thought pings through my head as I reach my office door Monday morning. I enter the mansion and everything seems perfectly normal at first.