Page 28 of If Love Had A Price (If Love 3)

But you couldn’t get everything you wished for. Not even if your name was Kris Carrera.

Nate shrugged, the movement drawing Kris out of her thoughts. “There are multiple reasons why you guys are a bad match.”

She brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. “You seem awfully invested in my love life.”

“Maybe I am.”

The air shifted. It happened so fast it was like someone flipped a switch, and the change did something to Kris’s insides—to her heart, which suddenly pounded; to her stomach, which suddenly twisted; to her throat, which suddenly dried. For once in her life, she didn’t have a sarcastic comeback or a witty insult.

Nate hadn’t moved an inch, but his chest rose and fell harder than it had a minute ago. His eyes flickered with heat, and the tendrils of warmth traveled the space between them and wrapped themselves around Kris. Silk ribbons against sensitive flesh.

“Do you remember our contract?” His voice was all gravel.

Kris nodded.

“You promised me a kiss.”

She’d thought he’d forgotten. He hadn’t mentioned it since the day they signed their contract, and he hadn’t tried to kiss her once. All he did was nuzzle her neck and put his arm around her when they were in front of Gloria.

Kris didn’t like it when people strong-armed her, and that’d been what Nate did when he made their deal contingent on a kiss.

But in this moment, on this Ferris wheel, the girl who thought she had everything wanted nothing more than for the boy sitting across from her to kiss her.

“You said you wouldn’t kiss me until I begged for it.” She struggled to keep her voice even. “Newsflash: Still. Not. Happening.”

Kris might be dying to feel his lips beneath hers, but she had her pride, and it was the only thing keeping her from launching herself at Nate like a lust-crazed heathen.

Nate erased the distance between them and settled in the seat next to hers. “That’s where you’re wrong,” he drawled, his eyes dark with intent.

“I’m never wrong.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

A breeze swept by, blowing a few stray hairs into her eyes again. Nate brushed them out of the way before capturing a thicker lock between his fingers.

“Like silk,” he murmured, rubbing the smooth, dark strands. “Tell me. Have you ever been kissed on a Ferris wheel?”

Thump. Thump. THUMP.

“No,” Kris managed, ordering her heart to shut up. It didn’t listen. “It’s horribly cliché.”

Nate looked thoughtful, as if he were mulling her words over and searching for any signs of untruth. “Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. I think we should test it out.”

“Nate Reynolds, are you trying to seduce me?”

That’s not what I’m paying you for,she should’ve added. Except she didn’t.

His dangerous grin did wonderful, horrible things to her suddenly shaky knees. Thank God she was sitting down. A face plant would’ve been humiliating and, judging by the state of the ground, unhygienic.

“No. If I were trying to seduce you, I’d do this.” Nate pressed his mouth to the hollow of her throat, his coffee and leather scent enveloping her. “And this.” He made his way to her ear, which he nibbled. “And this.” His hand drifted to her bare thigh, which he caressed with slow, lazy sweeps of his palm.

Kris shivered, the warmth of his touch contrasting with the chill in the air now that the sun had set. Goosebumps blossomed on her arms and legs while something inside her melted and pooled in her belly and between her thighs.

“You’re cheating.” Her voice sounded far more breathless than she would’ve liked.

“Am I?” Another lazy sweep of his palms, this time inching closer to her heated core. “How so?”

“You know how.”