Page 31 of Outlier

“Shit, sorry, I don’t mean to sound angry with you.” His tone was softer now. “I’m just a bit touchy about my house.”

“Why would that make you angry with me?”

His hand went to the back of his neck, and those flags of colour appeared on his cheekbones again.

“Well, you seem a bit thrown by it, and not in a good way.”

“Not in a good way?” I repeated.

“Yes. Look, sorry, it’s okay if you don’t like my house. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.”

I frowned. “You think I don’t like your house?”

“Vicky, I know the type of posh places you’re used to, and this?—”

“This is the most beautiful building I have ever seen in my entire life,” I told him the absolute truth.

His hand came down from his neck, and he stared at me with a new intensity. Both his fists bunched by his sides then unclenched as he took a step towards me.

I was proud of myself that after everything I’d been through that night, I held my ground.

When he was only inches away from me, his hand came up towards my face but stopped a hair’s breadth away.

“Baby,” he said in a low, growly voice. “I reallyreallywant to kiss you. Can I do that?”

“Yes, um… please,” I managed to choke out.

“I’ll be touching your face as well, if that’s okay?”

“Y-yes, face touching is acceptable.”

The corners of his lips turned up in a small smile before his hand made contact with my jaw and cheek.

I could feel the rough callouses on his fingers as he slid his hands from my cheeks, up and into my hair. I had to tip my head right back to look at his brown eyes, which were searching my face.

“You are so fucking gorgeous,” he whispered, his lips almost touching mine, and my mind blanked.

The magnetic pull of this man was simply too much to take. So instead of waiting for him to close the distance between us, I pushed up onto my tiptoes as both of my hands went to the sides of his face, and my lips sealed over his.

He gave a startled grunt of surprise, and for a horrified moment, I thought I may have made a huge mistake. What was I doing, initiating a kiss like that? I had no experience of kissing protocol. What on earth did I do now?

But just as I was about to stiffen and pull away, Mike’s other arm came up and around me, pulling my body into his, and he kissed me back.

At first, I felt awkward—worried he’d be able to tell that I’d never kissed anyone before. But as my body melted into his, surrounded by his strength and immense warmth, his woodsy, clean, manly smell invading my senses, I forgot to be awkward.

I forgot my own name.

So when his mouth opened over mine, my body took over, and I did the same.

I moved one of my hands into his thick hair, the other to the muscles of his chest, as I pushed up against him.

I couldn’t get close enough. It was like a fire had been lit inside me. I almost felt like I was going to pass out with need.I could hear small, desperate moans, and after a moment, I realised they were coming from me.

Then Mike lifted me up effortlessly as he walked backwards, still kissing me before placing me on the wooden kitchen countertop and moving so he was standing between my legs.

Without the height difference, he didn’t have to bend down so far, and our bodies could be even closer.

One of my hands went down to the hem of his shirt then up to the warm skin over the firm muscles of his back.