Page 30 of Starting Over with You (Beer League Belles #2)

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

Dean

I thought seeing Kenni in a pair of PJ shorts and a large tee when I came home this morning gave me the shivers, but nothing compares to the sight of her right now.

She’s in a little white sundress that kisses the tops of her thighs, her hair is in wild curls along her shoulders with one hell of a megawatt smile on her lips while she dances to “Shivers” by Ed Sheeran, and I’m basically trembling.

She’s so fucking pretty.

The top of the dress is a white satin that hugs her breasts, cute little strips of lace holding up the top, while the skirt is made of satin and lace.

I try to keep up, but I’m so enraptured by her and the way she keeps grinning up at me that I’m missing more steps than hitting them.

Matt is doing way better than I am, but it doesn’t matter; I’m having a blast. Missy is between Sadie and Kenni, while Matt and I flank our girls.

Jesus, I gotta stop that .

Because no matter what happened this morning or how many little come-get-me grins Kenni sends me, she’s not mine.

Yet.

When the song ends, we’re all out of breath, and I know I’ll need an aspirin on the way home.

Still, we’re all laughing as we head to the table where Nyle is.

Apparently, he isn’t a dancer, but that doesn’t stop Missy from hitting the floor.

The girls are all in little white dresses, their UT boots loud and proud as they giggle and make a ruckus only SI can.

Matt leans into me, a bit buzzed as he waggles his brows. “Your sister is a fucking knockout.”

I snort, pushing him playfully. “Key word sister , asshole.”

He laughs as we gather around the table, and of course, I stand near Kenni.

She’s nursing a Fireball and cider. Her face is red from the dancing and the alcohol, and she looks like every wet dream I have ever had of her.

I have to force myself to look away as I lean on my elbows, watching people on the floor.

Matt has his arms around my sister, whispering something I sure as hell don’t want to know in her ear as Nyle does the same with Missy.

I look over at Kenni as she draws little doodles in the condensation on her glass.

I can’t help the way my lips curve. “Bored?”

She looks up to me, her eyes sparkling. “Not at all. Just breathing.”

“Breathing?”

She shrugs. “Yeah, enjoying the view.”

Her eyes move over my face, and fuck me, I want to puff out my chest for her.

I want to flex. I want to take her in my arms and devour her.

“So am I,” I say back, and she smiles. I reach for the rung of her barstool and pull her closer so that her ass hits one of my knees and her thigh hits the other.

Her eyes widen and she gawks at me. “Excuse you!”

I flash her a sheepish grin. “I want a closer look.”

She eyes me, but she can’t hide that little smirk. “You’re doing too much.”

“Or not enough.” Her lips part, and I have to ignore the way my hand that’s resting on my thigh is so close to her ass that it’s itching to grab her. “What’d you do while I slept?”

“Worked,” she answers, her eyes locking with mine. “I had a bunch of things to do for the Ice Thistle and the Reindeer Rumpus Ranch. I went to check in on Big Seb too.”

I love her heart. “That was nice of you.”

She shrugs. “I was worried. Brought him some cookies from Noelle’s, which Sebastian’s girls devoured.”

I chuckle lightly. “They’re sweet, aren’t they?”

She smiles as she nods. “Yeah, and Big Seb was doing great today. I came home and then went to sit on the porch.”

I will not get a hard-on because she called my place her home.

“On the swing?”

Her eyes are bright. “My favorite spot.”

I smile, proud that she likes it. It was rotted to shit when I moved in and I almost tore it down, but I remembered how much she loved sitting on it with the girls.

It was always a sight to see when the breeze would blow her hair as she swung with no cares in the world.

I would act like I had to chop wood for my grandma just to be out there with her.

I feel a need to tell her that, to blurt out everything I’m feeling as I stare into her gorgeous blue eyes.

I want her to know how fucking good it felt coming home to her standing in my kitchen.

How I tossed and turned, knowing she was in my house and not in my arms. That she might think the porch swing is her favorite place, but the moment she’s in my bed, she’ll never want to leave.

I want to admit everything. I want to lay my heart out for her to take or smash—and regret nothing.

Instead, I suggest, “Maybe we can have a cup of coffee on it in the morning?”

Her eyes dance with mine, and I love how she doesn’t look away. I know it drives Sadie and Missy nuts since they feel like she’s always trying to look into their souls, but fuck it, look into mine .

See how it’s yours, darlin’.

“I’d like that,” she says, both shy and sure at the same time. She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip, her flirty eyes dropping to my mouth before moving to her drink in her hands. Now she sounds unsure as she says, “It’s a date.”

A date?

My whole body goes on alert, my cock comes to life, and I feel tingles running through me like little red ants.

I can’t resist; I reach out, cupping her chin between my thumb and forefinger.

My thumb sinks into the little divot of her chin before I guide her gaze back to mine.

Her blue eyes are wide, surprised, but her lips curve in what can only be called a sneaky grin.

“A date,” I say, with such finality I know she feels it in her bones like I do. Her lips curve even more, her dimples flashing as I stroke my thumb in and out of the divot. “Surely I’ve told you how beautiful you look tonight?”

She preens but pulls out of my grasp, her brows knocking together as her lips form a pout. “Not even once.”

My body shakes with a silent laugh as I lean in, my nose touching her ear. She smells like Fireball, apples, and all things Kenni, a scent I want to roll in and hope it never leaves my skin. She bites her lip as I say, “Surely my eyes told you.”

“They’ve been on my tits and ass.”

I chuckle, and she smirks as I slide my hand along her thigh. “Sure, I admit I’ve memorized all the curves and angles of this perfect body.” I squeeze her thigh, and she jumps a bit, a breathy moan leaving her lips. Her skin is soft, squishy, and I revel in the feel. “But you know the truth?”

She looks over at me, our noses brushing as our eyes meet. “What?”

“You walk into a room, and it’s like the world recalibrates.

And I try—fuck, I try real damn hard—not to stare.

But damn, Kenni…you’re beautiful.” I slowly brush my thumb along her thigh.

I know it looks intimate, I know I shouldn’t be this close, but I can’t stop.

Our gazes are an inferno, and I want to burn for this woman.

Only for her. I don’t even know the words I’m speaking.

They’re coming fr om my heart, and I can’t stop them.

“Not the kind that fades or gets filtered. The kind that hits a man in the chest and makes him forget what he was thinking five seconds ago.”

Kenni’s lips part, her eyes widening, and she takes a sharp breath. “Dean?—”

“If I can have your attention.”

Kenni tears her gaze from mine, leaving me breathless, and shit, is the moment over? She looks back over and winks like the sultry cutie she is. I beam at her, and she pats my hand before we both look over to where Matt stands with Sadie’s hand in one of his and a mic in the other.

Well, at least Sadie doesn’t have a mic.

“Yeah, shut up!” she yells, producing a mic, and I groan.

“Who gave her a mic?” I ask, and Kenni lets out a very unladylike snort that gets me all riled up.

“I have loved this woman for eighteen years. We’re here celebrating seventeen years of marriage, and I swear I fall deeper for her every single day.”

My lips tip up. The dude is a fool for my sister.

Not that I have any room to talk.

The crowd yells and makes catcalls at the couple, but my gaze moves to Kenni.

She’s mesmerized by the scene before us.

I drink her in, the curve of her jaw, her red lips and pink cheeks.

She brings her clasped hands under her chin and sighs deeply as Matt continues.

“I met this gorgeous woman right here, and she came up to me with this look in her eyes that had me in knots. She flashed me the biggest smile I’d ever seen and told me that I kept looking at her like I could rock her world.

I did, by the way.” Laughter rings out in the room, and I watch Kenni grin, loving how beautiful she is when she does.

While I’m a jealous bastard, wishing that grin were mine, I can appreciate her love for my sister and her husband.

“When this song came out, we said it was ours since it reminded us of how we met. But, Sadie?”

Sadie beams at her husband. “Yes, Matthew?”

My brother-in-law visibly swoons for my psycho sister. “I fell in love with you that night and every night after. You’re my world, and I wouldn’t want to do this life with anyone but you.”

Sadie leans in as he wraps his arm around her, and the band starts to play “You Look Like You Love Me” by Ella Langley and Riley Green.

Now, my sister has one hell of a voice and sings like an angel as she flirts with her husband, but what I didn’t expect was for Matt to have a Southern drawl to his singing voice that has everyone in this place hooting and hollering for the two of them.

But my eyes are only on Kenni.

“Dance with me,” I blurt out, needing a reason to touch her.

She doesn’t even look at me. She just stands up and takes my hand in hers.

God, I love her confidence. I follow her out to the floor, drinking in the heart shape of her ass before she turns for me to take her in my arms. I grab her sweet hip before we start moving to the music, our eyes locked in a way that has flames licking up my spine.

She slides her hand up my chest, wrapping it around my shoulder.

As always, the world fades away, and all I feel and see is her.

Her lips are tipped up at the side, her eyes locked with mine, and I want to taste her.

I swallow hard as I refrain from acting on my impulses.

I don’t want our reuniting kiss—because there will be one tonight if I don’t fuck it up—to be in the middle of a dance floor where the world can see. I want that moment to myself.

I’m greedy when it comes to KenniLeigh.

One song turns into two, then four, but I don’t hear anything until Dierks Bentley croons “Come a Little Closer” through the speakers.

So I do what my boy Dierks says and move my hand from her hip to the small of her back in order to pull her closer into my body.

Her eyes widen for just a fraction of a second before they hood, looking fucking stunning.

The lights are low, the neon signs shining and sparkling in her blue eyes.

She wraps her hands up around the back of my neck, her fingers tangled in my curls as I lean in to press my forehead to hers.

Doing so pushes my hat up, but I don’t give two shits.

I’m fully lost in her eyes. She licks her lips, and I’m a fucking goner .

I move my hand up her back, grabbing hold of her hair and brushing it off her shoulder to expose the little lace that holds up the bodice of her dress.

She tracks my movements as I brush my lips along her shoulder, just for a little sample.

I have to taste her. It’s a need at this point.

Her breath catches, and everything goes taut as I will myself not to devour her in the middle of all these sweaty bodies.

You can’t make a move.

You can’t make a move.

You can’t make a move.

“What?” she whispers against my cheek, and I’m mortified that I said that out loud. I pull back, only to be pulled into her eyes.

I press my forehead to hers once more. “Nothing,” I somehow get out, not even recognizing my voice.

“No, I heard you,” she says, her eyes searching mine. “Why can’t you?”

My heart jumps into my throat before falling back into place and pounding so loudly, I’m sure I can hear it over the music. Our eyes are locked, our breathing synced before I lick my lips and say, “Kenni.”

Just her name, because that’s all I get out.

“Do it,” she challenges, her eyes full of desire and mischief. “Make a move.”

Fuck. Me.

I search her eyes, trying to find something to stop me, but there is nothing.

I know I wanted this moment to myself, but I can’t resist. Not when she’s looking at me with those fuck-me-stupid eyes.

Not when each breath she draws has her perfect tits brushing against my chest. Not when all I can think about are her lips on mine and her body in my arms.

Mine.

She’s fucking mine.

I move my hand to her ass, pressing down so her hips are flush with mine and she can feel every inch of me.

My fingers dance along the back of her thigh as I tilt my head to take her mouth with mine, but I wait, needing her to tell me no.

Instead, she lets out a little whimper, and the need is written all over her gorgeous face.

She wants me to make the move.

So, I do.

I slant my lips over Kenni’s, and I take what I’ve been craving for years.