Infatuated (15 page)

“Come on,” he said, still pulling me. He unlatched a gate, held it open, and retook my hand to guide me through. There were at least thirty or forty people dancing and chatting and I wondered where they hid the other cars or if they’d had people ride on the roofs to get here.

It was pandemonium. Suddenly, my usual ten to fifteen drunks at the bar didn’t seem so bad.

“Never been to a football after-party, huh?” Kale chuckled in my ear. “Don’t worry, you’ll survive.”

I’d have to take his word for it.

He walked over to a couple sitting by the pool. One of them was Rob, lip-locked with a shorthaired blonde wearing his jersey from the game. “Get a room,” Kale told them.

The girl leaned back, looking over her shoulder. Rob looked around her and grinned. “Yours is closest.”

“Stay where you are.” Kale laughed and pointed to the couple. “This is Rob, and his girlfriend, Debbie.”

The blonde moved from his lap to give the guy room to stand. “Finally gonna introduce us, huh?” Rob looked me over. “So this is your bartender?”

I glanced at Kale, eyebrow raised. “Forget my name?”

“Damn, bro.” Rob let out a low whistle. “You’ve been here, what, two minutes and you’re already in the doghouse?”

Kale grinned. “Yes, this is my bartender.” He bumped his shoulder into mine. “It’s Molly, right?”

I made a come-closer motion at him and whispered, “You’re the guy who’s sleeping alone tonight, right?” in his ear.

“Shit.”

I smiled at him sweetly, then turned to his friends. “I’m Ally.”

Rob and Debbie both laughed.

“I think he just took up permanent residence in that doghouse,” Debbie said. “It’s nice to meet you, Ally. Come on.” She smiled easily. “Let’s get you a drink and leave Kale to dig his way out.”

Within an hour, I decided I liked Debbie and Rob, even though they appointed me bartender for the party. Since I got free food out of it (and even a few tips), I considered it a fair trade.

“Why aren’t you drinking?” I asked Kale.

“I have to drive you home.” He shrugged. “No big deal.”

Duh. “I’m sorry. I can catch a cab ride home.”

“Don’t be. I invited you.” He paused. “Do you have class or work tomorrow?”

“Class, but not until late afternoon.”

He pulled me close. “Then why don’t you stay the night and we can both drink?”

“You sure?”

“It’s a sacrifice, but I’m willing to make it,” he said, flashing me a quick grin.

I laughed. “That doghouse you’re in? It’s been boarded up tight and there’s no escape.”

“Shit.”

D
ebbie and Kale spent the rest of the party introducing me to people. I ended up recognizing some from my classes. And some, unfortunately, from the bar, like Blondie. He tried hitting on me, but Kale stopped him mid-sentence when he wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder.

If Kale wasn’t near me, all I had to do was look for him and I’d see him. Within seconds, he’d turn to me and his eyes would lock with mine, like he’d felt me watching him, and my heart would flutter.

“Have fun, you two,” Debbie called out, dragging Rob behind her.

“We will,” Kale told her.

I snorted. “Dream on, buddy. Doghouse, remember?”

He took a step toward me. “I think I can find my way out of it.”

I took a step back, out of reach of his hands. “I don’t think so. You’re wasted, anyway.”

“I’m never wasted enough for that. Well, rarely. Tonight is not one of those nights.” He frowned at me. “How aren’t you drunk? You had almost as much as me.”

I grinned. “I’m not a lightweight like you?”

He growled and took a threatening step toward me so I ran. My feet weren’t completely steady under me, but I was better than Kale who slipped twice when I made sharp turns.

“Shouldn’t’ve had that last drink,” I heard him mutter.

When I neared the pool edge, I glanced behind me and saw him close by. I turned. Kale didn’t.

I watched it happen in slow motion. His eyes went wide, and he tried turning or slowing down, but his momentum carried him. “Fuck—” The rest of his words died out as he hit the water.

I ran to the edge and waited. He popped back up a few seconds later, sputtering and coughing. “You okay?” I asked.

He glared.

I nearly fell over laughing and had to clutch my stomach. “Oh, my god. You so had that coming. Oh, shit—”

He grabbed me and pulled me in.

The water was freezing and shocked my system. I pushed to the surface. Kale was the one laughing now. “Not. Funny,” I said, slapping his arm.

“You’re right. It’s freaking hilarious.”

I dunked him. And then laughed until I cried.

Kale pushed himself out of the pool and then helped me out. Dripping wet, he shook his head like a dog and had water flying everywhere. It left his hair standing on end. He grinned at me. “I knew you were trouble.”

“You’re the one who fell in. I was just an innocent bystander.” Mostly innocent, anyway.

He snorted. “Come on. Let’s get inside before we freeze our asses off.”

Our shoes sloshed as Kale led me up a brick path to the pool house where he lived. The living room was spacious and open, with a beige couch at one corner of the room, an entertainment system on the opposite side, and a bookcase on the wall between them. Dark tan paint coated the walls.

“Nice.”

‘Thanks.” He opened a door to his right, then turned back to me. He grinned. “Give me your clothes and I’ll throw them in the dryer.”

“I’m not walking around naked.”

He made an
mm
sound. “I don’t mind. In fact, I might make it a rule.”

“How long were you planning your stay in the dog—” I broke off when he grabbed a towel and tossed it over my head.

“That’s what I thought,” I said, stripping off my wet clothes and drying off.

He watched me the whole time, his gaze latched onto my breasts. When I covered myself with a towel, he sighed. “I’ll get you something dry to put on.”

I followed him out and across the room to another door, one that led to his bedroom. It was bigger than mine, with a king-sized bed pushed against the far wall. He walked over to his dresser and grabbed out a shirt. “This should work.”

I slid it on. It was warm against my skin and smelled like him.

“Are you sniffing my shirt?”

My head snapped up. “What? Maybe.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “So?”

“If I did that, I’d be called a perv.”

“And you would be. But when I do it, it’s…not pervy. It’s romantic, because I’m thinking it smells like you.” I smiled. “Beat that logic.”

He shook his head. “You’re entirely too sober for a drunk person.”

“I have a fast metabolism, so it takes a lot to get me drunk.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Maybe not, but I get my hangovers the night before. And I remember everything, so I can’t even pull the ‘dude, I don’t remember’ line the day after.”

“So you’ll remember it when I make love to you. Nice to know.”

“Doghouse, remember?”

He stalked toward me, completely naked. “House rules.”

“I don’t remember that rule.”

“Oh, yeah. It is one.” He nuzzled against my neck as his arm slid around my waist. His hand settled on my ass.

“Oh?” I bit my lip. “And what are your rules, Kale?”

“Naked. That’s rule one.” He pulled the shirt over my head. “Much better, even though you looked damn good in my shirt.”

“Did I?”

“Yeah.” His eyes were on my breasts. “But you look better without it.”

The heat in his gaze made my heart pound. “Any other rules I should know about?”

“I’ll think of them as we go along.” He stared at me for another minute, then let out a low growl. “I’ve been wanting you in my bed for weeks.”

“You’ve been with me in
my
bed for weeks.”

“I know. But it’s different, because I’ve wanted you here. You haunted me, drove me crazy, and you weren’t ever here.” He bent to bite my neck. “You were in my dreams, my thoughts. You’re always there. I’d go to sleep thinking about you and wake up thinking about you.”

“What did you think about?” I asked, breathless, lost in his eyes.

“About what I want to do to you, about burying myself in you.” His fingers dug into my ass. “Tell me no now, Ally, because I’m not feeling gentle. I don’t want to make love to you. I want to take you. Hard, fast. I want to do all the things I’ve spent weeks thinking about doing, and then I want to do them again.” He bent to nip my neck again, this time harder.

He didn’t look gentle. He looked raw and dangerous, like a man who’d been pushed too far, too close to the edge, and he was ready to go over. I’d never been wanted like that before.

It shocked me.

It scared me.

It thrilled me.

I stared up at him. His eyes were wide, full, intent. “Yes,” I breathed.

His hand went to the back of my head, tangling in my hair, and he pulled. My startled gasp incensed him and he held me there while his mouth crushed mine greedily. He pulled my hair again until my eyes locked with his. “Tell me you want me.” He growled the demand, looking wild.

“Always,” I said, heart racing. “I always want you. All of you.”

The sound he made was guttural. He had me up, winding my legs around him before I could do it myself. He was impossibly hard against my heat.

When we fell to the bed, he landed on top of me, between my thighs, crushing his chest to mine and stealing the air from my lungs. His breath was harsh against my ear and I could feel him shaking with need above me. His fingers moved over me, inside me, rough, seeking. Possessing. “Mine.”

I clutched his shoulders. “Yours.”

Positioning himself against me, he jerked my legs up around his waist. “You want all of me, that’s what you’ll get.” One arm went under me, holding me, and the other to the headboard. His eyes flashed bright green. “That’s what you’ll take.” With his gaze locked on mine, he drove inside me, filling me completely.

Fitting me.

My eyes rolled and I cried out.

His mouth came down over mine, eager and fast. “You have no idea how great you feel.”

I wound my arms around him and as he took me. Over and over he plunged. I arched up to meet him, stroke for stroke. On the verge of painful, his fingers dug into my hip and ass. He attacked my neck with kisses and bites. Each time he filled me he possessed me. It was electric, almost painful, but sizzling with pleasure.

This wasn’t the man who’d made love to me weeks before, showing me a tenderness I’d never known. But it was still Kale showing me something else. Showing me how it felt to be needed desperately. To be wanted.

The thought had me climaxing and my nails digging into his back even as he kept moving inside me.

Breathing ragged, Kale thrust faster, harder, chest covered in sweat. His mouth swallowed my cries and gasps until I felt myself spiraling apart around him again.

Gripping my hips again, he pulled out. “Mine,” he grunted, and then he drove into me one last time.

“Yours,” I cried out.

Panting, he fell across me, pinning me to the mattress under his weight. His heart pounded against mine. After a few minutes, his breathing slowed. “Shit.”

Speaking took work, but I made myself repeat him. “Shit?”

“Sorry. Not you. Me. I mean, I didn’t plan this.”

“Sex?”

I felt him smile against my shoulder. “No. I hoped for that. For…”

“Taking me completely and thoroughly?” I suggested.

“Yeah. Basically.” He raised up until he was resting on his elbows. “I felt like a mad man, like I had to have you or I’d go insane.”

I ached in a good way. An unexpected way. “You gave me a chance to say no. I didn’t.” I ran my hand down his back. “I’ve never been…wanted like that before.”

“Oh, you’re always wanted like that.” His mouth moved over to mine and he kissed me deeply, slowly, until I purred. “And I’m not done with you yet.”

CHAPTER 12

I
n a variety of ways, Kale spent the night showing me how much he wanted me. He made me feel things I didn’t know were possible, took me to places I didn’t know I could go.