Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
She sat up as inspiration struck. “Do earrings count?”
His gaze lifted briefly to the small silver hoops in her ears. “If you need them to.”
Damn. It was both the right and wrong answer. Had he said no, she’d have relished insisting that they did count. Instead, he left the ball in her court, left the decision up to her. She could play it safe, take out an earring in hopes that he’d make more missteps in the game than she would and end up naked first, or . . .
She could prove to him that being naked in front of him didn’t faze her in the least. That it was just naked, not vulnerable.
Kate reached under the table for the waist of her coral underwear. Not her prettiest, but at least they weren’t embarrassing.
“Bottoms first?” he said, sounding surprised.
She flashed him a cheeky grin, faking bravado she didn’t feel. “I’ll be sitting down. You can’t see under the table. If I were to take the bra off . . .” She waved her hand at chest level. “Boobs all over the place.”
His gaze heated and flared for a second before his eyes drifted downward to where her hands had started to ease off the bikini-cut panties. “Coward.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“This is the second strip show tonight I’ve been robbed of seeing. That hardly seems fair.”
Naked. Not vulnerable.
“Well, we can’t have that,” Kate said, her bravado a little less faked this time as she slowly stood. Once more her hands went to her waist, watching the way his gaze tracked the motion. The way his fingers clenched around the knight piece still in his palm as her thumbs slipped beneath the elastic.
Kate pulled them down to midthigh, then did a tiny shimmy, letting them fall the rest of the way, fluttering to the carpet at her feet. She kicked them aside.
She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she heard Kennedy swallow.
“Well, then. I guess that makes it my turn,” she said primly. Kate started to move back toward her chair when Kennedy’s fingers closed around her wrist.
He yanked her forward, and a second later, she was on his lap—straddling his lap.
“Kennedy!” She wiggled, jostling the chessboard in the process. His hands found her bare waist, holding her still.
“You had to know,” he said as his lips found her neck, “there was no chance I wasn’t reaching for you.”
Kate’s head fell back with a moan as his mouth moved down her chest, and she admitted to herself that she had known. That no matter what she told Sabrina about getting him out of her system, she’d wanted him from the very second he’d walked through Lara’s door tonight.
Way before that.
His mouth skimmed over her bra, his tongue licking her nipple through the lace. She whimpered, and his hands went to her bra clasp.
“Wait,” she managed around a gasp. “This is cheating.”
He stilled, his cheek pressed between her breasts, breathing hard. “What?”
“It’s breaking the rules,” she said, nodding to the chessboard. “You haven’t earned the loss of my bra. And I have to capture another piece before you lose your pants.” Her hand slid down over the clothing item in question, and she pressed her palm to his hardness.
Kennedy groaned harshly. “I forfeit.”
“I don’t accept,” she whispered, caressing him. “I like rules.”
What she liked even more was prolonging this, ever aware that each encounter between them could and should be the last, and she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for that.
Kate started to pull off him, intending to finish the game, but Kennedy had other ideas. One hand cupped her butt firmly, holding her against him, the other pulling her face down for a kiss.
She sank into it. Sank into him, letting her lips and tongue communicate all of the things she didn’t know how to say, even to herself.
“I’ll follow your rules,” he said against her lips. “But I’ll play on my terms.”
She pulled back slightly in confusion. “What—”
He hooked a finger into the front cup of her lace bra and held her gaze as he tugged it down. Then his head dipped, capturing her nipple in his mouth with a firm suck.
Her back arched, her hands coming to his head, as his fingers pulled down the cup on the other side, a little rougher this time, and licked that nipple as well. Back and forth he went, and somewhere through the haze of passion, she realized his game. Their strip-chess rules dictated her bra and his pants stayed on.
Technically.
His mouth returned to hers, kissing her passionately as her hands found the button of his pants. She unfastened them, he groaned his encouragement, and together they wrangled his pants and briefs down but not off.
Kate looked down her body, taking in the strangely erotic sight of her breasts spilling over the top of her bra, his pants bunched around his thighs. Her fingers wrapped around him. Stroked.