Right Place, Right Time (Second Chances Book 2) (7 page)

Kate

Jeez. I wish he’d just kiss me or touch me
or
something
already.

Does he think I’m a virgin? Sure, I might give off the innocent vibe, but I’ve been with a few guys. I lost my virginity after a party freshman year simply because I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Casey had said it was a dumb move, that it should be with someone I had feelings for, but I’d looked at it strictly from a scientific perspective—an experiment of sorts. It definitely hadn’t been all it was cracked up to be. Sophomore year, I’d dated a guy, Paul, for seven months, and he ended up being number two. Then at the end of last semester, my study partner and I had done the deed to relieve some serious final exam tension. To be honest, with the exception of Paul, my other encounters were very mechanical. It hadn’t been fireworks and opera music with Paul, but it had been fun.

What would it be like with Jay? I clenched my thighs together at the thought. Jay must have felt the movement because he glances over at me with a questioning look on his face.

“You okay?” he asks.

I give him a small smile and nod, hoping he doesn’t see the blush on my cheeks. Oh, hell. Who am I kidding? I hope he does see the blush and does something about it. But no. He just smiles softly and turns his gaze back to the television.

Jeez. If thinking about him in that way makes my thighs clench, I can only imagine how fooling around would make me feel.

I withhold the frustrated sigh that wants to come out and go back to watching the movie. I see that it’s coming upon a scene that may pass as scary to someone who hasn’t seen the film a million times before. Jay may know it’s one of my favorite movies, but he doesn’t know whether or not I still get scared. This might just work in my favor.

Right on cue, I shriek and burrow myself into Jay’s side. As if it were rehearsed, he lifts his left arm and curls it around my shoulders, tucking me into his chest. Like a complete gentleman, he doesn’t say a word about it. Instead, he starts running his fingers through my slightly damp hair. Mission: accomplished.

After a few minutes of this new, cozy position, I test my luck by getting more comfortable. I move my left arm so my hand is resting across his torso. I feel his abs tense under my fingers—good lord, this man is ripped—and I just barely resist the urge to feel around and name the different muscles. I do spread my fingers wide though, trying to feel as much of him as I can. Aside from riding with him on his bike and our kiss, this is the closest I’ve been to him, and if he’s not going to make a move, I’m at least going to take advantage while I can.

“Kate?” His voice is gruff, and it startles me. I tilt my head up and meet his intense gaze. “What are you doing?”

Busted
.

“Just getting comfortable,” I say, going for nonchalance but the higher pitch to my voice clearly indicates otherwise.

I’m still looking into his eyes, trapped in his silver stare. His eyebrows draw together and his eyes seem to darken. It looks like he’s having some kind of inner struggle. I hope that struggle is about what I think it’s about, and I hope it turns out the way I want it to.

“Fuck it,” he quietly mutters before angling his body towards mine and pressing me down on the couch. I’m flat on my back, and he’s hovering over me, holding his body up with his left arm bent beside my head. I feel his lower body pressed against me and…damn…he’s as happy to be here as I am to have him.

He cradles my face in his right hand, and I nuzzle against it. He bites out another curse. “You’re killing me, Kate,” he whispers.

I rock my hips against him. “Make me feel good, Jay.”

He closes his eyes tight as he hisses out a breath. “I don’t know how to resist you anymore.”

“Then don’t,” I challenge him.

His eyes pop open, and he looks so deeply into my eyes I could swear he’s seeking out my soul. “It’s been…a while for me. I don’t know…”

“Shh. It’s okay,” I tell him, framing his face with my hands. “I want this, Jay. I want you. Please.”

His pained look nearly breaks my heart. He’s been through so much, and I just want him to feel normal…to feel good. I want him to make me feel good, too. I lift my head and kiss him. He doesn’t respond at first, letting me take the lead. But soon, he can’t hold back, and he presses his lips against mine, taking charge.

The sensations are overwhelming…the feel of his lips against mine—softer than I’d expected from someone so rugged—and quite the contrast to his hard body pressing against mine. He gently grinds himself against me, and I move my hands to the back of his head to pull him closer to me. Still not close enough.

“Oh, God,” I breathe as he kisses down my neck. He works his hand down my side, his thumb just barely grazing my breast, causing me to sigh. What delicious torture. He raises himself off me just enough to work my tank top up my body. I lift up to help him out, breaking our kiss only when the top passes between us. I lie back down while he stays raised above me, taking me in with absolute reverence.

“You’re so beautiful,” he says, before dipping back down to give me a bruising kiss. His hand traces up my side causing my nipples to pebble and goosebumps to spread across my skin. He starts kissing and licking down my neck again, making me squirm. His hand reaches my breast before his mouth and he massages it once…twice…before he takes the tight bud in his mouth. His other hand goes to work on my other breast, and soon his mouth follows. He gives them equal attention—lots of attention—but it still doesn’t quench the desire I’m feeling.

His knee is resting between my legs and I subtly scoot down so it’s pressing right against my core. A slight shift of my hips and the friction feels so good…so right. Pretty soon, I’m rubbing against his leg in earnest. I’m so close…

“Jay,” I moan, finally alerting him to the fact that something
else
is going on here.

He looks down between us and smirks. “That feel good Kate?”

“Mm hmm.”

Jay places his hand between by legs, pressing down with his palm on my pelvic bone to hold me still, conveniently avoiding the throbbing area and stopping my delicious movements. I groan in frustration. The finish line is right there. He chuckles as he rests back on his haunches. “Eager, are we?”

I rock my hips in response, and his smirk disappears. In its place is a heated look of desire. He moves his hand, slipping it inside my shorts. His eyes become hooded as he realizes just how ready I am…how close I’d been. He rubs the sensitive nub with his thumb as he slips a finger inside me. First one, then two. I cry out from the invasion and nearly climax on the spot.

“Please…” I whimper as I close my eyes.

“Please what, Kate?” Jay whispers, his lips right by my ear.

“Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”

I’m rocking against his hand, desperate for release, and just as Jay nips my earlobe, I come apart. As the tremors roll through my body, my cries are cut short by Jay pressing his mouth against mine. I ride out the orgasm, and he doesn’t move his fingers until the last tremor wanes.

“Fuck, that was sexy as hell,” he says as he pulls away, then presses one more kiss to my lips.

I smile up at him, his face is lit up like a kid in a candy store. I sit up, and he moves back, his expression now curious. This time, I’m the one who smirks.

“Your turn,” I tell him as I reach for the button on his jeans.

“No…you don’t have to,” he says, grabbing my wrist.

“I want to,” I smile.

I rise up on my knees and kiss him, silencing any further protest. Then I shake his grip off my wrist. I pull at the hem of his shirt and he gets the idea, lifting it over his head. I press myself against him…bare chest to bare chest…and
ohmygod,
it feels wonderful. I don’t remember sex ever feeling this intimate before. As he wraps his arms around me, I make quick work of his jeans, brushing against his erection as I go.

He groans against my mouth, and I smile in response. I pull away and put both hands flat on his chest, pushing him back so he’s lying on his back on the couch. His sculpted chest rises and falls with his heavy breaths and the sight encourages me. I glance down at his boxers and lick my lips. I can feel what he’s packing in there and I can’t wait to see it.

Just as I reach inside his boxer briefs and wrap my hand around him…

the phone rings.

Jay

Fuck.

I tuck myself back into my pants and sit up, looking over to where Kate is pacing the kitchen on her cell phone as I put back on my t-shirt.

“I’m sorry. I have to get it. It’s Casey’s ringtone” She’d told me before quickly tugging on her tank top and scampering off the couch to get her phone from the kitchen counter.

We were so close
.

But it’s just as well, we shouldn’t be doing anything anyway. A momentary loss of control on my part, but at least we didn’t go all the way. At least I hadn’t allowed her to reciprocate. That would have likely been the point of no return. I send a silent thanks to her roommate for calling at just the right time.

I rest my elbows on my knees and run my hands over my head, clasping them behind my neck. I guess I need to face the facts…Kate and I are probably never going to be able to be
just
friends. God knows I’m attracted to her, and I know she’s attracted to me, too. Is it too late to try to set those feelings aside? Maybe I can help her realize it’s in her best interest to do so.

“Sorry about that,” Kate says, walking back into the living room. “She’s stopped for the night, and I made her promise to call me when she did.”

She sits beside me, and I turn to her. “It’s okay. I should probably get going anyway.”

She frowns as I stand up. “You don’t have to leave…”

“It’s late,” I tell her, pointing at the clock on the DVR. 2:37. I know it’s a lame excuse, since it was late when I followed her back to her apartment to begin with.

“Right,” she says, getting to her feet. “Thanks for watching the movie with me, even though we didn’t get to finish it.”

“Maybe some other time,” I offer.

She smiles. “That would be nice.”

She walks me to her door and frowns again when all I give her is a soft kiss on her forehead. “Good night, Kate.”

“Good night,” she says quietly as she watches me walk away.

I hop on my bike and fasten my helmet, feeling like a total asshole. Taking a quick look up at her apartment, I catch the lights turn off one-by-one. I’m caught between wishing I was still up there and knowing that I shouldn’t be.

She deserves better than you
, I remind myself as I start my bike and pull out of the lot.

Maybe if I repeat that mantra enough, it’ll keep me away. Maybe if I say it to her enough, it’ll keep
her
away. Somehow, I doubt that though. Kate’s too stubborn—too good—to see just how bad I am for her. Doesn’t she realize she doesn’t have a future with someone like me? She can’t ever take me home to meet her parents. She can’t take a guy like me to those fancy banquets and shit doctors and other rich people attend.

She has no future with me.

None.

The sooner she realizes it, the better.

***

I’m wiping down a custom chopper I’ve just changed the oil on when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I let out a frustrated sigh, certain that it’s probably Kate calling me for the third time today. It’s been two days since I left her at her apartment. I’m trying to stay away, but she’s relentless…calling a few times each day. I feel bad letting the calls go to voicemail, but I’m trying to put distance between us. I’m no good, and she needs to get that. Tough love or whatever. I know I came to California to see her, but not with the intention of starting something physical…just a friendship. At least initially.

I look at my phone and am relieved to see it’s not Kate but Sean, my best friend from back home.

“Hey, man, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, bro. Just checking in, seeing how things are going.”

“Everything’s all right,” I tell him, dropping the cloth on the work bench and stepping outside the garage. My boss, Leroy, knows I’m a decent worker, so he doesn’t mind when I take a quick break here and there. Mostly because I never take them.

“How’s Kate?” I let out a sigh. Leave it to Sean to go for the jugular. “That good, huh?”

“Kate’s Kate. She’s amazing and perfect…”

“And everything you shouldn’t have…blah blah blah,” Sean says, cutting off my usual diatribe.

“Right.” I kick at a small rock in the parking lot and cringe as it heads towards the open garage bay. I relax when it stops short of the bike I’d just finished working on.

“Look, man, why the hell are you even out there?”

“You know why.” He’s the only one who knows the whole story of me and Kate.

“But if you’re going to keep sabotaging yourself, then what’s the point? I get that you think she’s too good for you. Hell, she probably is.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“I’m not finished. You’re self-deprecation is really starting to get on my nerves, Spencer.”

I laugh. “I love it when you use big words on me.”

“I’m serious, Jay. You’re a good guy who’s been dealt a shit hand and you just keep playing it anyway. I get that your parents putting you down all the time fucked you up, okay? But you have a chance to start over…start fresh. It pisses me off that you’re not taking it. It pisses me off that you’re going to let a few bad years dictate the rest of your life. You’re better than that.”

Now that pisses me off. Those “few bad years”
are
going to dictate the rest of my life. “Listen here,” I start, but he cuts me off again.

“No,
you
listen here…you have a choice and you’re making a shitty one. You’re conforming to what you think society thinks of you instead of manning up and being who you really want to be. You think that girl sees you the way you see yourself? The way your parents saw you? Hell, no. She wouldn’t have kept writing to you all that time if she had. But if you keep treating yourself like that, other people are gonna start doing it, too. Get the fuck over your shit, man.”

I want to reach through the phone and choke my friend…but I know the asshole is right.

“So you up for a road trip to Sturgis this year?” Sean asks after a few moments of silence.

“That’s a long ass road trip,” I tell him, appreciating how quickly we can flip from wanting to punch one other to making plans.

“Says the guy who rode his bike across the country,” he responds dryly.

I laugh. “Exactly, so I know.”

“Come on, dude. It’ll be a kick ass time. If you’re still in California, we can meet in Kansas or some shit.”

“Okay, deal. When else am I gonna get to have a road trip with my best friend now that he’s all domesticated?” I joke, certain that Sean’s wife, Julia, is not going to be thrilled about him riding to South Dakota.

“Stop, you’re making me emotional,” Sean laughs.

I see Leroy step out of his office in the back. “Hey, man, I’m at work so I’d better go. I’ll call you this weekend, and we can talk about Sturgis.”

“Sounds good. I’ll have some info ready. Later, buddy.”

I hang up the phone and give a nod to Leroy, then step back to the custom chopper I’d been polishing before Sean’s call came through. As much as I don’t want to admit it…Sean’s right.

If I don’t believe in myself, who the hell will?