Every Little Kiss (15 page)

“I'm going to invite him over to my house after the event.”

Once the words were out there, it seemed more true. Betty swatted Casey's ass.

“That's the spirit.”

“Thanks?”

“You can thank me next Thursday at the Knots and Bolts meeting. Maybe by telling us all how it went?”

Casey gave her a sideways glance. They both knew Betty didn't need to phrase it as a question. Casey would tell them all what had happened. Betty would no doubt find a clever way to pull it out of her.

Casey barely had time to blink before Betty had retreated back into the crowd. She returned her focus to Abe, who was shirtless and surrounded by plates of food and not paying them any attention. He was looking straight at her.

She squared her shoulders.

It was time to ask him over for a drink.

It was time to take some action on her list.

T
wo hours later, Casey was pouring wine with shaking hands, unable to believe that not only had Abe accepted her invitation to come over, but also that she'd somehow won the third-place ribbon in tonight's fund-raiser. She'd tried to press the silky fabric into Audrey's hands, but her sister would have none of it. “I only helped a little.
You
earned that ribbon.”

Casey wasn't so sure. She had almost added cream of celery soup to the hot dish instead of cream of mushroom, and she'd baked it at 450 degrees instead of 400. So it was clearly not a perfect outcome. But she was the one who'd suggested a dash or two of Tabasco, just to spice it up. And she had added more cheese than the recipe called for, because what could go wrong there?

In the end, the answer was nothing. And the fund-raiser had taken in more than a thousand dollars to help buy kids Christmas presents.

Now, as she carried the wine into the living room, where Abe was sitting, she was wondering if her luck would hold for the rest of the night. Namely so she could ask the firefighter in her living room to sleep with her.

And hear him say yes. That last part being key.

“So Evelyn Beauford has a wild side after all,” she said, handing Abe his glass. He reached for it, his fingertips brushing hers. Electricity sparked on her skin. She nearly spilled the liquid everywhere.

“She got what she wanted tonight,” Abe said.

“I suppose she's coordinated enough fund-raisers and charity events in this town to think about herself for one minute,” Casey said, seating herself next to Abe on the couch. Close, but not too close. “It's not like she asked for a million dollars.”

“No. Just some half-naked firefighters.”

Casey smiled. Abe lifted his wine. “To getting what you want,” he said, and Casey shivered slightly as she clinked her glass with his.

If only Abe knew what
she
wanted.

“Ingrid, Rolf, and I are going to speak to Carter tomorrow,” she said, trying to focus. She had asked Abe over under the guise of talking about next steps with the troubled boy. She might want to skip the talking and go straight to bed, but it was important to ensure that they talked about Carter getting the help he needed.

“He always comes in on Fridays, and we were going to see if he might share his journals with us. It might shed light on what he's going through.”

Abe nodded. “Good idea. And it will help him know that Robot Lit still cares about him. I think a lot of places would have thrown him out after what he did.”

Casey studied the rich red hues of her cabernet. She'd thought about serving Abe beer or Scotch, but decided against it because she drank neither, and she didn't want it to seem like she'd bought something in anticipation of him coming over, even though that was precisely what she had done. She took a sip of the bold, oaky flavor and decided it was plenty manly enough.

“We are being cautious,” she said, shifting her thoughts back to Robot Lit. “Carter has to be under Rolf's observation when he's in the building. He can't even go to the bathroom by himself. But Ingrid and I talked about it. We don't want to take away the only thing that he has. And right now, sad as it is to say, we think that might be the nonprofit.”

Abe leaned forward a few inches. To Casey it felt like he had crossed the Mississippi, or the desert, or some other unfathomable border that brought his scent stronger, his warmth closer. If she leaned in, too, their bodies would almost be touching.

“It's a lot of years ago now, but when Ingrid's mom ran the place, I was the same way. My parents were great—are great, actually—but they're artists, and they didn't understand the struggle I was having to read. They were more the ‘Oh, it'll come when it comes' type. But in the meantime, I didn't understand anything that was happening at school. I was falling behind. I was just a kid, but I'm pretty sure I was depressed. Or something like it.”

“Was it dyslexia?” Casey asked.

Abe nodded. “Mild, but yeah. I felt like such a freak, but Robot Lit made it okay for me to be who I was. They worked with me. Met me where I was at. The fact that you're doing the same thing with Carter now”—he shook his head—“it's incredible.”

“I know the kind of pressure kids can have heaped on them,” Casey agreed, thinking of her own past. “They need help sometimes. Not just punishment.”

Abe surprised her by grabbing her hand. He raked his thumb over her knuckles. She inhaled sharply.

“You're a good person,” he said, his hazel eyes dropping to her lips. “So if I did anything the other night to offend you, I apologize.”

Casey blinked, trying to concentrate as Abe's fingers played with her own. “You mean the night of the Christmas tree lighting?”

“You raced out of my car like you couldn't get away from me fast enough. Not to mention,” he added playfully, “you didn't even complete my survey so I'd know where I went wrong.”

Because I was worried I'd throw myself at you
, she thought.

“It's—well, I did leave quickly. But not for the reasons you think.”

Abe raised a brow. “Oh?”

Casey set her wine on the table. Abe followed suit.

“It's because…” she trailed off. She'd practiced this part, dammit. She should have this down. Only her words were mixed up and jumbled, like the ingredients in her casserole.

She tamped down her nerves and worked to find her accountant's composure. “I found myself very attracted to you,” she said after a moment. God, she sounded like a robot. “That's why I left. I was worried I'd do something foolish.”

A smile lifted the corner of Abe's mouth. Cripes, she wanted to kiss that corner. “That's bad news,” he said. “If you find yourself attracted to me again, there's nowhere else to go. You're home and I'm right here.”

Casey could see the sliver of an opening in his words. It wasn't great, but she'd have to take it.

Here goes everything
, she thought.

“We could make the best of it,” she said slowly, letting her fingers play along Abe's knuckles. “We could have some fun together, I mean. Nothing serious. Just…fun.”

She'd said
fun
twice. He was going to think she was talking about a bouncy castle, for crying out loud.

Her words hung there for a moment. She stared at Abe's blond hair, threaded through with gold, and his hazel eyes, like a field of grass after fall's first frost. She could still picture his wide chest, bare and brazen at the fund-raiser, and how she'd longed to taste his skin more than any of the dishes there. Her whole being trembled as she imagined his arms around her, his lips against hers, his weight on top of her as they came together. Her center heated.

“Fun can mean a lot of things,” he said, inching closer to her on the couch. “Care to elaborate?” He pushed back a strand of her hair. He was so gentle. Too gentle. She wanted him rough.

Impulsively, she grabbed his hand and brought her mouth down on his index finger. His eyes widened as she began to suck. And then he growled in a way that had her nerves tingling. She moved her tongue around, having no idea what she was doing. She'd never sucked anyone's fingers before. Heck, she'd never sucked a man's
anything
before. Not even Miles's. But Abe seemed to like it. He closed his eyes briefly, and then used his other hand to palm his way up her ribs.

A moment later, he pulled his fingers out of her mouth and left his hand an inch away from her breasts. She could feel her nipples tightening, could feel them straining for his touch.

“You didn't answer my question.”

He acted like he was going to cease all making out and touching until she spelled it out.

“I want you,” Casey said, her words more breathless than she'd expected. “I hear you're a player, and, as it turns out, I'm in the mood to play.”

She studied Abe's chiseled face for a reaction, but his features didn't betray anything. So she barreled forward. “I would like some specific things done to me. It's not a long list, but it's
my
list, and I wondered if you wanted to take a stab at it. It's no-strings-attached sex. Two adults agreeing that the arrangement can work and deciding to do it. Nothing more.”

Abe's fingers teased their way a millimeter closer to her breasts. She nearly groaned.

“What's on your list?” he asked, his voice even lower than it had been minutes ago.

“Nothing I'm sure you haven't tackled a thousand times,” she said. She tried to sound authoritative, like she did this all the time. “I want to start out kissing, but have it lead to sex. I want the sex to be rough. I want twelve orgasms out of said sex.” She could feel her face burning but she kept going. “I want the sex to happen a lot, specifically on Christmas Day. And I want some adult toys involved.”

A muscle worked in Abe's jaw. She searched his face for a clue to his thoughts but couldn't find one. The man was iron and ice.

And muscle and skin, she thought hungrily.

“Do you want all twelve orgasms in one sitting?” he asked finally.

This
was his question? All the tense silence for that? Casey actually giggled. She clasped a hand over her mouth. “No,” she said through her fingers, “I just want to say that I've had twelve. With someone else. Not, you know, by my own doing.”

Abe's hazel eyes narrowed. “You've never had twelve orgasms with anyone else?”

Casey dropped her hand. She supposed she'd have to be honest if she wanted a chance at this arrangement happening.

“No. I've only ever really dated one guy seriously. And he wasn't exactly…a creative type.”

“Are you a virgin?”

She might as well be. “Technically, no. I've had sex. Not good sex, but I've had it.”

This seemed to pique Abe's interest. “And me because…?”

Casey dropped her bullshit filter as far down as it would go. “I want you. I hear you…might have some experience to offer. Plus there's chemistry here. I want what I want, and you seem like the guy who could give it.”

“But nothing more than what's on the list?”

Was it her imagination, or was there a hopeful note in there somewhere? Like maybe Abe wanted more? But of course that couldn't be true. And even if he did want more, Casey wasn't about to give it. Because where would it end? If they took it all the way, it would end in disaster. She'd been down that road before, and she wasn't going to repeat her mistakes. She'd lived too much of her life being constricted by things. Now it was time to be free.

“Nothing more than what's on the list,” she said firmly.

“I may have to take issue with your categories, though,” Abe said slowly, his hand inching upward again.

He rubbed his thumb over her nipple and she arched back, savoring the feel of his fingers on her. He brought his lips to her throat, warm and strong. He licked the length of her neck.

He could stop here,
she thought,
and it would be the most wild and alive thing that's ever happened to me.

Except then he slipped his hand underneath her red shirt and his palms slid along her ribs, to her back. In one quick motion he'd unhooked her bra, and then his fingers were on her breasts, expertly rolling along her left nipple and then her right, and the vibration from his touch echoed in every single one of her cells.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

“No,” he said, the heat of his words on her skin, his breath setting her insides aflame, “that was earlier in the Lutheran church.”

She could barely hear him. She was losing her train of thought entirely. Her brain was in shutdown mode, letting a more primitive part of her body take over. She loved it. The visceral no-thoughts-only-feelings tide carrying her away was the most freeing thing she'd ever known.

They were doing this. He was saying yes.

Or at least that was what she thought until Abe started talking again.

“See, the problem is,” he said, nipping along her clavicles and neck while his hands continued their magical course, “I'm not sure what happens in this arrangement if I do
this
.” In one swift motion, he tugged on the edge of her shirt and lifted it over her head. Her bra, already unhooked, came off with the wad of clothing.

She straightened, surprised to suddenly be sitting in front of him topless on the couch. While he was still clothed.

Casey brought a self-conscious hand to her chest. The lights were still on, she realized. Was he seeing too much of her? “Uh, is there cause for concern?”

Abe smiled, then pulled her hand away from her body gently. She was bared to him once again. His gold-flecked eyes gazed into hers, and she wondered at the tenderness there. Wasn't this supposed to be rough? Emotionless? She swallowed back the nervousness, and tried to imagine all the things he was going to do to her. Once he got done asking questions, that is.

“I'm just trying to understand the boundaries,” he said, staring at her breasts, the tenderness in his eyes transforming to something closer to hunger. “Your plan is ill defined.”

“I don't see how.”

He pulled her to him then, quick and rough, and her whole body ignited with feeling. His mouth was hot, his tongue penetrating and tangling with hers in a way that had her imagining twisted silk and knotted sheets. He broke the kiss to push her back on the couch. She'd hardly opened her eyes before she closed them again, savoring the solid weight of him on her. Her hands grasped his shoulders, taking in the feel of his knotted muscles underneath his fireman's shirt. But then he broke from her grasp and slid down, so that his lips were suddenly on her breasts.

She gasped as his mouth landed on her right nipple, his other hand working perfectly over her left breast. It felt as if a string of fireworks was connected from her chest to her innermost parts. She cried out at the thrilling sensation. Abe sucked and nipped her tender skin. She plunged her hands into his blond hair, twining her fingers in its thickness, trying to anchor herself to the here and now. His mouth found her left nipple, giving it equal attention. She bit her lip to keep from shouting at the ceiling again.