Risking It All (22 page)

She had just turned and was about to throw one back at him when he tackled her around the waist and brought her down.

“Memphis!” she screamed as she prepared to hit the ground, but he turned his body at the last second so she landed on him instead.

As soon as they were down, he flipped her over so she was under him, and grinned down at her.

“Seems this is the second time today I’ve held you captive,” he said.

Kennedy stared up at him as snow began to fall around them, and her heartstrings tugged so hard there was a pain in her chest.

“Maybe I just like being manhandled by you,” she said, her voice a little hoarse.

Memphis chuckled, and he traced her cheek with his gloved finger.

“Guess you can check snowball fight off your list, huh?” he said. “Anything else you wanted to do?”

“I’ve never been kissed in the snow,” she answered coyly.

Memphis smirked.

“Are you asking me to kiss you?”

“I’m just telling you what else I haven’t done.”

“Well, if that’s all . . .” He made a move to get up, and Kennedy grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back down. The cold was starting to send chills through her body, but she was willing to shiver as long as he didn’t move yet.

“Kiss me.”

Memphis’s lips slowly turned down into a frown as he studied her face, his eyes falling on her lips.

“The last time you asked me to kiss you, you were drunk.”

“I wasn’t drunk,” Kennedy said. “But as you can see, I’m completely sober now.”

“You also asked me for reasons other than wanting to really kiss me,” he added.

“I explained that. I lied. You know it was all about you. What’s the big deal now anyway, Memphis? We’ve kissed since.”

He traced his finger back and forth over her chin, hesitating a minute before answering.

“That was in a moment of passion. This isn’t about sex right now.”

Kennedy flinched, pulling her chin away from him.

“So you’re saying you only want to kiss me when you can get into my pants?”

“No.” Memphis’s frown deepened, and he shook his head. “Why would you think that?”

“You’re right. The only time we have kissed, other than the time I asked you, is when we’re tearing each other’s clothes off. You’ve never even tried to kiss me otherwise. Ever.”

“That’s not true. I seem to recall trying to kiss you at the lake and you stopped me.”

“Fine,” Kennedy said through clenched teeth, not only pissed that he was missing the point but also because he was right. “Aside from that time, you’ve never tried to kiss me unless you were about to get laid.”

Memphis pulled back and gaped at her.

“Where the hell is this coming from, Kennedy? Until now we’ve always had a platonic relationship, remember? Why would I kiss you?”

“Right. Why would you kiss me?” Kennedy pushed at his chest so he’d move so she could get up. “It’s not like you ever wanted me. The only reason this whole thing started is because you were jealous of some guy in a gallery!”

Kennedy pushed against his chest again, but he didn’t budge.

“Is that what you think?” Memphis grabbed her hands and pressed them against his chest so she’d stop pushing at him. “Is that what you really think?”

Something in his voice made Kennedy still. She searched his face, her eyes raking over every part of it, not knowing what to say.

Is that what she really thought?

Yes. Maybe. Hell, she didn’t even know. What else was she supposed to think? It wasn’t like he’d given her any indication before that he wanted something more than friendship. Alec showed up and suddenly he was Mr. Possessive. It had to be about jealousy, right?

But if it was, then why wasn’t he jealous of Brooks? Did he see that there was nothing there anymore; therefore he didn’t see Brooks as a threat?

“What am I supposed to think?” she whispered. 

“How about that I’m with you now because I want to be and that it has nothing to do with anyone else?”

“It has nothing to do with Alec?”

Memphis sighed, clearly frustrated with how the conversation was going.

“Yes, I hated that he was coming on to you, okay? But no, I wouldn’t risk ruining our friendship over some guy flirting with you.”

“Why now?”

“I don’t know. Because it feels right?”

Kennedy swallowed.

“Does this have anything to do with Brooks?”

“You talk too much, Kennedy,” he said before pressing his lips to hers.

Alec, Brooks, everything disappeared once his mouth captured hers. Nothing else mattered.

Memphis released her hands, and she wrapped them around his neck, pulling him closer. His tongue probed her lips, seeking entrance. Kennedy opened her mouth, meeting his tongue with hers with slow, wet strokes.

Eventually he pulled away, nipping at her bottom lip and sucking on it before breaking contact with her mouth. He brushed the snowflakes from her cheek as they fell on her face, and gave her a small smile.

“Maybe we should go inside before we end up buried in this snowstorm that’s supposed to happen.”

“What about the springs?”

“They’ll still be there later.”

He pushed to his feet and held out his hand for her, pulling her out of the snow with a gentle tug. Kennedy tried brushing the wetness from her bottom, but the snow had leaked through and dampened her jeans.

Memphis wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side as he led her back to the cabin.

“Let’s get you out of those wet clothes before you catch pneumonia on me,” he said, winking at her.

“Are you volunteering yourself to help get me out of my clothes?”

Memphis unlocked the cabin and turned to her with a grin that made her heart stop and her stomach flip.

“If you insist,” he told her, swatting her ass as she passed him.

“I think I can manage to get out of my clothes alone, thank you,” she replied, tossing the tuque on the couch and unwrapping the scarf from around her neck.

Memphis wrapped his arms around her from behind and pressed his face against her neck, murmuring, “But it’s so much more fun when I help you get out of them.”

Kennedy laughed and shrugged out of his embrace.

“I’m going to go change. Why don’t you figure out what we’re going to do if we’re going to be stuck inside because of this storm?”

He pulled her back into his arms and nuzzled her neck.

“I already know what I want to do.” His mouth played with her ear, and he whispered, “And it’s not what you think it is.”

Kennedy snorted.

“What would it be then?”

“Come with me to the bedroom and I’ll show you.”

“That sounds like exactly what I was thinking,” she said

He smirked at her and took her hand.

“Come.”

She let him lead her to the bedroom and stood in the doorway watching him as he opened his camera bag and took out his camera.

“What are you doing?” she asked, instinctively taking a step back.

He turned to her and a smile slowly spread across his face.

“I want to photograph you, Kennedy,” he said.

She looked at the camera, to him, and then back down at the camera.

“You mean . . .” She shook her head. “No. No way.”

“They’ll be tasteful,” he promised. “They don’t have to be nude, although I can do nude very tastefully, too, just so you know.” He winked and continued, “And we’ll be the only ones who will ever see them. I promise. I’ll even give you all the pictures if you don’t trust me to have them.”

Kennedy frowned.

“You know I trust you more than anyone, Memphis.”

“Then do this with me. Please?”

Kennedy shook her head again.

“I can’t . . . I’m not . . . I’ve never . . .” she rambled as a hundred thoughts ran through her mind, making it hard to concentrate on getting a complete sentence out.

“Hey.” Memphis put the camera on the bed and moved to stand in front of her. He cupped her face and forced her to look at him. “It’s just me taking your picture, Kennedy. Nothing more. We’ll only go as far as you want to go and no further. Okay?”

“Why?” she whispered. “Why do you want to do this?”

“Blame it on my profession. When I see something beautiful, I need to take pictures of it.” The playfulness in his voice did nothing to calm her nerves. He flicked a curl out of her eyes, and he grew serious. “I want to capture this moment, Kennedy. I want to have something to remember our time here together—where it was just us and nothing or no one else in the world mattered. No matter what happens after,” he said, sounding sad.

Kennedy stared at him and shyly nodded her head. She inhaled deeply and breathed out the word, “Okay.”

“Okay?” His eyes widened in surprise that she was agreeing.

“Okay,” she repeated. “I want that, too. But on one condition,” she added before he could get too excited.

“Which is?”

“You have to be in some of them as well.”

“Me?”

“What fun would it be for me to have only pictures of myself?” She smiled coyly at him and played with the collar on his shirt. “I’ll do it if you do it.”

His hands dropped from her face to her hips, and his eyes roamed over her body.

“Are you talking about you taking pictures of me or pictures of us together?” he asked, his voice low as he slipped his hands under her sweatshirt and spread his palms over the small of her back.

Kennedy’s pulse sped up at the thought of having erotic pictures taken of them together. She didn’t want raunchy porn photos, nothing degrading or taken in a way she would later regret. She trusted Memphis when he said he would be tasteful. She knew he could make them sensual and sexy without being overly graphic.

And she wanted something to hold onto like that. Something she could look at and keep forever and not just have as a memory.

“Together,” she answered, sliding her hands from his chest up to his hair and dragging her fingers through the dark strands. “I want them to be of us together.”

Memphis slid his hands up her back, and his fingers traced over the clasp of her bra.

“Together as in . . .
together
?” His voice dropped even lower, and she giggled

“If they’re
tastefully
done,” she said, “then, yes.”

He groaned and pressed his forehead to hers.

“Woman, you’re going to kill me.”

“That’s meant in a good way I hope.”

“Definitely.”

“Kinda makes you wonder where I’ve been all your life, huh?”

“Knowing where you were wasn’t the problem,” he said, and pulled away before she could question what he meant. “Will you get on the bed for me?”

“Do I get to change first? Remember, I’m still sporting a very damp ass.”

“Take off your jeans and socks but leave the sweatshirt and everything else on. For now,” he added with a mischievous grin.

Kennedy’s heart pounded as she walked around to the far side of the bed and snapped the button open on her jeans. The zipper sounded ten times louder in the quiet room as she lowered it. She kept her eyes down, focused on the floor as she tugged the wet denim down her legs. She quickly yanked off her socks and straightened, pulling on the hem of the sweatshirt to cover more of her thighs.

The shyness she had around Memphis struck her as funny. She had never been a shy person before—in or out of the bedroom. But standing there in front of Memphis in only an oversized shirt made her feel more self-conscious and nervous than she had ever felt while completely naked in front of a man. Maybe it was because he was the one person who knew everything about her. Her body, up until that point, had been the only thing she had hidden from him. And now she was going to be completely exposed in every way possible to her best friend.

It was silly to think, considering they’d already been intimate and Memphis had seen everything there was to see about her, but this was different. Kennedy would never have trusted anyone but him to take pictures of her. This was about so much more than just shedding clothes and posing for a camera. Her willingness to do this for him, the part of her that was turned on because she was going to do this with him, proved to her just how deep her feelings for Memphis went.

Kennedy glanced at him, and her chest tightened at the same time butterflies danced in her stomach. How did you tell a person the one thing he never wanted to hear from anybody? Or how did you hide how you felt from the one person who knew you so well?

“Hey, you okay?” Memphis moved to stand in front of her.

Kennedy nodded and forced a smile as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Uh-huh.”

He reached out, freed the hair she had just tucked, and smiled at her.

“Any time you want to stop we will.”

“And miss out on capturing your naked ass?” she teased. “Not a chance.”

Memphis bent, kissed her lips, and whispered, “Get on the bed,” against them.

Kennedy sucked in a deep breath and climbed onto the bed, sitting on her knees facing him.

“How do you want me?”

“That’s perfect,” he said, standing behind the camera that he’d set up on the tripod. “I just want you. Don’t feel like you have to try and be different than you are to do this.”

She stuck her tongue out at him just as he took a shot of her, and she giggled.

“Oh, yeah. Now that’s sexy. I think I’ll blow that one up and frame it for my apartment.”

“Don’t you dare!”

Memphis laughed.

“Lie on your side, beautiful.”
Click. Click. Click.
“Now on your back, left leg bent at the knee, left arm above your head, and look over your shoulder at me. Perfect.”

“How many of these are you planning to do?”

“Until you’ve stripped for the camera,” he replied, looking up from the setup to gauge her reaction. When she didn’t say anything, he continued, “Lift your shirt just above your navel.”

Kennedy closed her eyes, tried to calm her pounding heart by counting to five, and slowly raised her shirt the few inches up.

“Look at me, Kennedy.”

She opened her eyes and stared into his.

“That’s perfect,” he said again, sending off another round of flashes. “Now, a few more inches up, just below your breasts.”