Double Exposure. Erin McCarthy
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don’t know any hippies.” Kyle shook his head. “I think they’re actually extinct. But you’re right, I can’t imagine they would look like alien extras from a B-budget film. Let’s take the stairs so we don’t run into anyone on the elevator. That could be awkward.”
“Very.” Emma shuddered at the thought, her breast napkin flapping as she walked.
Kyle’s apartment was on the second floor, so they were inside and free from any potential encounters in a matter of a few steps. Emma let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
“What a day,” Kyle said, tossing his baseball hat onto the console table in the entry.
“No kidding.” Emma stood just inside the doorway, eyes sweeping quickly around the room, feeling hugely self-conscious again. For some reason, she had expected Kyle’s place to be a glorified dorm room. Messy, with mismatched furniture and beer cans lying around. It was nothing remotely resembling her vision.
Kyle’s place was neat as a pin, his granite kitchen counter bare of all clutter except for a coffeemaker. His couch was streamlined and modern, with one throw blanket on the arm, folded to perfection. The loft-style windows gave huge amounts of light to the space, and Emma glanced down, aware of her dirty feet on his pristine floors. There wasn’t a speck of dust or dirt anywhere, and she felt the need to walk with paper towels wrapped around her unfortunate feet.
“Nice place.”
“Thanks. I like it. I can walk to work.” He moved into the room. “Bathroom’s this way. Come on, I’ll get you a towel.”
“Thanks.” Emma followed behind Kyle, her eyes focused on his tight butt and his firm thighs. He was very muscular, but not in a bodybuilder way. Just athletic. Natural. Her fingers itched to reach out and squeeze all that muscle in front of her. Not paying attention to anything other than his ass, Emma didn’t realize he had stopped walking until she plowed into him, her hands brushing across the back of his thighs.
“Oh! Sorry.” Emma jumped back a foot as she realized he had stopped to open a linen closet, and was pulling out towels.
Kyle turned, his eyes dark and unreadable. “I’m really good at keeping secrets, you know.”
Her heart rate kicked up a notch and her nipples firmed, goose bumps rushing over her skin. “Oh, yeah? I imagine that’s helpful in journalism. The whole Deep Throat thing.”
God, did she really just say deep throat to him? Emma felt her cheeks burn, but hoped the paint camouflaged her embarrassment.
Kyle shook his head. “Emma, you’re killing me. You know that, right?”
“No. I had no idea.” Which was a lie. She was very much aware of the sexual tension running between them. They were mostly naked, standing inches apart. She had accidentally touched his thighs and his mouth was close enough that with one short lean she could be kissing him.
“You are. And I most definitely can keep a secret, so if anything else happens here today, you can be sure it will never be mentioned at the office. Or ever, for that matter, if that’s what you want.”
“What could happen?” Because she was a girl who liked things to be spelled out. She knew what he meant, but she needed to hear confirmation that the man she’d been attracted to for quite some time was equally attracted to her, and was offering her an afternoon delight.
“This.” Kyle closed the gap between them, the towels he was holding crushing against her chest, his hand coming up to cup the back of her head.
Emma didn’t hesitate, but let her eyes flutter shut as his mouth covered hers in a deep, tantalizing kiss. Yowza. It was as perfect as she could have imagined. Kyle’s lips teased hers with just the right amount of pressure and finesse, his touch confident and smooth but not arrogant. There was something very soft and worshipful about his kiss, and she sighed as he pulled back.
Kyle had surprised her.
* * *
EMMA HAD SURPRISED HIM. For some reason, Kyle had expected Emma to kiss with precision and efficiency, like her office persona, or with a bold passion. He hadn’t anticipated she would be so vulnerable, so feminine, so sweet. She had kissed him back, but she had let him lead, and he found that immensely appealing. She tasted like...willingness.
“So you’re going to keep that a secret?” she asked, the tip of her tongue running along the bottom lip he had just tasted.
The message was loud and clear—Emma was ready to play. Kyle wouldn’t have guessed it of her. But then again, he hadn’t pictured they would wind up in his apartment in the state they were in. If their clothes hadn’t been stolen, he imagined he would have just gone home and showered solo. Whereas now he had a shot at showering with her.
Kyle gave a silent thanks to the thief.
“That’s just the beginning of what I intend to keep secret.”
Her eyes widened and her nose twitched. He had noticed she did that when she was nervous, or considering a response. He found it adorable. Not normally a word he used to describe women he wanted to take to bed, but in Emma’s case, it was very much true. She was stinking cute.
“Maybe this is why you’ve never flirted with me,” she said. “I can’t think of a single appropriate comeback.”
“I never flirted with you because I thought you would rip my balls off.” And because he’d thought she would shut him down so hard it would hurt. Hey, he could admit it. “And just say whatever you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking that I want to see what you look like without the green. Naked.”
Yeah, baby. “Good, because I was thinking the same thing about you.” He gave her hand a squeeze, then took the towels to the bathroom. “You can shower first. Unless you want me to join you?” Hey, you never knew unless you asked.
“Uh, I don’t think so.” She snagged a towel from his hand and held it up in front of her before pulling the one remaining napkin off her chest and tossing it in his wastebasket.
Two steps forward, one step back. Kyle was willing to be patient. For the next ten minutes or so. Then he was going to get another kiss, plus a little more if he had anything to say about it. There was no real reason for him to go into the bathroom with her, but he did, under the guise of turning on the shower and showing her his extensive collection of body gels.
“Here’s a loofah thingie so you can scrub the paint off.”
Emma took it, but she was staring at his shower doubtfully. “This is going to make such a mess. God, I hope it doesn’t stain the marble. Who puts marble in a shower?”
“It won’t stain.” He hoped. But it wasn’t like they had much choice. They were green and that wasn’t going to change until they showered. He winked at her. “Have fun in there.”
There was something about the way she was looking at him, her lips parted, her breasts heaving behind the towel, her toes curling on his cork floor. If he wasn’t mistaken, she did not want him to leave, but she wasn’t going to say that. She was waiting. For him to do it. Be the one who crossed all those boundaries and said to hell with office relations.
Well, they weren’t in the office and he wanted to relate to her on a whole new level. If she wanted him to make the move, be the bad guy in a way, he was more than willing to do just that. Because at the moment all he cared about was getting inside a nice hot shower and then getting inside her.
So Kyle took back the loofah he had handed her. She gave it up easily, her breath a sharp intake of air as he moved in close to her, his hand going to the small of her back. This time when he kissed her, he deftly stroked his tongue in between her lips to mate with hers, a hot rush of lust flooding over him, encouraging him that this was definitely the right move to make. When he yanked the towel out of her hands and dropped it to the floor, she didn’t protest. She let him move his body in alongside