Read Online Random (Going the Distance) by Lark O'Neal - Free Book Online Page B

comes up to cup my face, his fingers touching my ear. He pauses for a long second, then he bends down to kiss me.
    At first it’s a light kiss, just our lips testing the fit. His are as luscious as orange slices, and he knows what he’s doing, pressing and sliding ever so slightly, engaging my lips in an easy dance. I can feel his body moving in closer, our legs scissoring so that we can make better contact. His chest moves against my breasts, his right arm around my waist. My hands rest on his hips, patient, happy to be touching him in any way.
    After a little while I find myself tilting my head, opening my lips a little. I flick out my tongue to taste the flesh of his lips, and he makes a quiet noise and nestles my head into the crook of his elbow, supporting me as his tongue sweeps through my mouth and mine sweeps back. I love everything about the way he kisses, the way his mouth moves against mine, the slow long roll of his tongue, the way he suckles my lips, then lets go. How he moves fast then slow, light then deep. Around us the air is charged with lightning, giving my skin an extra electric charge, sizzling when his flesh brushes over mine, when his fingers touch the bare skin of my lower back, when his forearm touches my ear. The only sound is the pounding rain, the crashing of thunder, and it cocoons us in our deserted corner. I open my palms on his bare back and explore the dip of his spine, the silky skin, the taut, muscular angle of his waist.
    It goes on for a long time, the rain and the kissing. I’m lost in it, deliciously, happily lost.
    In my front pocket my phone starts to buzz. Tyler can feel it vibrate against his leg, too, and he chuckles, moving his hips against me. “Interesting,” he says against my mouth. “Do it again.”
    And the phone obliges, making both of us laugh. “Do you want to check it?”
    I shake my head, but the mood has changed. It’s still charged, but softer. He takes a breath, looking down at me, and then leans forward and presses his forehead to mine. “Wow.”
    “I know.”
    “I don’t live very far away. Do you want to come over? Not for sex,” he adds. “Just to hang out.”
    It’s tempting, but my limbs are faintly trembling, and between my legs is a heat I have never felt before. If I went to his house, I wouldn’t trust myself, much less him. I’m not ready for that yet. “Thanks for the offer, but I really should get back and see about Virginia.”
    “Fair enough.” He straightens, takes my hand. The rain has slowed, but it’s not yet finished. “Let’s sit over there.”
    We settle on a park bench. I peer between my toes at the water. He doesn’t rush to fill up the quiet, and neither do I. It’s kind of scary to like him so much, so fast. It seems dangerous. I glance over at him, his aristocratic cheekbones and straight teeth.
    He feels my gaze. “What?”
    I shake my head. “Nothing.”
    “You look suspicious.”
    “I just don’t think I’m really your type.”
    He grins. “What would be my type?”
    “I don’t know. Somebody who knows what to wear to a business dinner.”
    His laughter is big and round. “No way. I like natural women.” He reaches out and touches my face. “The real thing, without artifice.”
    Women. I’m pretty sure no guy has called me a woman before this.
    It comes to me, softly, to wonder why I like him. He’s not my usual type. I usually go for bad boys on motorcycles, guys with nothing to lose. Tyler feels like something rare and surprising that suddenly fell on the sidewalk in front of me, like the lost manuscript of some famous book, or the pigeon’s blood rubies that the Indian rajas used to wear. Even if you know you have no right, you can’t help trying to hold onto something like that. Even if you know that sooner or later someone will come to reclaim their prize.

Chapter SEVEN
    T yler drops me off at my car. We don’t kiss again, but he grabs my hand on the way out. “I’ll call you.”
    I nod.