No Interest in Love (23 page)

There's the embarrassing speech. I'm only met with silence, and I don't really feel like sitting here in the horrifying quiet, so I stuff my foot into my shoe and locate the other one by the room service cart. I make sure to step over the pieces of my squished-up heart, which had finally found a reason to beat for someone else again.

“I know you don't believe me,” I ramble, looking around the room for lost items, patting my pockets to make sure I've got everything I came in with. “But I'll be back tomorrow morning to tell you the same thing if I have to.”

I wait for her to say something, but she doesn't, so I head to the closet to grab my hoodie. The creak of the bed tells me she's at least going to walk me out. Maybe it wasn't all for nothing.

“Um, Jace…?” she says, coming up beside me. I meet her eyes, watch as her mind fights for words to say. When I can tell she can't figure it out, I run a hand over my head.

“It's okay. We can talk tomorrow.”

I turn to leave, but her fingers lock around the sleeve of my shirt. Her hand lightly tugs on my arm, pulling my face down to her level. Her lips press softly against my mouth, picking up pieces of my squashed heart. They zip back into place in my chest, awakening me from the initial shock of her kiss and letting me respond in the appropriate way. My hands find her warm cheeks.

“Stay right here,” I say in a husky voice between our lips. “I want you to stay right here.”

Her lips turn into a small smile before they move faster and harder against mine. Her hands grip my shirt, and I can feel her body bumping up against me in sudden aggressive attempts to get closer.

She jumps on my hips, knocking me back into the door with a
bang!
And what started as a gradual build of passion leaps forward. I grapple for her knees, trying to hold both of us up, but her lips are making it hard. Making a lot of things hard. I adjust her on my waist, smirking against her mouth, loving the aggressive side of her. A smack against the wall above my head tells me she's locked the latch on the door.

I pull on her shirt, uncovering her shoulder, and I playfully bite down. Her whole body trembles.

“Blazing hell…” she mutters. “I like that.”

“Told you I had mad skills,” I whisper along her collarbone.

A small laugh tumbles from her lips, and she pushes a finger up against my mouth so I stop with the arrogance. I kiss it, bite at it, and she presses her hands on my cheeks, nails digging into my hair and leaving chills up and down my spine. Her teeth take hold of my bottom lip, and then she sucks on it, messing up my equilibrium. My legs give out, and I slide us down the door, groaning until my ass hits the carpet. Her knees automatically touch the floor on either side of my hips, and her butt rests against my thighs. She releases my lip and her tongue swipes over her own, and she closes her eyes and sighs. Her face is higher than mine for the first time ever, and I like the view. I like her messed-up hair, the flush of her neck, the ragged rise and fall of her chest.

I'm absolutely…

…gone
.

Words are no longer a priority, but they come out anyway, like always.

“I liked that.”

“It's my mad skills,” she says in a horrible impression of my voice. I grin and gently coax her face back to me. Her tongue prods my lips, trying to pry my mouth open, and it works because I'm laughing.

“Demanding even in bed,” I say, then meet her tongue before it retreats behind her teeth.

“We're not in bed.”

“Always an argument.”

Her eyes narrow in that adorably frustrated way, and she takes the hand I have pressed against her cheek and forces it under the hem of her shirt.

“Touch me, damn it,” she says, and gives me one hard kiss on the mouth. “And shush.”

I laugh again before setting my other hand on her waist and pulling her hips to line up just right with mine. Her nails run through my hair, grip the strands, and keep my face close. Her tongue gets my lips open without a laugh this time, and she pushes herself tight up against me, knocking my head against the door, making my hands drift down to her killer ass.

These shorts are my new best friends.

“Dayum,” I say, letting my palms cup this ass made from heaven itself.

“Mmm…Yeah.
I
wouldn't need a butt double,” she teases. I pinch it once, making her squirm. But then I squeeze it hard when her lips drop back to mine, and she lets out a sound I've never heard from her. And this adorable woman has now taken my heart that I just got back and put it in her pocket.

Her tongue snakes out and she drags it up my neck to my ear. I'm gone again. Like some kind of acid trip. She has me tasting
colors
. Soft blues and greens, then she hits me with scorching reds and yellows. My hands have somehow left her heaven-sent ass and are now gripping her ribs, trying to get her to slide up onto my lap, even though the first contact through jeans will probably have the Smurfs jumping the gun and I'll do something I haven't since I was a teenager. But…I need relief.

After I silently argue with her for twenty very long seconds, she finally relents and presses down. Her hips start moving in the same rhythm as our tongues, and I thought I'd be helping her, encouraging her, because hell, it feels so damn good, but the Smurfs are locked and loaded, and their finger's on the trigger, and I swear one more thrust is gonna be the last.

Where's my brain? I have to start thinking of dead puppies, hairy dudes in Speedos, liver and onions, but no visual can penetrate the feel of Shay's body and the bright red color I taste.

My hand slips from her ribs to her stomach. My thumb trips over the piece of metal by her belly button. Suddenly I'm fifteen, and I can tell the river's about to flow, and I don't even want to stop it, even though I'm going to get hell for it. I haven't even touched her boobs yet.

But then her hips stop, and my boys pause on the trigger.

She breathes fast and heavy near my lips before her head falls to my shoulder. Maybe
she
jumped the gun. If so, high five, boys! We made it.

My fingers twitch against her stomach, and her hand slides from the wall and slaps around my wrist.

“You okay?” I pant.

She nods into my shoulder, then starts taking deep breaths. Her long exhales cool the sweat accumulating in the fabric of my shirt.

“Um, I think I need a minute,” she says.

“That good for ya, huh?” I tease, but she doesn't laugh, so I wonder if she's embarrassed or something. Nudging at her head with my cheek, I manage to get her to look at me. Her cheeks are bright red, loose hair stuck in sweat along her forehead, and she doesn't look like I just sent her to heaven and back. Actually, she looks like she's gonna…

A long and loud grumble vibrates against my hand on her stomach, and she purses her lips together, shutting her eyes. She covers her mouth with a couple of fingers and shakes her head, muttering something in Korean.

“Food baby kicking?” I ask with a breathless laugh, and another grumble answers me. Oh shit, the color in her face is draining pretty quickly. “You gonna ralph?”

She shakes her head again. Her hands go up to cover her cheeks. “This is the most embarrassing way to ruin a moment.”

“Honestly, two more seconds and I'd have ruined it.”

She peeks between her fingers. “Huh?”

“Never mind.” I gently start moving her, but she grabs onto my shoulders.

“Oh…please don't move.”

“That bad, huh?” I can't stop laughing, and it must be bad because she's not bossing me around to keep my mouth shut.

“I don't think I should've had that last chicken wing.”

“I don't think you should've had the last ten.”

“Ughnnn,” she groans, and slowly falls back to the floor. I adjust her legs because they don't look all that comfortable.

“All right, binger,” I say, crouching to my feet, “let's get you to bed.”

“I'm fine.” She bats at my hands as I try to pick her up.

“I know. But I want to.”

Her arms slip around my shoulders, and I hoist her up, using the wall and Shay's strength to keep from falling to my ass. She's small but sturdy, and she rarely lets me take control, even when I'm carrying her. So the five-second journey's tougher than I imagined it would be, but I don't mind it. I like putting in a little extra effort.

“Careful on the landing,” she mutters as I start lowering her. I get about three inches from the mattress before I lose my balance and she drops to the bed. She moans, gripping a pillow and stuffing half her face in it.

“Need a bucket?”

“Oh, it's not that type of food baby.”

I chuckle and make sure there's a clear path to the bathroom before kicking off my shoes once more. After tapping off all the lights minus one, I make my way to the bed and pull back the sheets.

“You're staying?” she asks, looking over her shoulder at me.

“If that's okay.”

Her mouth pulls into a teasing grin and then she cuddles back with her pillow. “You know, some people would classify this as the beginning of a
committed
relationship.”

“Really?” I settle my head onto my own pillow. “Why's that?”

“Choosing to spend the night when there is absolutely
no
chance of sex. Well, anymore.”

“Anymore?” I grin up at the ceiling. “There was chance of sex?”

“Oh yeah.” Her body shakes slightly with amusement. “What'd you think we were doing?”

Good thing I didn't go off, then. But I'm gonna have to prep the boys if sex is on the table in the near future.

“Hmm…I've never been cock-blocked by indigestion before.”

She curses in Korean, covering her blushing cheeks. It's the most adorable she's been yet.

“Hey…” I grin, leaning over and pulling her hands down. “I've seen more sides of you this week than couples have seen of each other over the course of years. And I'm still into you.”

There's a few silent beats before she takes a deep breath and twists under the covers to face me.

“Will you still say that in the morning?”

“Yes.” I kiss her forehead and pull her in close. “Though…I kind of want to hear it back.”

“So needy.” She sighs, but she hitches her leg up onto my hip and pushes into my chest. I'll take it, because getting this sort of response from Shay instead of a verbal one feels like a much bigger accomplishment.

10:02
A.M.

I've never woken up aching to drop kisses over every inch of Miss Last Night's body. Then again, I've never been so into a woman before.

“Mmm,” Shay murmurs in her sleep, arms cradling my head as I press my lips to her neck over and over again. “What time is it?”

“Time to wake up.” I smile against her skin, and she pushes her hips into mine as she stretches. Just-barely-awake Shay is quickly becoming my favorite person.

“How's the food baby?”

“Gone,” she says through a yawn. My hand runs over her shoulder, smooths down her arm to her elbow. She twitches a bit, breasts bumping into my chin.

“Ticklish there?”

“No.”

“Liar.” I tickle the skin near her elbow and her eyes awaken. She flashes a challenging glare at me before leaping up and pinning me to the pillows. She plants her knees on either side of my waist and dangles her mess of hair over my face.

“This is not how I pictured this,” I say, whipping my head side to side so the strands don't end up in my nostrils. She laughs, her body moving against mine, which already has Morning Woody perking up for more attention. Shay leans back, keeping hold of my wrists.

“Really? Because I totally pictured it this way.”

I sit up, dropping my hands onto her bare thighs. My fingertip runs across a prickly patch of hair, and I smirk as I examine it.

“Missed a spot.”

“You're lucky I shaved past my knee.”

I suck in a breath, letting my fingers dance with the fabric of her shorts. “Who knew you were such a dirty talker?”

Her eyes roll back as my hands wander farther up her shorts. I still want to drop kisses everywhere my lips can reach. After I explore all of her neck and chest, her mouth seeks mine out and I cup her cheek, hold her there. I could be satisfied just holding her here for the rest of the script.

“Jace?” she says, breaking away from my lips to catch her breath.

“Yeah?”

“I can't just do one night,” she whispers, eyes slowly opening to mine.

“It's morning,” I tease. She lightly taps the back of my head. “I thought I was pretty straight up about it yesterday,” I say. “This isn't just a onetime thing for me. Hell, we don't even have to do anything right now if you don't want.”

She laughs and wiggles on my waist, indicating that she definitely wants to do something right now. “Okay, then please touch me, damn it.”

“I am touching you.”

“Not there.”

I move my hand toward her ass, but she snaps my wrist.

“Not there.”

“Is there an instruction manual I'm supposed to be reading?” I lift up different parts of her shirt.

“Like you read instructions.”

“Well, I love you too.” It's out before I realize that I'm pretty sure I mean it this time. And it doesn't make me want to run. I actually want to repeat myself, but Shay has practically pushed my hand where she wants it. I'm more than happy to oblige.

“Um…I may be loud,” she says as I push the material of her underwear out of the way.

“How is that a bad thing?”

“Like, embarrassingly loud.” She nods behind me. “Hand me a pillow.”

I shake my head, curiosity piqued. I run a finger along what I now realize is Shay's volume button. Loud doesn't even cover the sound she makes.