Kai's lips were softer than I'd anticipated.
It was my first thought. It was surprising, this boy who was supposed to be bad and wild, whose kiss was gentle and sweet and slow. I had to stand on the tips of my toes to reach his mouth, and he was bent toward me, down, like two quotation marks. My kiss had been abrupt and fuelled by anger, without any thought or consideration, and he answered with something languid, slowing me down, expert in the careful way he kissed me.
His body was warm against mine, rock-solid against me, and he was so fucking hot I could hardly think. And the way he kissed me. The way he kissed me...
I gasped into his mouth when he bit gently on my lower lip. Kai didn't waste the opportunity, kissing me deeply, his tongue sweeping my lips, touching mine with a deft efficiency. His kissing was all practised technique, slow and sexy, the kind of kissing that said I know exactly what I'm doing. He didn't need to hide a lack of expertise by kissing me hard and fast. The kiss wasn't hesitant; it was the kind of kiss you imagined on a hot summer day by a private pool, the kind of kiss that promised other things, and promised that they'd be good.
His hands came up to cradle my hips, pulling me further into the line of his body, until we were pressed completely together. Mine answered by sliding into his hair, pulling him down further, and he let me drag him without protest. The only sound he made was a small, satisfied noise in the back of his throat.
It was the sexiest sound I'd ever heard, and I felt it through my whole body.
With another quick nip to my lower lip, Kai pulled back to look at me. His blue eyes were completely swallowed by black, and his kiss-swollen lips were parted with surprise. I knew I must look the same; doe eyes wide and glazed with satisfaction and something else. I searched his face for a hint of regret, but all I saw in Kai's face was naked desire.
I smiled.
Kai brought his lips to my ear. "Are we putting on a show, Little Valerie?"
That voice. Husky and sexy and oh, god. I wanted to hear that voice whispering a million different things to me.
I kissed the slope of his neck with a drag toward his ear, marking a trail. "Yeah, we are."
His chuckle was warm and low and sent a shiver ricocheting through my nerves. "I hope you're ready for the performance of a lifetime."
And then he was kissing me again, and it wasn't slow or careful or anything like it. His lips slanted over mine, a hot, wet slide that drew a shuddering breath from deep within me, and he kissed me with wild abandon. My back arched into him, and the brush of his chest against me made him groan. I swallowed the sound, and tangled my tongue with his.
He didn't give me an inch. I could barely keep up, allowing him to sweep me away with practised strokes of his tongue and lips and muffled groans. Every sound he made drew an answering gasp from me, and I couldn't even think about things like breathing or thinking or anything but Kai and the pulsing thump of my heart.
It wasn't the kind of kissing I'd ever engaged with in public, but I couldn't think of anything beyond Kai, the smell of him, the feel of him, the taste of him. I was too hyperaware of him, of me, to feel anything else. Too see anyone else.
Somewhere distantly, I heard Will mutter something like "Cool, great chat, I might go", with a certain amusement, but I couldn't even bring myself to care. Everything was Kai. I hadn't kissed anyone but Tommy for two years, and through the dizziness that clouded my kiss-addled brain, I wondered why I hadn't been doing this always. Every slide of his lips against mine, every brush of his tongue, burned away any reservations I'd had about kissing a boy like Kai Delaney. I wanted to tattoo the outline of my lips on his.
Kai's hands slid, one hand curving around the slope of my waist, and the other boldly slipping to cup my ass. I couldn't help the scandalised giggle that rose, and I felt Kai smile against me, before I kissed the expression away.
I was almost startled when he drew away. I blinked. He was so sexy, standing there in the light of the moon, with a slightly pained expression on his face. Around me, the sounds of the party returned in waves. The girls from earlier had dispersed, leaving us alone, but pinned by a hundred sets of eyes who couldn't understand why bad boy Kai Delaney was kissing Valerie Williams like that.
I looked around furtively, blushing a little, and I knew exactly how I looked. The part I was cast in. The shy girl completely taken in my Kai's charms; the object of his attention for just now, who would consider it enough. It was stage one, played to perfection.
Then I looked back to Kai. He still looked pained.
"Kai?" I asked, and the sound was a little broken, as if I'd forgotten how to speak. He was still so close to me, his lips just a hairs-breadth away from mine.
His voice was low. "That was hot as fuck," he said plainly, in that frank, honest way of his. Never shy. And even though it was all for show, I believed him. It was impossible not to. That kiss had been... unbelievable. "And I don't really want to walk around for the rest of the night with a raging boner."
I couldn't stop the snort of laughter that erupted from me, and Kai grinned sheepishly in response, flashing a dimple in his left cheek. It was cute as hell.
"That could present a problem," I said quietly to him.
"Already is," he said, though he sounded quite cheerful about it. "If you could do me a favour and become completely hideous and unsexy as possible, I'd really appreciate it."
I laughed, and the movement brushed our bodies together again.
Kai's eyes darkened. "Okay, that's a no."
He was still leaning against the fence, and the force of my body pressed him against it further. From his position, he was facing the rest of the lawn, and he glanced away from me reluctantly to quickly scan the garden, before dropping his eyes back to me. I could see nothing but him.
"They're still watching," Kai said. "You should hug me."
I frowned. "Hug you?"
Kai grabbed me around the shoulders and tugged me into him, his arms sliding around my waist. My head dropped onto his shoulder; face pressed into the warm curve of his neck. I inhaled the scent of him, something I couldn't identify, but would forever associate with him. He dropped his chin on the top of my head, and my arms were wrapped tightly around his neck.
"Cuddling," Kai said matter-of-factly. "Is a sign that we're not just hooking up. It suggests affection."
"That works?" I said doubtfully.
I felt Kai's chuckle rumble against me. "Tommy looks like he wants to tear me limb from limb, and Sydney's jaw is on the floor. So."
I almost turned to look, but Kai held my head to him, cradling it with feigned affection. I could imagine the picture we made. Me, short and fair, all delicate bones and tiny features, tucked into the long lines of Kai's body, his dark head bent over my strawberry-blonde one. Him, the bad boy, and me, the good girl. A contradiction.
"Thank you," I whispered to Kai. "For doing this."
"For making out with you? It wasn't a hardship, believe me."
"Oh, I know. I can feel that."
I could feel Kai's smile. "Well, I did tell you that it would be a problem."
It was a rather impressive problem, but Kai had a high enough opinion of himself without me telling him so. Instead, I just smiled into his neck, enjoying the warmth of his body and the gentle stroke of his fingers through the ends of my hair.
Kai and I had only been engaging in this farce for a week—such a small amount of time, barely long enough to be friends, let alone something else—but somehow, I felt comfortable with him. He was easy to like.
"But you know what I'm thanking you for," I said. "You didn't have to do all this, and you did, so I'm saying thank you."
Kai was silent for a beat before answering. "No problem, Little Valerie."
We stayed still for a while. Just enjoying our company, and giving everyone enough time to get the impression of something a little more than a casual hook-up or a simple revenge rebound. To show something more.
"So, what is the plan from here," I asked him. "Because I think if I just hug you for the rest of the night, it might be weird. Just, like, as a whole."
Before Kai could respond, Will had sidled up beside us. I pulled back from Kai's embrace, noting the small frown pinching his brows together. He was almost as tall as Kai, but cut an even more imposing figure.
"Everything okay?" Kai asked.
"I'm taking Izzy home," Will said. At Kai's raised eyebrow, Will sighed. "Bodrum got handsy. And she's halfway to drunk. She asked me for the ride."
Kai nodded. I noticed that he didn't insist on driving Isabelle himself, and was struck with the complete and utter trust in his expression as he gave Will the responsibility for his sister. Warrior dad, Seb called Will. I was starting to see it; Kai and Will, sharing responsibility for the rest of their motley crew.
"Is she okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," Will said, smiling. "She kicked Bodrum in the ankle, and then told me she wants to dye my hair purple. Told me it would look 'positively charming'."
Kai grinned. "That's my girl."
Will laughed. "I would've told you before but, you know." His smile turned sly, and I couldn't help but laugh. Will nodded to Kai. "Also, I know you're excited by my presence, but put it away Delaney."
Kai cursed. "Oh, fuck you."
Will grinned, and vanished into the crowd to find Isabelle. Poor Izzy; Jake Bodrum was a bit of a meathead, and handsy wasn't exactly a surprising descriptor. It was nice that Kai and Will could share responsibility of her; not overbearing or strict, but just watchful. Izzy was a free spirit, and it was nice to know that her gung-ho attitude wouldn't get her hurt.
Because, really, who was going to cross Kai Delaney and Will Kennedy?
Through the crowd that Will had been swallowed by, I could see no signs of Sydney and Tommy. Apparently, show over, they'd vanished to go seethe together. The thought pleased me, but not quite as much as the memory of Kai's kiss.
I didn't think anything would please me quite so much again.
"I guess our show worked," Kai said, echoing my thoughts.
I smiled. "Yeah."
We smiled at each other, and he slid a piece of my hair behind my ear. I traced my gaze down the line of the jaw, the set of his eyebrow, the bow of his lips. Lips I'd kissed. My breath hitched.
There was no need to make out again. Our point had been made. Sydney and Tommy were gone. But Kai was looking at me like he was thinking about it, and I didn't think I'd ever think about anything else.
"Kai!"
Fuck. Seb pushed through the crowd, less accommodating for his five and a half feet than they had been for Will's enormous body. Sebastian's eyes were tired, and his jaw was hard. He looked disgruntled from having to shove through his classmates, and annoyance made his nose scrunch distastefully.
"Seb?" Kai asked, tearing his gaze away from me.
"I'm not looking after Jamie anymore," Seb insisted. He looked toward the bench where I'd left Jameson, a mix of worry and disgust in the hard set of his mouth. "I hate it when he's like this."
Kai sighed. "I know. Okay. I'll deal with him."
Seb nodded. He didn't look angry; not in the way his words would suggest. He just looked tired, resigned, disappointed.
"I don't like seeing him like this," Seb said, his voice flat and lifeless.
Kai grimaced. "Yeah. I know, Seb. I'll take him home."
He looked to me, apology in his eyes. Kai wasn't the kind of guy who liked abandoning his date, but he was also the kind of guy who looked after his friends. Always. And when I looked at Seb, who looked so bone-deep weary, I couldn't find it in me to mind.
"That's okay, Sebastian. Kai and I will make sure he gets home."