CHAPTER TWELVE
Kissing Burke had been a revelation.
It had also been a mistake.
He’d already been taking up too much of her thinking time. Now, Lila couldn’t seem to think about anything but Burke.
Now, Lila knew for sure how much she wanted him. Unfortunately, Burke was not on the same page.
Figured. First Kurt, now Burke.
She’d lost her game.
She had no game left.
You know what she had left? Professional pride. That’s what. Burke wasn’t attracted to her? Fine. No problem. Lila was still his realtor, and she was still damn good at her job.
In all her years working as a real estate agent, Lila had never failed to find her clients a home.
Griffin Burke wasn’t going to be her first failure.
She’d taken on the task of finding Burke’s dream home, and so help her, she’d see it through.
Even if she did ring Kurt’s doorbell and immediately want to bolt.
She clutched her laptop to her chest like a shield, plastered on a big professional smile, and waited.
Burke answered the door. He was wearing a dark green long-sleeved tee and dark jeans. His hair was damp, cheeks flushed, and heat rolled off him. He’d obviously just gotten out of the shower.
Fantastic.
Now she was thinking about Burke in the shower.
Standing under the spray. Totally naked.
That would be a whole lot of Burke.
Scraping the water off his face. Turning a bit, dropping his head to let the water cascade over his shoulders.
His wide, muscled, wet shoulders.
Lila realized she was staring at his shoulders, and neither of them had spoken yet.
You can do this. “Hi!” she said.
“Hi.” Burke’s reply was guarded.
“Can I come in? Promise I won’t kiss you.”
Lila managed not to groan. She had a strategy, and she’d blown it under five seconds. Don’t mention the kiss. That was it. Simple, straightforward. He wouldn’t bring it up. He was too shy.
All she’d had to do was not talk about it.
Lila lifted her chin. “Can I come in? Or are you busy?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what? Yes to me? Or yes to busy?”
Burke blinked slowly. “I’m not busy.” He hitched a thumb behind him. “Just got out of the shower. I’m watching TV.”
Ignore the shower comment. Try not to imagine him wet.
Too late.
For crying out loud. The images flashing through Lila’s lust-addled brain practically came with a porn soundtrack. Not the musical kind, either. The panting, moaning, gasping kind.
“Okay, then,” Lila said.
Burke didn’t move. He had his impassive face on again, and Lila was struck with the sudden realization. Burke had stopped being shy with her.
When had that happened?
Was it when she’d kissed him? He hadn’t been shy then. It had been awkward as hell, but he hadn’t been uncomfortable with it, or even blushed.
No. She knew when.
It was that moment on the couch in his RV. Before the kiss.
His eyes had been dark green-gold, and his smile…it had been different. A genuine heartbreaker of a smile.
Aaaand he still wasn’t moving.
Lila laid a hand in the center of his solid chest and pushed him backward. “Let’s get this done,” she said, and she marched for the living room.
She thought about sitting beside him on the couch, changed her mind, and changed direction. Burke was close behind, and she bumped into him.
“Kitchen’s best,” she told him, leading the way. “We’re going to need the table. Is Kurt here?”
“Working.”
Good. She’d guessed as much.
Lila set her laptop on the table, perched on a chair, and angled a second chair alongside. She aimed a smile his way and patted the seat in invitation, then focused on her computer.
The chair creaked as Burke sat. “What are we doing?” he asked, humor vibrating in his deep voice.
“Finding you a home. Seeing as we never got around to talking about what you want, I went ahead and shortlisted some properties for you. Rough guesses, based on what I know about you and your needs.”
Burke laughed as if she’d said something funny.
Lila raised her eyebrows in question.
He shook his head without explaining.
“All right. Let’s start here.” She turned the laptop screen for Burke to see as she talked him through the five properties she’d selected.
Lila had chosen houses with character rather than cookie-cutter buildings. She wasn’t sure how much money he wanted to spend, but going on the sale price of his RV she went for three priced mid-range, one she estimated as beyond his budget—it was certainly beyond hers—and then the final one. Going for a song, and for a very good reason.
“What about this one?” Burke leaned into her space to get a better view of the screen. Sure, she could have turned it toward him more, or he could have, but it worked just as well with him laying one arm over the back of her chair and the other along the table.
If a girl was prone to claustrophobia, she might notice that she was now trapped between Burke, the kitchen table, and the wall.
Luckily for Lila, she wasn’t claustrophobic in the least, and she was enjoying the sensation of his heat soaking into her.
“Lila?”
“Hmm? Sorry. What? This one? Right. I’m not gonna lie. It’s cheap for a reason.”
“And that reason is…?”
“It’s not haunted.”
“Good to know.”
“I’ve shown it a hundred times. Everyone asks that. Every time. Is it haunted?”
Burke leaned in, squinting at the screen. Lila bit her lip. He cut his eyes to hers.
After a moment, he returned his attention to the computer. “Why does everyone ask if it’s haunted? Because it looks like a house of horrors in a bad B-movie?”
“Yes. Also, there may have been a murder.”
Burke snorted a laugh, and grinned down at her. There it was again. His heartbreaker smile. Wide, open, and so, so sweet she wanted to bite. And suck a bit.
“Lila,” he said. “Are you trying to sell me a murder house?”
She raised her hands, palms out. “No, no. I said there may have been a murder. There was a disappearance. A few disappearances. Three wives in a row. Which, I’ll admit, does add up to a significant trend” She shrugged. “But it’s a nice house. It’s kinda my dream house.”
“Your dream house is a murder house.” Burke was laughing now, his deep rumble infectious.
Lila giggled. “It’s not the house’s fault.”
Burke’s amusement drained away. The smile stayed in place, but the quality of it shifted.
She’d give anything to know what he was thinking.
“I was thinking—” he began.
Lila propped her chin on her fist and waited.
“—about the kiss.”
Her chin slipped and she sat upright. “No,” she said, and shook her head. “We don’t have to do that. Talk about that. It’s not important.” What was he doing, bringing it up? He wasn’t supposed to bring it up! “Back to the houses. Was that a yes on viewing all of them?” She dragged the laptop closer and typed industriously.
“I wanted—”
“Sure! I remember! You didn’t like the fancy one. Don’t blame you. Bland. Boring. Totally not you. The others, I’ll set up some appointments to view them.” She closed the laptop and stood.
Burke didn’t move.
“Okay,” Lila said. “I should be going.” Except she wasn’t going anywhere until he moved, and standing where she was, she was sticking her boobs right in his face. Like a subtle suggestion. Or something.
Burke’s gaze tracked up and snagged hers. Lila dropped her eyes, then she dropped her butt onto the chair.
She wasn’t getting out of this? Fine.
She tossed her hair over her shoulder, straightened her spine. “I’m so glad you brought it up,” she lied. “I didn’t want to embarrass you or make things awkward, but I’m a big fan of getting things out into the open. Because of the festering. It’s good to prevent festering.”
“I agree.”
She swiveled on the chair until they were face to face, with less than a foot of space between them. “Burke.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
He didn’t reply.
“I like you, a lot, and I don’t want to ruin our friendship. I know you’re a private guy and I shouldn’t have invaded your space without aski—”
Burke slid the flat of his hand under her chin, lifted it an inch, and slowly kissed her.
His lips were as soft as she remembered. He moved them over hers in a gentle, seeking glide that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. It was a light brush, nothing more complicated than that, and yet Lila felt a pull low down in her stomach that rippled outward through her entire body.
Burke lifted his head and sat back, his touch falling away.
For a long moment, Lila sat there, overly aware of her breathing, of her breasts, of the hard chair beneath her, of Burke watching her.
“What—” she started once she’d regained the power of speech. Premature. That didn’t count as human speech. It was a croak. She swallowed hard and tried again. “When I—oh.”
This time, he threaded his fingers through the side of her hair and combed through until his hard hand firmed around the base of her neck.
Lila didn’t wait for him to close the distance between them. She swayed toward him with no grace or elegance whatsoever, offering her mouth up for his kiss.
Another soft, serious press, harder, then without warning, he licked her open and drove inside.
Lila’s breath caught in her throat and she twisted into the kiss, half-standing as she moved toward him without thought.
The legs of his chair screeched over the kitchen floor as Burke pushed it back. He settled his free hand at the small of her back, encouraging her onto his lap, all the while his mouth working over hers.
Lila attempted to straddle him. She was immediately thwarted by her pencil skirt. Burke solved the problem by grabbing the hem and shoving it up to mid-thigh.
He broke away and she got a flash of hot, focused eyes and carnal intent. In startling comparison, the touch returning to the small of her back was light. Light, but commanding; a man Burke’s size could have maneuvered her around like a rag doll, but he didn’t seem to feel a need to direct her with his obvious strength. All it took was his palm sliding low at her back, and she rushed to follow the suggestion.
Burke tugged her in until she was flush with his body, tucked as close as she could possibly get, and then he reached around to brace his hands on the kitchen table behind her.
“Um,” Lila said when he didn’t kiss her again, did nothing but look at her. “For a shy guy, you sure don’t have a problem putting a girl where you want her.” Her breathing was out of control.
“Almost,” Burke said.
“Almost what?”
“You’re almost where I want you. This is a good start.” He shifted against her.
At the pressure right where she needed it most, Lila’s eyes crossed. She released his shoulders to cup his face as she kissed him, suddenly desperate. Their height difference was such that, even sitting, she had to stretch to reach him.
After long, dizzying minutes of his tongue sliding, hot and wet, over hers as she battled him for dominance, Lila tore away. “Hold me, damn it,” she said.
He was shaking with the effort not to, she felt the tremor in his thighs, his chest, felt the discipline in the way he panted against her. Why wouldn’t he…?
“Don’t want to scare you,” he said.
“Okay. Don’t throw spiders at me. That’s about all I’m afraid of. Spiders. Burke.” She squirmed on his lap. If he didn’t… She was going to float away or fall apart if he wouldn’t… “Burke, please.”
His arms closed around her, wrapping her up tight, and Lila sighed with relief at the hard bands of pressure locking her to him.
As if her begging him to hold her had unleashed something, Burke kissed her wildly.
She arched against him and the chair creaked beneath their combined weight as he moved in counterpoint. He murmured against her lips and he slowly stood, taking her weight as if it was nothing.
Lila was overwhelmed with sensation, which was making it all the more difficult for her to put a stop to things before they went too far. She was on the edge of a precipice, and if she didn’t at least try to regain control, she was going to leap head first into heartache, and, worse, she’d drag Burke with her.
One more kiss, she told herself. One more, and another, and then, “Burke, stop.”
He stopped the second she said it, but it took twice as long for him to let her go. The effort to do it was as obvious as his earlier refusal to hold her had been. He slid her down his body, made sure she was steady on her feet, then he backed up.
Lila followed.
Burke clenched his fists at his sides and looked at her from beneath his lashes. “Don’t,” he said.
Lila stepped into him, rested against him, and pressed her forehead into his chest.
His heart was pounding.
Almost as fast as hers. “All I need is a moment,” she told him, smoothing her hands down his sides before settling at his waist. She let out a shaky laugh. “I’m not trying to tease, I swear. I need a moment. I need to catch my breath. Have to think.”
His arms closed around her, and she relaxed in relief.
This was all her fault. What was she doing to him? She shouldn’t ever have kissed him in the RV. She shouldn’t have let him kiss her now. Except she did. She had. She wanted more. And more, and more.
So did Burke. She knew by the restless drift of his fingertips, brushing up and down her spine, by the arm wrapped low around her back. By the still-rapid beat of his heart.
And by the enormous erection pressing into her stomach.
Sighing, Lila eased away. She leaned her head back. He angled his down. They watched each other in silence.
“What is it?” Burke asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t do this. I’m leaving.”
All emotion was wiped from his face. He gave a short nod and gently set her away from him. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you again. Do you need a ride home? No, you drove here, didn’t you? Of course you did. So. Thanks for coming by. You’ll call about the viewings?”
“I didn’t mean I’m leaving here. I’m leaving Emerson.” He didn’t seem to understand. She clarified, “I’m moving. To Seattle.”
“No.”
Lila laughed, startled at his vehemence.
Burke blushed. “When?”
“I don’t know yet. Soon? Soon as I get a job.”
He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and scowled at the floor. “You have a job. You’re my realtor.”
“I quit a few weeks ago. I’m working out my notice period. Be done in a few days.”
“You’re leaving.” The words were hollow and final.
“Yep. Don’t tell anyone. I don’t know why I told you. I shouldn’t have. You’ve just got that whole I’m-trustworthy-snuggle-into-me-and-tell-me-your-secrets vibe.”
“I’m snuggly?”
“I want to snuggle you.”
He smiled at her. Lila sighed. “You’re a hard man to resist.”
“I don’t know why you’re trying.”
“Because I’m leaving.” She thumped down to sit on Burke’s chair, wishing that she was still sitting on him, but knowing it was for the best that she wasn’t. “There don’t seem to be any real opportunities in Emerson for me anymore. Please don’t tell anyone. Especially Derek. Do not tell Derek. He’ll tell Jenny, and she’ll freak out and then kick my ass. Or she’ll try to.”
“There’s nothing here for you?”
“I’ve been feeling trapped for a while now, you know?”
“Been there.”
“I knew you’d understand. So, I’m sorry for kissing you. It wasn’t fair.”
“I kissed you.”
“I kissed you first.”
Burke came to stand before her, and stroked her hair away from her face. “You can do it again, if you want.”
When his hand fell away, she caught it and held it. “I want,” she said, playing with his fingers. He really did have beautiful hands. Strong. Finely-made. Capable. “I want, but I can’t.”
“Can.” Burke drew her up to standing.
She kept her attention on his hand. He had nice wrists, too. She rubbed her thumb over the veins on the underside. “Shouldn’t.”
“Definitely should.” Burke raised the hand she held, turned it so hers was uppermost, and kissed it before settling it on his chest. “Definitely.”
She didn’t know how he managed it, but what looked like a gallant, old-fashioned gesture felt dirty as hell. Lila loved it. “I can’t offer you anything,” she warned him.
His ribs expanded as he took in a deep breath.
“Anything more than tonight,” she said, making a snap decision. “I can’t start a relationship when I’ve got one foot out the door. I’m not going to lead you on, Burke. You don’t deserve that.”
“Hmm.”
“But if you’re okay with… No. Forget it. It’s a bad idea.”
He shifted closer but didn’t say anything.
“I suppose I was thinking…” Lila began. She glanced up at him. His eyes were on fire, suggesting he knew what she was about to propose, and he was on board with it. She still felt nervous. “Would it be a terrible idea if we were to say, oh, let’s have one night? A one-night-friends-with-benefits-stand?”
It wasn’t a terrible idea. It was a great idea.
They should totally do it.
Get it out their systems. Because Lila felt like she might die if she didn’t, just once, know what Griffin Burke felt like inside her, over her, making love to her.
Sex.
Making sex.
Having sex, damn it.
“Well?” she demanded. Burke hadn’t replied.
“Eh.”
Lila frowned at him. “I think it’s a great idea. In fact, I’m upgrading it to fantastic.”
“Fantastic?”
“Nope. Upgrading it again. Spectacular. It is a spectacular idea. It could be my best idea ever.”
He was still holding her hand to his chest. And she was stroking him, a soft back and forth she hadn’t even been aware of.
Lila tightened her grip. “You in?”
“I’d be a fool to turn down spectacular.”
“And that is what you’re about to get. Choose wisely, now. In or out?”
Burke jerked his chin at the open doorway. “You know where the bedroom is,” he said.