Pass The Parcel (3 page)

“Huh?” He briefly glanced her way before
returning his eyes to the road.

“You’re stressing about something. I thought
maybe you didn’t want—”

His hand landed on her leg and he squeezed
his fingers for a split second before rubbing them in small circles
on her thigh. “Oh, I want.” He squeezed once more then put his hand
back on the wheel.

Kitty couldn’t think. That fleeting touch of
bare skin on bare skin sent her nerve endings dancing and bubbles
of sensation exploded throughout her body. Shivers raced over her
and the heat sitting low in her belly sank, grew hotter—turned wet.
Her pulse accelerated, skipping along faster than her lungs could
keep up with and she breathed short and sharp in an attempt to ease
the sudden panic shrinking her chest—strangling her throat.

He’d hardly touched her and she was acting
like he’d had his hands all over her.

“Hey.” Ethan gripped her chin with his
fingers, turned her to face him. “You okay?”

She held her breath and nodded.

“Are you sure?” He stroked his thumb over her
jaw. “Talk to me, Kelly.”

Air rushed from her lungs.

He rarely used her real name. Everyone called
her Kitty and had for as long as she could remember. The concern in
Ethan’s gaze, the gentleness with which he cupped her face and the
knowledge that she’d blow her chance to be with them if she didn’t
get herself under control had her dragging in a deep breath.

“I’m fine.” She fumbled for an excuse to
explain her weird behaviour. “I, um, I’m just hungry. I haven’t
eaten since lunch.” The small lie rolled off her tongue with
ease.

Ethan’s brows shot up his forehead,
disappearing beneath the shaggy blond locks that always fell in his
eyes. “Damn. You must be starving.”

“Good thing we ditched the party then,” Finn
said. “You’d have starved to death if we’d stayed.”

There was humour in Finn’s voice, but in
reality she probably would have become faint in a few hours. She’d
been too nervous to eat at all today. She wasn’t one of those women
who starved themself to be thin, but she had to admit—if only to
herself—that she’d scrimped on her meals since purchasing tonight’s
outfit a week ago.

Ethan let go of her face and grazed his
fingertips along her jaw, sending chills down her neck. She sucked
in a deep breath and turned to stare through the windshield. “I’ll
be fine after I eat something.”

Kitty hoped her words were true. Hoped she
could pull this off. Hoped the potent animal magnetism of the men
either side of her didn’t overwhelm her. And hoped like hell she
didn’t chicken out.

Finn turned into the driveway and hit the
remote for the garage door. The smell of the pizza they’d picked up
hung heavily in the cabin of the truck, but it wasn’t hunger for
food that drove him. He pulled in beside Ethan’s Audi and switched
off the engine—the grinding whirr of the roller-door closing echoed
through the large area and drowned out the voice of doubt nagging
in the back of his mind. Now they were here—with Kitty—his gut
tightened with a shaft of fear. What if they screwed this up?

Ethan climbed out and Kitty slid across the
seat after him. The hem of her skirt slid as well. All the way up
over that curvy arse of hers. Creamy flesh filled his vision and
Finn sucked in a breath when what he was seeing hit him like a
punch to the stomach.

Her arse was bare.

A hard swallow strained his throat. And the
hard cock in his pants strained his zipper. He stayed in his seat,
his eyes glued to Kitty’s spectacular rear end. Her skirt remained
hung up on top of her round curves for long seconds where Finn
thought he’d go out of his mind if he didn’t reach across and touch
her.

His hand—his fingers—were millimetres from
caressing her when she smoothed her hands over her hips and covered
up temptation. He couldn’t recall leaning over and stretching his
arm out towards her, but there he was, partially lying along the
bench seat, hand out ready to grab the thing he wanted more than he
wanted to breathe.

“You okay, Finn?”

Kitty’s voice dragged his gaze up the length
of her back where the top she wore revealed more silky skin than it
covered. She was looking over her shoulder at him, her brow
furrowed as she peered back into the ute.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Just
need to grab…” Fuck. He had no idea how to finish that sentence. He
couldn’t exactly say
your arse
.

He sat up and popped his door open. Getting
out, he avoided eye contact and headed inside. “I’ll get drinks,”
he called out as he rushed through the house as though he had a
hope in hell of out running the lust beating on his bones.

His abrupt exit bordered on rude—no, it
was
rude—but if he didn’t put some distance between him
and Kitty, he’d drag her to the garage floor and fuck her on the
hard concrete.

Finn figured Ethan would cover for him even
if his friend had no clue why he needed to. He busied himself
grabbing glasses and a bottle of Coke and listened to Kitty and
Ethan settle in the living room. Confident he’d regained control of
his raging libido, he tucked the bottle under his arm and picked up
the glasses. Ready as he’d ever be, he went and joined the
others.

The first thing he saw was Kitty biting into
a slice of pizza. She’d perched on the edge of the couch and leaned
over the open box Ethan had placed on the coffee table. Her top
barely contained her breasts and Finn waited in breath-stealing
anticipation for one of her boobs to fall out.

Or both.

Ethan cleared his throat, snapping Finn out
of his lust stupor. Thanks to his best friend, Finn managed to get
it together and put the glasses and drink on the table before Kitty
noticed he was ogling her. Then again, she was asking to be stared
at in that get-up, wasn’t she?

“God,” she moaned around a mouthful of pizza,
and Finn’s balls vibrated as her sultry voice rolled through him.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

Finn wasn’t sure if it was the little
whimpers of delight or the way she licked her lips after each bite
that had him clinging to the edge of civilised by a thin thread
once again. His need for this woman was like a feral animal living
inside him—breathing hard and trying to get out. He lowered himself
to the floor on the opposite side of the table to hide the boner of
all boners tenting his pants. Pain lanced through his groin and he
ground his back teeth to keep the groan rising in his throat from
escaping.

“Jimmy makes the best,” Ethan said before
shoving the rest of his slice into his mouth.

“I have to agree.” Kitty’s smile turned to a
frown when she looked at Finn. “I thought you were hungry?”

“I am.” Finn grabbed the closest slice. “I
was just thinking how great you look sitting in our house.” He
grinned before taking a huge bite.

“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed with colour and she
lowered her gaze as the word floated passed her lips.

Finn swallowed his mouthful and tried to
ignore the jolt of need arrowing through him at the sight of Kitty
all pink and glowing. “When we’re done, we’ll give you the grand
tour.”

“The view out back is amazing. You should see
that first. Before it gets too dark to see anything,” Ethan
added.

“O-okay.” Kitty picked up another slice with
a shaky hand and avoided meeting either of their gazes.

“Shit. I suck as a host.” Finn grabbed the
bottle of drink and quickly filled their glasses.

“Thanks.” Kitty kept her eyes down and Finn
wondered if he’d blown it with his comment about her being here.
Especially when he hadn’t been able to keep his arousal—his
hunger—for her out of his voice. It had practically dripped off
each word.

Silence fell over the room and he couldn’t
decide if the quiet was awkward or not. There was a shimmer of
sexual static coming off him and Ethan, but he wasn’t sure if
Kitty’s sudden fidgeting, flushed state was due to reciprocated
desire or a need to flee.

She put down her half eaten slice. “Um, can I
use the bathroom?”

“Of course.” Finn tipped his head towards the
door—not that she could see the move as she still hadn’t looked at
either him or Ethan. “Down the hall, turn right just before the
kitchen. You can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.” She jumped to her feet, used both
hands to tug her skirt down and rushed out of the room, teetering
on her sexy heels.

Finn stared after her and hoped this small
blip in their evening disappeared by the time she came back.

Ethan punched Finn’s arm. “What the fuck,
Finn?”

“Hey.” His friend rubbed the spot he’d
connected with. “What was that for?”

“You’re screwing this up, man.”

“What? Me? How?”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Really? ‘
I was
just thinking how great you look sitting in our house
’.” He
mimicked Finn’s words and tone. Not hard when Ethan was just as
close to the edge as his friend appeared to be.

Finn’s gaze left his. “It was just an
observation.”

“Yeah, but she’s skittish. We don’t want to
fuck this up.” God if they fucked it up… Ethan shuddered. He didn’t
dare go there.

“It was an innocent comment.” Finn shrugged.
“It
is
good seeing her here. I’ve imagined it so many
times I’ve lost count.”

Ethan sighed. “Yeah, I know.” He dragged his
hands through his hair. “But we agreed not to push her. Tonight is
about getting her comfortable with us outside of the office,” he
reminded Finn.

“How is what I said not that?”

“It’s a fine line between comforting and
overwhelming,” Ethan murmured.

Finn let out a gusty breath and scrubbed a
hand down his face. “Look. I can’t moderate every word out of my
mouth, and as much as I want to ease Kitty into this, the truth is
I’m ready to jump her right now. I was ready the second I laid eyes
on her. She’s got me so worked up I can’t think or see
straight.”

Ethan was in the same boat, but Kelly would
probably run out the front door if they showed the extreme desire
they felt for her. And it was extreme. He’d not wanted a woman with
this raw-edge bone-deep longing before. It didn’t help that he’d
gone without sex for so long. He’d never left his libido
unappeased. Didn’t have to. There were plenty of women ready to
warm his and Finn’s bed.

Shame he couldn’t bring himself to look at
any of them, never mind touch them.

“I’m with you,” Ethan said. “But I’m not
blowing this. The only thing I want blown is my dick and
yours.”

A gasp from the doorway had them both
turning. But Ethan didn’t need to see to know who stood there.
Kelly. She’d heard him.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath as he
got to his feet. “It’s not what you think.”

One of her dark eyebrows arched high. “It’s
not?” Her voice trembled.

Was that disappointment rattling her words?
“No. Well, yes. Kind of.” Fuck. Way to screw up further.

“So you’re not talking about me—” she
fluttered her hand in front of her, “—um…”

Ethan loved the colour rising in her cheeks,
the sparkle of excitement in her eyes. It was the haze of defeat
that seemed to envelope her that had him stepping forward.
“Kelly.”

She took a deep breath, her breasts, barely
covered, rising up and thrusting out as she filled her chest with
air. Her spine straightened and she tipped up her chin. Ethan
recognised that look. It was the stubborn I-will-get-my-way look
she used at work.

“Kitty.” Finn moved next to him. “We—”

“You don’t want to have sex with me?” she
asked in a strong dare-you-to-lie-to-me tone.

Ethan choked on his own breath. Finn didn’t
fare much better if his open trapdoor mouth was an indication.

She held her ground. Although Ethan could see
her trembling, she brazened it out. She rolled her lips inwards and
then out, and slipped her tongue free to stroke that full bottom
curve he’d dream of sucking on. The move jolted him out of his
shock and straight into lustville like he’d been zapped by a
taser.

“Can I be honest with you, Kelly?” He wasn’t
sure if he was taking the right track here, but now that the
elephant in the room had been acknowledged, Ethan figured the best
thing to do was face it—deal with it.

Kelly nodded. “I’d appreciate it.”

Ethan breathed easier. “I’d do you in a
heartbeat.”

“Ditto,” Finn said beside him.

It didn’t get simpler than that.

“So tonight is…?” She darted her gaze between
him and Finn.

Shit. How did he explain without freaking her
out? “About making you comfortable.”

“Comfortable? I don’t understand.”

“What Ethan is trying to say is that we just
wanted to spend time with you outside of work. Get to know each
other. No pressure,” Finn explained their plan a little
clearer.

Her brow wrinkled. “But we already know each
other.”

“Not like we want to,” Ethan muttered.

“Explain.”

Damn. He’d forgotten how good her hearing
was. He also forgot how direct she could be when she chose. She was
such a contradiction. One minute innocent—shy—the next she was a
ballbuster. She’d gone after more than one bid at work with bulldog
tenacity.

Would she go after pleasure with that level
of determination or would she lie back and let a man have his
way?

At this point, Ethan didn’t care which as
long as he got to find out.

Kitty swallowed back the lump threatening to
cut off her air. She couldn’t believe she’d come right out and
asked if they wanted to have sex with her. But she’d stared at
herself in the bathroom mirror and known without doubt she would
regret letting this opportunity pass. The fear echoing every
heartbeat was a natural thing. What woman wouldn’t be nervous about
having sex with a guy for the first time?