hair remained cool and put together, despite the summer humidity, and Kaylea’s short blond locks resembled dandelion fluff? Perhaps that’s why Nicole had a date every other night and Kaylea was left home to live vicariously through one of her romance novels. Thank God they had air-conditioning at the library where they both worked. Otherwise the unruly ball of fluff that she passed off as hair would scare the patronsaway. She made a mental note to tell her parents to install another cooling appliance, because the one they had was doing little to combat the sultry Chicago heat.
“Oh, I’m prepared, Kaylea. The question is, are you?”
Hell yeah, she was prepared.
She was a twenty-five-year-old virgin for Christ’s sake. And sure she was ready to take a walk on the wild side, despite knowing who and what she was. Her parents, Gage and Jadyn, might have escaped Hell and given birth to a daughter who was born of purity and touched my “him,” but Kaylea wasn’t careless enough to make any mistakes that were classified as “sins.” As a rare, pure soul—enlightened to this reality during her christening—landing in Hell wouldn’t be a wise move.
Sleeping with a guy, however, really didn’t qualify as a sin. But going twenty-five years and not sleeping with a guy sure as hell did.
Kaylea glimpsed the tall gorgeous man coming from the counter, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand. After a long perusal, she planted her elbows on the table and buried her face in her palms. “Why the heck can’t I get laid?”
Nicole rolled a casual shoulder and stated, “Because you’re too fussy.”
Kaylea dropped her arms in time to see Mr. Leather Pants grab a seat in the corner. His long legs stretched out in front of him as Kaylea did a slow, leisurely scan of his scrumptious, athletic body.
Yummy…
He had to be a tourist, she mused, because she’d yet to see a man that hot on her beloved streets of Chicago. Her gaze briefly met his, then suddenly, catching her off guard, her pulse jumped and heat pooled between her legs in a way it had never pooled before. Good Lord, what was it about him that held her attention and, quite frankly, aroused her? Kaylea gulped air and casually said, “I’m not fussy. I’m selective.”
“Selective?” Nicole arched a manicured eyebrow over deep green eyes. Amusement laced her voice as she added, “You dumped the last guy you went out with because he used too much tongue when he kissed you. And the guy before that didn’t use enough.”
Kaylea crinkled her nose. “Okay, okay, but there was no chemistry,” she admitted, and stole another glance at Mr. Leather Pants, who’d just slunk down lower in his seat.
Talk about chemistry…
She’d just bet that he’d use the right amount of tongue, and with one touch from him she’d likely go off like a round of C-4.
Her sideways glance hadn’t gone unnoticed by Nicole. Her friend twisted around to see where Kaylea’s gaze had wandered to, then turned back and said, “I know you’re waiting for Mr. Right, ‘someone to complete you.’” Nicole paused to do air quotes around those four words. “But in the meantime you really need to get laid and loosen up.” Nicole nodded toward the guy Kaylea had been checking out. “Helooks like a guy who could help you work out the kinks.”
Speaking of kink…
Her mind took her in an erotic direction, one involving leather, lace and metal restraint. Not to mention a smokin’ hot guy with nothing on but a broken-in pair of biker chaps.
Oh, hell!
Kaylea groaned from sexual frustration then mocked herself. “Cripes, I really do fit the typical librarian persona, don’t I?”
“Maybe, or maybe it has something to do with your name.”
“My name?”
“Yeah, Kaylea means ‘keeper of the key—pure,’” she elaborated, a testament that they’d both harvested an enormous amount of useless information as librarians.
“If that key has anything to do with my chastity belt then I sure as hell wish someone would tell me where it’s hidden so I could unlock it.”
With that both girls laughed out loud, the sound drawing attention from those around them. Still chuckling, Kaylea put her finger to her lips to hush her friend. The last thing she wanted was for everyone in the place to know she was a damn virgin who was completely clueless in the area of seduction.
“Then again, maybe it’s your aura,” Nicole suggested.
“How so?” Kaylea asked.
Nicole palmed the air. “You have this purity about you that probably scares men off.”
Kaylea chewed on her bottom lip and considered her friend’s astuteness. Naturally Nicole had no idea just how bang on she was with that observation, since Kaylea was careful to keep her family’s secrets, well, a secret.
Her thoughts faded to the background as the heavy oak door slowly creaked open. The two women turned and stared at the entrance, waiting to glimpse the man who was about to be gifted with Kaylea’s virginity, but Kaylea couldn’t seem to keep her focus, not when the man sitting in the corner of the coffee shop, with his head tilted downward, low enough to veil his identity, kept drawing her attention.
Yeah, he was good-looking. Damn good-looking, but she never was one to swoon over a man’s good looks before. So she either really had a thing for guys in leather biker chaps, or this particular bad boy had the ability to play some mysterious alchemy with her libido.
When Kaylea’s mother and father walked in, Kaylea let out a breath of relief and Nicole laughed. “Look at you. You look like you’re about to faint. That’s one hell of a way to make a believer out of me.”
Without bothering to deny it, Kaylea grinned, then turned her attention to her parents as they stepped up to their table. They exchanged pleasantries before Gage and Jadyn disappeared into the back room to prepare for their shift. A moment later one of the waitresses came with their sandwiches.
As Kaylea examined her lunch, her lips tingled and her mouth salivated, but it certainly wasn’t for the egg salad in front of her. She inconspicuously watched the man in the corner, as he in turn watched her parents pull on their aprons, relieve the counter staff and step up to serve the lineup of patrons.
Kaylea noted that her stranger seemed a little dark, a little brooding and a whole lot dangerous. As a shiver moved through her, something flashed in his eyes and gained her full focus. Something soft, kind and compassionate. Something that completely intrigued her.
Tempted her.
Shortly after her perusal, he pushed his chair back, the metal legs squealing across the floor like a broken fan belt. He vaulted to his feet and stalked out the front door, letting it slam behind him.
Biting into the sandwich, Kaylea contemplated his hasty exit. But before she even had time to swallow, the door swung back open, and Mr. Leather Pants stood here, darkening the archway. Intense brown eyes locked on hers and in that instant sexual energy leapt between them, bombarding her body with primal hunger.
Desire moved through her, sending heat all the way to the tips of her toes, stopping to warm every erogenous zone on the
