Worth the Risk (The Game #4)(22)
Author: Emma Hart

He cups my hips with his hands and draws my body close to him. I slide my hands up his body to his neck as he lowers his head, turning his face into my hair, and he coaxes my body to move. I go with it and let him take control because this is the only control he’s gonna have.

The second we leave the control is all mine.

His hands wander, slipping to my back and down to my bum, his fingers probing through the material of my tight skirt. His breathes flutters my hair, his lips ghosting my ear, and I move my face toward his.

“Fucking hell,” Kyle’s voice says behind me.

I groan. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“What?” the guy in front of me asks.

My arms fall from his neck and Kyle’s hand clamps on one of them.

“You’re leaving,” Kyle orders.

I snatch my arm and glare at him. “Again? Really? Are you my f**king keeper?”

His eyes are hard and his jaw tight. “The way I see it you have two options. You leave by my side or slung over my goddamn shoulder. Either way, you’re leaving.”

“Who is this dick?” No-Name guy asks. “Your brother or something?”

“Not her brother,” Kyle responds. “And you’re one lucky jackass he isn’t here.” He turns back to me. “Choose. Now.”

Fine. You wanna play this game.

I grin sassily. “As tempting as your shoulder is, Kyle, I can still walk. But feel free to hold me up if you want to.”

He drops his head back as I walk past him, putting extra swing in my hips.

“Wait.” I stop walking in the hallway.

“What now, Roxanne?” he groans from behind me.

I turn to him. “If you throw me over your shoulder, would you slap my ass? If you would, I might have to reconsider my answer.”

His eyes flash with something between annoyance and heat, and tingles run through my body with the knowledge I’m affecting him.

Men.

This is what I can control.

And not even Kyle is immune to it.

“Get your ass outside,” he warns. “Don’t f**k me around, Rox.”

“Spoil sport.” I pout, walking outside. His car is parked in the drive, the only one there. “Let me guess; you want my ass in your car so you can haul me home?”

“And it’s a gold star for you,” he replies dryly, unlocking it and holding open my door.

“I’m getting good at this.” I flash him another grin as I climb in and he shakes his head.

This is fun.

He pulls out of the driveway. “I have no idea what to do with you, girl. I really don’t.”

My smile widens, and I shift in my seat so my body is facing him.

“Don’t say it,” he says gruffly. “Don’t say what you were about to.”

“What?” I blink innocently.

His eyes shoot a warning glance in my direction. “You know exactly what I mean. You’re just making a complete idiot of yourself.”

“So why do you keep turning up here and saving me like I’m a damsel in distress? I gotta say, your armor isn’t up to much, Sir Knight.”

“Because if I turn up and take you away, no one else has the pain of listening to awkward, drunken sentences like that.”

“Or…” I open the door when he pulls up outside my house. “You don’t want anyone to have me even though you don’t want me yourself.”

I slam the door behind me and f**k. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. At all. Uh-uh. Damn. Why did I say it out loud?

Oh yeah. Because it’s the truth. Isn’t it?

“And what the f**k does that mean?” he yells, following me into my back yard.

Well, might as well carry on and blame it on my “awkward drunken sentences” in the morning.

I spin, my hair flying around my shoulders, and put my hands on my hips. My eyes are dead on his in the darkness.

“What I mean is you’ve turned up to these parties twice now. Both times you’ve got pissed off when I’ve been dancing with a guy even when it’s my right to. I’m single, I have no commitments or promises to any guy and I can do what the hell I like.”

“I’m just doing–”

“Bullshit!” I punch the air, stamp my foot, and jab my finger in his direction. “Bull. Shit! You’re not doing this for Cam. I don’t believe that for one f**king second, Kyle. You get too angry and protective for it to be for him.”

“I’ve known you our whole lives. Of course I’m gonna protect you from the jackasses you insist on hanging with. I care about you, for f**k sake!” He runs his hands through his hair and turns, looking away from me.

“Of course,” my voice quietens, a sad tinge almost creeping in. “I forgot. You’ve known me forever. I’m Cam’s baby sister. How stupid of me to forget.”

“It’s not that.” He sighs.

“Then what it is? I am Cam’s baby sister. That’s all I’ve ever been to you.”

“Before? Yeah, that’s all you ever were. Now? No, Roxy. You’re not just my dead best friend’s little sister.”

My heart stops and whatever words I had ready to respond with lodge in my throat, leaving my mouth open as I stare at the back of his head.

“What?” I whisper.

“You’re not just his sister, okay? Fuck. I wish you were but you’re not. You’re so much f**king more than just Cam’s baby sister.”

“Kiss me.”

The words leave without my permission. They burst from my lips, not a plea but a demand. I’m not asking him to kiss me.

I’m telling him.

Kyle stops, his head turning to the side. His profile is illuminated by the moonlight, and I hate that he’s not facing me. I hate that all I can see is the back of him.

“What?”

“If I’m not just Cam’s kid sister, then kiss me. Now. Turn your ass around and walk up to me and kiss me like you damn well mean it, Kyle Daniels.”

“Rox…” He turns. “You’re drunk. You have no idea what you’re saying.”

“I’m not…” I pause as he faces me, his eyebrow raised. My arms shoot into the air in surrender. “Okay, I’m drunk. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m saying. I know exactly what I’m saying. I know what I want and I want you to kiss me.”

He takes slow steps toward me, almost stalking me, and my heart finds its beat again, thumping against my chest. I walk backward and my back hits the side of the shed, and I swallow as he moves toward me in the darkness, never taking my eyes from his.