Page 69 of Broken Heart

And the next thing I knew, we were sinking our teeth into the delicious desserts.

“Mmm,” she moaned the moment the flavors hit her tongue. After taking several more bites and seeming to love every second of it, Skye declared, “You were right. This dessert is perfect for today.”

This was it. This was just what I’d hoped for when I’d planned to do this tonight. Nobody appreciated certain things in life the way Skye did.

Her eyes met mine, and I hoped she could see from the look on my face that I not only agreed with her sentiment and was just as happy about having this treat, but also that I had these other thoughts about her lingering there.

I was so caught up in those thoughts as I watched her eating—frequently making the effort to lick the melted marshmallow off her thumb or lip—that I was caught off guard when she asked, “What does that look mean?”

As soon as she got that question out, she sank her teeth into another bite.

I swallowed what was in my mouth and continued to stare for a few more beats. My eyes remained locked on her as they roamed over her face, my features softening with each passing second.

Finally, I said, “I love the way you find such happiness in the simplest things.”

Her expression warmed as she returned, “I’m a simple girl.”

I shook my head slightly, my lips twitching. She was crazy if she expected me to believe that. “I don’t think I’ve heard anything so far from the truth in my life. Nothing about you is simple, sweetheart.”

“I feel like that’s meant to be a compliment,” she rasped.

“It is.” I lifted my hand toward her face, where my thumb stroked over her bottom lip. “You’ve got chocolate and marshmallow on your lip.”

Sure, I could have just told her about the mess on her face, but I couldn’t resist the urge to touch her.

And it seemed it had paid off tremendously to do that.

Because instead of pulling back and grabbing a napkin to clean it, Skye’s tongue darted out. It hit my thumb, and I lifted my gaze from her mouth to her eyes. Skye parted her lips.

I was stunned at her brazen move. I hadn’t expected Skye would ever do something like that. Sure, she might have had some playful banter at times, and she didn’t seem to have an aversion to kissing me. But this was another level, and I quickly realized I liked where this was heading.

I didn’t miss the opportunity and pushed my thumb forward to touch the tip of her tongue. Skye closed her lips around my thumb and used her tongue to lick off the chocolate and marshmallow mixture.

My stare grew intense. It was the only means available to communicate how much I liked what she was doing, because my voice seemed to have disappeared. Skye circled the tip of my thumb with her tongue several more times before offering a gentle suck.

Continuing to appear unaffected was going to be an impossibility. My pants were growing tight around the groin, and visions of this woman fulfilling every fantasy I’d had of her danced through my mind.

Unable to stop it, I released a low growl, and the sound resulted in an undeniable reaction in Skye. She squirmed enough in the seat for me to realize she had squeezed her legs together.

Fuck, she was just as turned on by what she was doing as I was. And it only seemed to embolden her further, because she sucked harder before she pulled back to free my thumb from her mouth.

“That was unexpected,” I said, my voice just a touch lower than usual, the result of still attempting to come to grips with what I’d just witnessed this sweet woman do.

“I’m sorry. Was it bad?”

I shot her a look of disbelief. Had she lost her mind? “I’m disappointed you stopped.”

Her lips twitched slightly, a proud look washing over her face. “I was teasing, Cooper. The way you looked at me and the sound you made let me know you enjoyed it. I just thought I should stop, so we could talk first.”

There was that playful banter I’d just been thinking about. As a smile spread across my face, I considered how much things had changed between us since the day I first walked into her bookstore, especially since we’d decided to pretend to be dating.

God, that decision to attend the charity benefit felt like it had been ages ago. It was impossible not to recall how Skye had indicated she wasn’t interested in getting into another relationship, and now I’d experienced all that I had with her today.

She wanted to talk. As much as I wished we could have continued what we were just doing, it would be better to know where things stood before we did things we couldn’t undo.

“Yeah, that’s probably not a bad idea,” I returned. “You mentioned that a few days ago, too.”

And ever since she’d mentioned it, I’d been thinking about it. I wanted to believe she’d taken the time to consider what I’d discussed with her when I brought her home from the charity event on Friday evening. Maybe I was finally going to get the answer I’d been hoping for—that she wanted to see where this could go between us.