Promises & Pen Names (The Riley Siblings #1)

8. Blake

Chapter Eight

BLAKE

G oddamn, Sidney tastes better than I remember.

So good that I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of her lips, her kisses, her sweeter than sugar skin. And that’s also why I grunt in frustration when Sid pulls away slightly and puts space between our lips so she can ask, “Blake... what are you doing?”

“I thought it was pretty clear.” I smirk as I bump her nose with mine. “What are you really asking me, Sid?”

She chews her lip, that pillowy petal soft lip that’s swollen from my kiss. “Blake...”

“Kissing you.”

“I know that,” Sid huffs. “I just—well, I just...”

“You just what?”

She shrugs, her eyes wandering to the wall behind me. I had a feeling this might happen when I finally kissed Sidney. Despite our conversations and the huge success of the book signing, a few days wasn’t enough for her to see how amazing she is, and how much I still fucking love her.

Sid is the whole package, the most gorgeous kind of woman, inside and out. She’s funny as hell, so goddamn smart, a true intellectual and master of her craft. And Sid’s heart, hell I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone whose heart is as pure, as big and beautiful, as true as hers and she loves with everything she’s got, puts every ounce of that love into the things that mean something to her. And that’s exactly why it’s still so guarded, why Sid keeps it locked away from the world, protected from those who might want to break it.

She’s been down that road before, we both have.

I know Sidney is brave as fuck but deep down she’s scared, scared to put herself out there, scared that the kind of love we write about doesn’t exist and that also means she won’t allow someone to love her the way she deserves.

And that someone is going to be me because I also know she feels the same way I do, feels the connection between us just as strongly as we did when we were kids. I just need to make her accept that, make her accept it and understand that I’m not going anywhere this time, that I am the man who will love her forever, and the minute she does, my ass will be in Atlanta before she can blink.

I can’t tell her that now though. It’s a silent promise I’m making, but it doesn’t hold any less value because of it.

If I confess my feelings, tell Sidney I’m completely and totally in love with her and have been since our first conversation two years ago, since I met her when she transferred to my high school when we were sixteen, she’ll run. My Shortcake will shut down, shut me out and she will run so goddamn far I may never be able to reach her. I have to take things slow with Sid, make her feel my love first and then, hopefully, I can tell her how I feel, how I can’t imagine one single day waking up without her in my life. Then I’ll sell my house and tell her I’m moving back to Georgia and after that. Well, after that, I’ll marry Sidney Porter and put a baby in her belly so fast she won’t know what hit her .

Truth? I’d do it all right now if she wasn’t so scared of opening her heart again.

“Sid, baby, look at me.” Slowly, those crystal blue eyes find mine and I smile because goddamnit, I really fucking love her. “I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long fucking time, something I should have done the second you walked out of the airport.” I drop my forehead to hers and take a deep breath. “I kissed the woman who consumes my thoughts and haunts my dreams, that takes up so much space in my head that there isn’t room for anything else, for anyone else. I kissed my best friend because she means more to me than anything or anyone else ever has and if she’ll let me, I plan on kissing her a hell of a lot more for way longer than a few minutes in an elevator.”

Sid smiles, albeit small and soft. “Blake...” A glimmer of tears coats her eyes and I’m not sure what to make of that.

Damn.

For the first time since I’ve known her, I can’t read my Shortcake.

But instead of allowing this to turn into something negative or awkward, I give her my best smile. “You didn’t like it?”

“Of course I liked it.” She giggles and rolls her eyes. That’s my Shortcake. “I loved it. When have I ever not liked being kissed by you? That was the best kiss of my life.”

I absolutely will not beat my chest and strut around this elevator car like a caveman no matter how much I really fucking want to after that comment.

Take that Jordan Needledick Kinison, you asshat.

Sidney said my kiss was the best and that little peckerhead can eat shit.

“So, it’s safe to say you’d be up for doing it again?” God, my ego legit went up about a thousand notches from those words alone. I’m going to be pretty fucking insufferable when I finally get Sidney naked and make love to her in a way I can guarantee she’s never been loved before.

She chews the hell out of her lip, her eyes bouncing between mine as I lift my thumb and pull it free from her teeth. “I... I haven’t been kissed in a really long time.” Sid takes a deep breath, a tear slipping down her cheek. “I haven’t even dated since my divorce.”

Assuming she doesn’t want me to go bananas over that truth, growl and grunt over the satisfaction of knowing how something like that makes me feel, I maintain a slightly playful attitude. “So that’s an emphatic yes then?”

“Blake.” Sid snorts. “I just... I don’t do... I don’t do one-night stands.”

“Neither do I.” And Sidney could never be a one-night anything, not to me.

“But…”

I’m already shaking my head. “That’s not what this is, Sid, not between us.”

“Then what is it? Isn’t that all it could be?”

Not on my watch. “It’s two very sexy adults who happen to be best friends and find each other irresistible, acting on the undeniable spark between them that hasn’t died in fifteen years. It’s exploring our relationship in a different, deeper way, and instead of worrying about what it means right now, we should enjoy it and figure out the rest later.”

Sid blushes the prettiest pink and sighs. “But Blake, I?—”

“I know, Shortcake. You need a plan. You have to know what’s going to happen.” I smirk in her face, then bump her nose again. “So, I’m going to tell you the plan, ok?”

God she’s cute when she tries not to smile.

And that shit really puts me at ease.

“The plan, right now, is to get in another best kiss of your life, maybe two depending on how much longer it takes this slow ass elevator to get to our floor.” She snorts and I know I have her. “Then we’re gonna go to our room, change, wait for dinner and kiss some more. After that, well it’s up to you, Shortcake. I have a plan but I’m not gonna share it with you unless I know you’re game.” Especially since it ends with marry me, Sidney Porter. “I’m hoping our plans line up, hoping that your plan will be to live in the moment with me, right here, right now, and figure out the details later, but I won’t push.”

Sid searches my eyes, what she’s looking for I’m not sure but what I hope she sees, what I hope she finds is the truth behind my words, the truth behind my feelings because that is irrefutable. I love her and nothing is going to change that.

And just when I think I’m going to die from the suspense, my Shortcake answers me, just not with words.

Her hands slide up my chest, her delicate fingers caressing my neck before she cups my cheeks, pushes up on her tiptoes and answers me with the sweetest ghosting of her lips over mine.

“I think our plan is the same.” She smiles and kisses me again a little harder. “I’m with you, Blake. We’ll figure out the rest later.” Then the little minx licks my lower lip before raking her teeth over it and that shit makes me grab her by the ass, hoist her in the air and growl like a fucking animal.

Oh, she is with me all right, with me from this moment forward into the rest of our forever.