“What are you thinking when I tell you all that?” he asks.
“I think I’m more impressed by your kitchen talents. Money can’t buy happiness. Fame brings problems with it. What I think is you're handsome as all get out, funny and charming, you can cook… What can’t you do?” I laugh as I press my lips together.
The light in his bedroom is low. There are boxes in this room telling me he wasn't exaggerating when he said he just moved in. But there's bedding on the king-size bed and a few duffel bags with clothes spilling out.
“I'm wondering why you're here all by yourself. You seem like the kind of guy who would have been caught by now.”
“I'm not the kind of guy who is easily caught,” he tells me.
“Why is that?”
“I stick to myself, Lemon. I'm a lone ranger. I told you that.”
His words are a red flag, but everything else makes me want to lean into the moment—into him. “So you don't do relationships?”
He shakes his head. “I haven't done relationships, if that's what you're asking.”
I swallow. “Well, I haven't done relationships either,” I say honestly. “Have you ever been with anyone?”
His eyes hold steady on mine. “Are you asking if I've ever done this? Brought a woman home to my house? Made her dinner like that? And then brought her to my bedroom?”
I nod. “Yeah, I guess that's what I'm asking.”
“No,” he tells me. “I haven't.”
“So you're also…”
He swallows. “Yeah. I'm a virgin.”
He's 26 and he's a virgin. I pull in a sharp breath.
“Does that freak you out?”
I shake my head now. “No, I already told you I’m a virgin too.”
His shoulders relax. “Then why don't we just take this slow? Why don't we just start with a kiss?”
I nod. Tentative Excited. Ready. Willing.
Here.
“A birthday kiss. Well, actually…” He gives me another smile. “A birthday eve kiss.”
6
ANCHOR
Kissing Lemon is like nothing I've ever imagined.
She is soft, supple, sweet.
And I realize as her lips part, as her tongue finds mine, she is exactly the kind of woman I crave.
I'm all hard edges, rough and reclusive. I have spent my life protecting myself from getting hurt, pushing each and every person away, far away.
But Lemon isn't like that. She has spent her life pulling everyone close, into her circle, and not letting them go.
She sacrificed spreading her wings so she could make sure that the people she loved the most in the world knew they could count on her.
That is a kind of devotion, a kind of tenderness, I've never been around. Not since my mom was alive at least and fuck, that's been fifteen years.
But I can't think about the past right now.
Because as I kiss Lemon, my arms are wrapping around her tight.
Her soft skin is warm against my touch. And all I want to consider is the now.
The kiss that takes my fucking breath away.
When we pull apart, I feel like there are stars in my goddamn eyes.
She's smiling. Her skin is sun-kissed, her hair a mess.
Her eyes are lit up with wonder. “Well, that was a kiss to remember.”
“Sure that's not just the white wine talking?” I tease.
She shakes her head. “No, with five brothers, I've been able to work up quite a hefty alcohol tolerance over the years. Rye brews his own beer, and my brothers can go through a keg in no time at our family parties, so I can handle my alcohol.”
I chuckle. “Fuck. You're some sort of unicorn, you know that?”
She laughs. “Oh shush.” But her hands are on my chest, fingering the buttons of my open shirt.
I help her out by shoving it off my shoulders, letting it fall to the floor.
She looks down at her bikini top.
“Are you nervous?’ I ask her.
She nods. “All kinds of nervous. I've never done this. And you've never done this, and…” She groans. “I'm sorry. I just got the jitters.”
I smile at that, drawing her back to me. “I don't want you to feel pressured. I could go on kissing you all night long.”
She shakes her head, adamantly. “No. I want to do more than kiss you, Anchor. I've been waiting for a night like this for a long time. For the right man to waltz into my life and sweep me off my feet, and you? You paddled right into it. So I should take this opportunity when I have it.”
I look deep into her brown eyes. “We have all the time in the world.”
“Do we though?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say. I take her hand and lace my fingers with hers, walking over to the bed. We lie down, side-by-side.
I love the way she looks in my bed. Comfortable, nearly naked. And it fucking turns me on. My cock is hard. Can she tell?
“I'm going to be twenty-four tomorrow,” she tells me. “It feels like time is moving too fast.”