“What are you scared of, Hepburn? You can trust me. I promise. With anything.”
She shakes her head with a sniff. “I don’t know what I’m scared of. That it won’t work out? That it will? That I’ll lose myself in that ‘warm chest’ feeling and lose track of who I am and what I wanted before it snuck in on little cat feet and turned my life upside down?”
I smile, even as tears sting at the backs of my eyes. “Aw, so I’m turning your world upside down? I think that means you like me.”
She shakes her head, laughs, sniffs, and rolls her eyes all at the same time. “Ugh. Yes. Fine. I fucking like you, okay? I’ve always liked you. Even when I hated you. It’s fucking awful.”
“But is it though? Really?” I hug her closer, my heart overflowing when she wraps her arms around my waist and squeezes me just as tight.
“Yes,” she says with a laugh. “I don’t know how to do this, and I hate not knowing how to do things.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t know how to do it, either.”
“Yes, you do. You’ve had at least one serious girlfriend. You were engaged. Even my most serious relationship wasn’t that serious.”
“Yeah, I had a serious relationship, but I couldn’t talk to her the way I talk to you. I didn’t feel the way I feel when I’m with you. We’re both in new territory here, and I think there’s only one solution to our mutual anxiety about it.”
Her brows lift. “Drugs? Alcohol? Drugs and alcohol? I know you’re not supposed to mix them, but half a muscle relaxer and one shot of whiskey upon rare occasion never killed anyone. Or at least not as many people as stress. Stress is deadly, you know. It can literally kill you.”
“I know,” I say. “But I don’t think we need either of those things. I think we need orgasms. Lots and lots of orgasms.” I bend my head, pressing a kiss to her cheek, her jaw, and then kissing my way slowly down her neck.
She tips her head back with a sigh. “You just want to get my body flooded with feel-good hormones, so I’ll stop thinking rationally and let you spank me more than once.”
I smile against her throat. “You think I don’t know how excited you are about that spanking, Bossy? You’re dying for me to call you my bad little girl, turn you over my knee, and slap that fine ass of yours. You’ll be wiggling all over my lap, begging me to finger you while I do it before I’m done.”
“Promises, promises,” she says in a soft, teasing voice that banishes the last of my jitters.
She may have feelings and I definitely have feelings, but at the end of the day, we’re still Derrick and Harlow. And Derrick and Harlow enjoy nothing more than messing with each other. It’s what we do, and practically foreplay at this point.
Which gives me an excellent idea…
I reach down, gripping her ass in my hand and squeezing it tight enough to make her yelp. I smother the sound with a hard, deep kiss, mating my tongue with hers until she’s breathless before I pull back and say, “All right, little girl. You asked for it. Get on the bed. Facedown. I’m going to show you what you’ve been missing with all those men who didn’t know how to handle a brat in bed.”
Her eyes go wide, curiosity flickering in their depths.
“And yes, it’s okay to like being called a brat,” I add as I grip the other side of her bottom in my hand and haul her against me, letting her feel how hard I am behind the fly of my jeans. “When we’re alone, we do what we want. Whatever we want, whatever gets us excited and gets us off, and we don’t give a shit what anyone else might have to say about it.”
She bites her lip as her fingers curl into the front of my sweater. “But that doesn’t mean I would like it anywhere else. Same with ‘little girl.’ Or ‘baby.’ If you, you know…wanted to call me baby, I’d only be into that in bed.”
“I’m dying to call you baby, baby,” I say, cupping her breast and pinching the tight nipple through the satin of her bra. “Almost as much as I’m dying to get my mouth on these fucking gorgeous tits.”
I pop the clasp at her back, drawing the fabric down her arms and tossing it aside, nearly having a cardiac event as I bare the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen. They’re so full and soft and her tight, dusty-rose nipples literally make my mouth water.
And my cock…
Well, he’s out of his fucking mind with wanting. He can’t be allowed in on this action just yet, or he’ll rush things that shouldn’t be rushed.