“I’d like to,” I whispered.
Alley Road was abandoned. Old factory buildings, and no, not the nicest part of town, but not the worst. We were alone save for a homeless woman standing near a shopping cart at the end of the adjacent block.
I only had to lean in a tiny bit before Cade slanted his mouth over mine. He kissed like a dream. No dream I’d ever had for myself, though. My dreams had been about my future. A budding, successful career. Homework and passing tests. And for some ungodly reason, I’d spun Tony into the web of my future.
But not anymore.
My future wasn’t clear, or maybe it had been an illusion all along. A story I used to tell myself so that I could sleep at night. The thin soap bubble that used to hold all my plans had since popped.
Not knowing what came next was exciting.
Cade pulled his lips from mine. Frowning, he murmured (stutter free, I might add), “Where do you go when I kiss you?”
I blinked up at him. “I—nowhere.”
Like he wanted to hear my rambling thoughts about my future and my past and how confused I was about where I would end up. Like he wanted to hear how every time I thought about my future I thought of him with a big question mark following and didn’t know how to fill in the blank.
“Stay with me,” he murmured.
He pulled me close, one hand threaded into my hair as he forced our faces closer, the light scruff on his jaw scratching my chin.
I stayed with him.
I focused on the feel of his warm, wet tongue. The way his strong fingers gripped my waist, then traveled to my shirt, where he thumbed my breast over my bra. The taste of him, the smell of him. Clean, like soap and fresh air.
No, my mind didn’t wander this time. I was one hundred percent focused on him. Soon I forgot we were on Alley Road. Until he pulled away from me, his chest lifting and dropping, his eyes molten. I guessed pulling away from me took a lot of self-control.
“This…isn’t our date,” he said, his tone suggesting he hadn’t meant to let our kiss spin out of control. But here, on Alley Road, where he’d spun out of control, it felt right.
Night was beginning to fall and a breeze swept chilly air into the car and around our bodies.
“I guess I lost track of time,” I said.
“Me too.” One short peck of a kiss later, he put the car into gear, sending me a heated gaze that held the promise of more.
I liked that I had the power turn him on, to make him forget where he was.
I liked the way he liked me. As much, I hoped, as I liked him.