Her eyes stay on mine, even as they grow heavy and relief morphs into even bigger worries. If we’re done—if I’m done—with this pulling away and being afraid nonsense, are we ready to step into something so public and fragile all at the same time?
“I wasn’t trying to be mean,” she says.
I smile on one side of my mouth and let out a single laugh.
“Yeah, you were.”
She sighs.
“I was. But I’m sorry.” She blinks slowly and her lips part with a tiny breath as if she’s ready to say more. I love the way her top lip curls up, begging to be eaten.
“I deserved it,” I say before she can apologize more.
Her mouth closes again, and her shoulders rise with a deep breath.
“You did,” she utters, offering a soft laugh of her own.
I move to the desk and let my hand drag along the surface as I walk to the side. My fingers nudge her notecards, a few of them scribbled and torn. I try to force a ripped one back together and she steals it from me, sweeping it into her lap.
“That one’s trash. I couldn’t focus,” she says, turning in her chair as I continue to round her desk. I stop with less than two feet between us, and she pulls her feet up into the chair, hugging her knees as her chin rests on top of them.
“James told me something . . . something I guess I needed to hear,” I say.
She peers up at me through her lashes, her upper lip slipping free with a tiny breath. I think she may be at her prettiest in those small moments right before she speaks.
“And what was that?” Her head tilts to the right a hair.
“He said you were mine.”
Her eyes flash wide, but only for a second. Her breathing becomes more rapid, her chest rising and falling in sync with mine. I drown in her eyes, staring so long I wonder if I’ve fallen into a trance and missed her response.
“I am.”
As if a switch flips inside of me, all resentment and jealousy and fear sweeps away under a wave of need. I step into her and take her hands, cuffing them and dragging them up my chest to coax her to stand. She gazes up at me the entire time until we’re inches apart while I hold her hands at my neck.
“I’m yours,” she repeats, making her feelings abundantly clear.
Abandoning her hands around my neck, I slide my own along her arms to her sides, lift her and turn so she’s sitting on the desk, her note cards scattering to the sides and the floor. My palms move from her hips to flatten against the desktop as I lean into her and take her top lip between both of mine, sucking it in hard until my teeth find her tender skin and grip.
“I fucking love your mouth,” I say, not even flinching at that slip. It’s a good place to start in understanding my feelings—her perfect, delicious pink mouth. Lips like candy and tongue sharp and tart.
Lily leans back and opens her mouth more, deepening our kiss and grazing my lip with her own teeth. I want to tear into her yet savor every bite, and that war grows stronger as her fingers weave into my hair and grab hold.
Bracing her back with my right hand, my entire body rushes with adrenaline as my fingers find the bare skin at the arch of her spine. I lean into her more and her body shifts, willingly laying down. As she rests on the desk, her hair spilling off the back, my palm glides to her side. I nip at her lips and drag my kiss down her chin and into the crook of her neck as she arches into me.
My hand continues its path up her ribs until I find the braless curve of her breast and the hard peak of her nipple.
She whimpers at my first touch, and her body squirms with my second. My thumb makes slow circles around her tip, and I nuzzle my nose against hers to awaken her eyes. I want to see what this does to her—what I do to her.Her lashes lift and our gazes lock just as my thumb and finger roll her nipple with sweet pressure, pinching until I see her eyes flinch.
“Did that hurt?” I brush my lips to hers and she pushes her breast into my hand.
“Yes,” she moans. “A good hurt.”
Fucking hell.
My cock swells, and I want her to feel it, to know what she does to me. I tease her breast again, running my thumb over the hard tip with a feather-light touch while I bring my knee up to the desk so I can press into more of her. Leaning down, I take her mouth in mine and pinch her nipple hard enough to make her cry out while my hips rock forward, pressing my hard dick between her legs.
“Fuck,” I groan, pushing into her again, needing the relief. I’m going to come in my goddamn jeans, and I don’t care.