appealing.
"No," he said, putting his hands on my shoulders and pushing me away from him, with the same deliberate care he'd shown when teasing me a few minutes before.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Shit," he said, running his own hand through his hair, "You're all fucked in the head right now, you just went through hell. I'd be a total asshole to take advantage of you."
I did my best to keep eye contact with him as I pulled my borrowed shirt off over my head.
He shut his eyes.
"God, you're hot," he said.
"You're right," I said. "I've just been through hell. I am totally fucked in the head."
I shimmied out of the flannel pants, leaving me completely naked.
"Kissing you makes me feel like the world's all right," I said.
His eyes were still shut.
"I think I need that right now," I said.
When he finally, finally opened his eyes and looked down the length of me, his gorgeous eyes darkened with desire.
It was a bit of a relief.
I'd dated some, but I'd yet to get naked with a boy.
Guess I'm skipping high school boys and going straight to getting naked with a man, I told myself, trying not to giggle.
If he hadn’t thought I was nice to look at naked… That might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. That might have broken me.
He reached out and traced the curve of my waist to my hip with his gentle fingers.
“ You’re very persuasive,” he said.
Even better than the feel of his body against mine was the swell of my heart when we smiled at each other.
That’s all I wanted.
Him.
He kissed me again, easing his lips over mine, my eyes fluttering shut as I pressed my body against his, the only thing between us his thin pajamas.
Even though I was naked and wanting him, he made no attempts to speed things up, simply covering me with the quilt, wrapping his arms around me, and kissing me, long and slow, over and over until I thought I’d go crazy with needing him.
His hands finally started to stray, brushing down my back like electric shocks of desire.
“ Merle, please,” I said, gasping, pulling away from him.
“ Please?” he asked, with the crooked smile that charmed me the night we met.
“ I need you, I need, I need more,” I said. I knew I was blushing bright red, but I couldn’t help it. I did need him. I was going to go absolutely insane.
His fingers slid between my legs and found the center of my need.
I’d never been touched there before and it was - “Good,” I gasped. “So, so good. Yes, right there.”
He stared me in the eyes, grinning, as his fingers led my body to the height it craved.
I grabbed his arm when I finally came, rocking against him and digging my fingers into his skin.
I shut my eyes, breathing hard, recovering.
Every movement one of us made as we disentangled was a sweet torture, the intensity ratcheted up on a scale I wasn’t prepared for.
“ So,” I said. “Um. What can I do for you?”
“ You just did it,” he said. “That was one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen.”
“ You, uh, you… finished?”
“ Nope,” he said, still cheerful and sleepy. “That’s not always the goal. I wanted to see you come all over me. Now I want to see you go the hell back to sleep.”
He softened his words with a gentle kiss to my cheek.
“ Oh,” I murmured. “Okay.”
He tilted my chin up.
“ Hey,” he said. “It’s not because I don’t want you. I’m about to explode. I definitely want you. I just want to be careful and take things a little slower, okay?”
I nodded.
I wasn’t convinced, but I nodded.
“ C’mere,” he said, and pulled me to him for another kiss.
The long slow time we spent kissing in the warm glow of our desire went by like molasses, and like water over a dam - in a long slow instant rush.
His phone buzzed on the nightstand, and he sighed, and pulled it into bed to check it.
I
Saxon Andrew, Derek Chiodo