A slow fire crackles to life in the pit of my stomach. Heat. Awareness. Want. I try to subtly gasp for air. But we’re too close for him to be saying any of this and for me to expect my lungs to hold on much longer.
“I want you,” he continues. “All of you. I want your blushes, your sighs, your laughs. I want your long-winded rambles. I want to be able to capture them with my mouth and silence them when you get to be too hard on yourself. I want to be the one that gets to justbewith you. I want you to see that every nervous flutter, every time your heart has skipped a beat these past few years, those were all meant to be mine.”
Want grows and grows, gripping my lungs in its blaze.
“That’s why I’m here. Yes, I plan on being the doting, adoring boyfriend you’ve been dating for a while when your parents are around, but when we’re alone,” He leans in the final inch, placing his hands on either side of my head on the wall to brace himself. “I’m going to answer all the questions you’ve thrown at me tonight. I’m going to show you how wrong you’ve been about me. And when we go back to campus, you’ll be coming over toour apartment to have breakfast with me, and I need you to know, sugarplum—” He brings his mouth to my ear. “—I’m very thorough when I eat. I like to appreciate every second of my meal.”
He pulls away with that wolfish, challenging gleam evident in his eye and it consumes whatever air’s left in my lungs. A smirk dimples his cheek as he takes in my ragged breath and my lips chasing his.
“I know you feel it, Natalie,” he whispers.
“Feel what?”
Our breaths mingle. My chest constricts.
Anticipation. Need. Want. All three? I can’t name the sensation. Can’t think beyond claiming the one thing I feel in my bones is supposed to be mine.
Cole.
His lips. Every last bit of him.
The air between us in my bedroom crackles, growing more charged with every passing second I deny the electricity between us.
“Whatever this is.” He tucks a finger under my chin with ac’mere.
I’m powerless to pull away.
“These were supposed to be mine,” he says. “And I want them back.” His lips land on mine, slow and deliberate.
I whimper into his mouth, chasing the high. Something snaps between us. I can’t explain it, but suddenly want and need are too weak for what I’m feeling. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him tighter against me. My tongue darts into his mouth, demanding, asking for him to open. He doesn’t. “Not tonight, love,” he says pulling away. He flattens his palm over my heart. “I’d already decided after the motel, I need this first. I wasn’t kidding in the car; this is going to burn.”
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
COLE
Caden
Hey bro. I’m home
Caden
Havent heard from you in a few days
Caden
Making sure she hasn’t killed you yet
Cole
Just a heads up, she knows everything.
Missed call from Caden Sinclair.
Missed call from Caden Sinclair.
Missed call from Caden Sinclair.
