His lips on my back were soft and warm. “I love you, Dakota.”
“Mmhmm.”
He smacked my ass as I laughed.
“I love you more,” I said.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered. “Yeah? Wanna bet?”
I turned around and threw my leg over his hip. “Always.”
32
THE TIGER’S NOCTURNE IN E MINOR
REESE
“Ican’t do this.”
“Yes, you can. Just look at me, okay? You can look at me because I’ll be right there the whole time. Just keep your eyes on me and you’ll know that.”
Fuck.
If he just kept his hands on my face and stared into my eyes like this then yeah, maybe I could do it.
“No, Dakota?—”
“Hey. You got this. We’ve practiced it a thousand times, all you have to do is look at me. And I’ll be right there looking back at you. Just imagine me in that jockstrap, baby.”
A laugh bubbled out of me. “So you want me to get turned on in front of a hundred people?”
He tilted his head and seemed to think about it, then said, “Nope. I don’t. Never mind, don’t think perverted thoughts about me until it’s over.”
Just talking to him was calming me down. Just being near him, seeing him smile, smelling his scent, touching him.
Yeah. I could do this. If Dakota thought I could do it, then I could do it. All I had to do was keep my eyes on him.
I took a deep breath and stared into his eyes. On the exhale, I said, “I love you.”
His pupils dilated, and then he moved closer, pressing his semi-hard dick into my stomach. “Fuck, I’m starting to think literally everything you say or do turns me on. Should we test it? Sayhappy birthday.No, never mind, that’s kind of hot anyway.”
“What—why are you half-hard right now? What the fuck?” I pushed my hand into his face. “Get away from me you horny bastard. You’re not allowed to go on stage like that, go cool down.”
“It’s too late, I can’t. I think we should both go up there with erections, what do you say? I bet they won’t even notice.”
“Dakota! For fuck’s sake.”
He laughed and kissed my cheek. “You’re too easy.”
“You’re too difficult.”
“Yeah but you love me anyway.”
Yeah. I did.
My stomach was a riot of butterflies that wouldn’t settle down, and I kept wiping my palms on my pants because they were so sweaty.
The duet before us ended, and as the applause sounded, my heart started to race.
