Pushing up on my tiptoes, finally, I further the kiss as my hands reach up to grip onto his sweatshirt. The movement takes him by surprise, and his mouth opens more for me, so I take the opportunity to taste him. Flicking my tongue along his bottom lip, I have to press my thighs together at the way he opens upeven further for me. As my tongue slips into his mouth, the sound of his breathy whimper has me fucking spiraling.
I feel like I’m buzzing underneath every surface of my skin at the sound. The tension that pulls between my legs, the ache. Fuck. What is wrong with me?
Falling back down on the balls of my feet, the kiss breaks, but his hands still grip me for a moment as he blinks slowly, pupils dilated. His fingers loosen slightly as he stares down at me, his lips pink from the kiss, and he looks unsure as he takes a few deep breaths.
“Are you…” I pause, “okay?”
Every bone in my body is terrified that the regret may be sinking in for him. It always has for everyone else. Somehow, someway, I manage to make everyone regret me.
Tate nods slowly, and for a moment, I panic as he keeps nodding. Over and over and over again until he’s pulling me toward him and smashing his lips into mine for the second time. The urgency of his kiss is more desperate this time, his hands gripping my hips so tightly that I’m praying he’s leaving his mark on me. The thought has me pressing my hips further against him, rolling them into his, and we stumble slightly.
His hands leave my hips as one grasps my face and the other slams into the wall behind me, catching us before we lose our balance, and that has my insides melting. He’s kissing me feverishly now, and I’m matching his pace with ease, eating up every pant, every sigh, every sound that just barely resembles the one that was driving me crazy before. I want to hear it again.
Take a second.
Take a break.
His waist is pinning me to the wall, and my mind is whirling so quickly in a lust-filled haze that I know I need to stop this now. I don’t want to rush him into anything tonight. I want himto be able to think on it,sleepon it. And if he keeps kissing me like this… Holy hell.
Pushing his chest gently, our lips break apart loudly, and I swear I see a strand of spit that connects from my lips to his. I’m not God’s strongest soldier, I’m just not, and that was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen and?—
Focus, Maeve.
“Wait,” I breathe, and my voice sounds far away.
He practically gulps as he freezes.
“Maybe we should slow down,” I say. “You should process. I don’t want to rush you into anything.”
“Right,” he says breathlessly.
“Okay.”
We completely separate now as he takes a few unsure steps away from me, like he’s waiting for me to saynever mind, come back. I want to. God, do I want to, but I want him to sleep on this. I want him to see how he feels when he wakes up in the morning, see if he…regrets me.
“Goodnight,” I say softly.
His face falls just the slightest bit.
“Goodnight.”
I give him a tiny smile as I step around him and slip from his room, my stomach dropping at the expression on his face before I disappear. Like I just crushed him. And as much as that makes me sad to do that to him, I just want both of us to be sure about what exactly we’re doing.
I don’t want to ruin him, too.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
TATUM
Saturday, December 25th
Igot exactly…zero hours of sleep last night. Not good for my slow-building exhaustion from driving for seven days, but I just couldn’t do it. And believe me, I tried. I tossed and turned all night trying to find the sleep my body craved, but it never came. My body just craved her more. After that kiss, every part of my body craved her.
I didn’t even know you could crave someone like that.
But after our kiss, my mind was spinning like I’d been drinking too much. Her lips on mine ignited me inside, cracked me like a glowstick that would take time to lose its glow. My fingers were buzzing for hours from grabbing onto her like I was afraid to let go. Even thinking about it now as I laid staring up at the ceiling in the early morning sun that trickled through the curtains, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
God, she tasted so sweet.
