His teeth caught my bottom lip and then his tongue wasthere to soothe the nip, coaxing me to open my mouth wider and let him exploreme more completely. He tasted like spearmint and everything I’d ever wanted.With my eyes shut tight and my hands tentatively clutching his crisp shirt, Ilet him lead the kiss just praying I was not making this a horrible experiencefor him.
Was this going to be the shortest relationship in thehistory of relationships? Was my bad kissing going to send him running? It wasall too much.
I pulled back, gasping for breath and my scatteringconfidence. His head dropped to the curve of my neck, his breath heating thebare skin there, making me shiver.
He felt the chill run through me and his hands wereimmediately around my waist, tugging me against his warmth. “Are you cold?” hewhispered.
“N-no.”
His head pulled back so he could see my face.“Repulsed then?”
His candid question pulled a nervous laugh out of me.“Intimidated,” I whispered. “You’re terrifying.”
He brushed his nose against mine. “You’re delicious.” Thenhis mouth was on mine again, and this time it wasn’t slow or soft or careful.This time his kiss was hungry. Demanding.
His mouth moved over mine quickly, our lips andtongues tangling together with need for each other, unrestrained want. My handsstopped being shy, smoothing over his chest and stomach, wrapping around hisneck and pressing my body against his.
He didn’t hold his back either, letting them explorethe curves of my waist, the side of my breast, the top of my ass. He didn’t gostraight to ripping my clothes off, but the feeling was there, the desire. Onboth sides.
It had felt like we’d been playing this game for fiveyears. This fire between us had been building and building and building andwe’d just been adding fuel without bothering to contain it or tame it. And nowthere was no stopping it. We’d built this pyre, and now we would have to burnat its mercy.
Which was fine with me.
I’d gladly give into the flame to be with Sayer, tostay with him.
When he pulled back this time, we were both flushed,our lips swollen, our eyes dark. His smile was satisfied, cockier than I hadever seen it before.
I struggled to swallow against the lump of emotion inmy throat. “Wow,” I whispered.
“Knew it was going to be good, Caro. I shouldn’t havewaited so fucking long.”
Blinking against the blinding beauty that was painfulin its intensity, I had one clear, resounding thought. I’m going to lose myvirginity to this guy.
And the thought after that—He’s going to get me togive up running away. And I don’t think I care.
I would have gladly handed it over that night had wenot been in the middle of Fat Jack’s bedroom in the middle of a job.
I stepped away from Sayer, anxious to untangle myselffrom those dangerous thoughts and my reckless heart. This was what we bothwanted. For now. There was no way we would last. We were young. I was reallyyoung. And we wanted different things.
This would be good for both of us. I would get over myinsane infatuation. And so would Sayer. We’d let this run its course and thenwe could go our separate ways.
It was almost like this had to happen for us to beable to grow up. Sayer had needed me when we were kids and he needed this nowso he could thank me or get over me or whatever. And I needed to see thisthrough so I could move on too. I needed to get Sayer out of my system so thatsomeday I could at least find a way to be attracted to other guys. Sayercouldn’t be my only option forever.
This would be good for us.
And until we were over each other, we would have funexploring the childhood crushes we’d had on each other. I could get rid of myV-card in the process to someone I trusted. He could trust me not to cheat onhim or give him an STD. Win-win.
“There’s something behind the—” I left Sayer andwalked over to the wall behind the master bed where a map of the world had beenartfully hung in a chestnut frame. I stepped up onto the bed, ignoring thewrinkled sheets and pillows I was ruining.
I pushed the picture back against the wall, releasingthe spring. The picture sprung forward, revealing a safe.
“Oh, shit,” Sayer murmured, coming to stand beside me.“How are we going to open that?”
It would have been a serious problem if we’d have hadto. I could pick a standard lock, but doctoring a safe was an entirely differentbeast. Besides, this wasn’t a Walmart brand. This was a pain in the ass.
But thankfully, Fat Jack was a moron. “Like this.” Myfingertips still hidden behind the sleeve of my sweater, I pulled the unlockedsafe open.
Sayer’s surprised snicker was all I needed to feelamazing, but what we found inside the safe was enough to give us serious creditwith the bosses.
