I release the shirt and it drapes back over me like a curtain closing.And scene.We’re done here.
I’m not good at subtlety or keeping thoughts in my head (a trait I learned from Emily), so I take a big step away from him and release them. “James . . . I don’t understand you lately.”
“Me?” He frowns and god help me even the way his legs jut out at these sturdy right angles while he manspreads at the bottom of my bed is turning me on. “How so?”
I press my fingers to my temples. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. Suddenly you’re like loud music playing all the time. You’re blaring and I can’t tune you out. Is it . . . is it because I’m celibate and horny? Like what’s happening to me? I can’t process you anymore.” I break off, a comforting thought taking root. “Maybe I’m ovulating.”
His mouth is slightly open, eyes unblinking. He takes this information in the most James way possible: nodding and frowning in thought because he’s trying to map out how to help me. “Okay,I’m going to bypass the horny comment for now. Let’s talk about what’s confusing you, and I’ll clear it up.”
Yes, good.Logical. “I always thought that you . . . thought I was vaguely ridiculous and annoying, and those concepts were easy to process. But now you’re putting my seatbelt on and taking me to meet Della and sitting on my bed and asking to hear the stories that definitely make me sound ridiculous, yet you’resmiling.”
He shakes his head. “I’ve never thought you were ridiculous or annoying.Trouble,yes. But never ridiculous.”
“You think I’m trouble?”
“Iknowyou are, Madison.”
“Youare trouble right now, James. Not me, you.” My voice is high. I must look like a caged animal pacing back and forth in front of him.
“How me?”
I make a gesture that encompasses his entire body. “Perching on my bed with all the swagger of a worldly cowboy! Reaching back and showing me your rib cage. I mean—fuck.” I say the explicit word like a sigh, my eyes rolling back like I took a hit of something illegal.
He starts to say something and then changes his mind, beginning again. “I . . . didn’t know you were interested in my rib cage.”
I stop moving and stare hard at his face, willing him to understand that this is bad. “Point is, James . . . I’m in a very curious state right now, and . . .” I swallow as he stands from the bed and moves closer to me, a mischievous grin on his perfect mouth. “I also definitely think I’m ovulating and it’s just making me . . . well, I’m a horndog, okay? And your boots are so . . .” He’s still getting closer. “Heavy.”
A grin slants his mouth. “You can’t be suggesting that the weight of my boots is sexy.”
“The sound would make an incredible erotic ASMR.”
His smile is positively indulgent. Decadent dimples on either side of his mouth. “Should I take them off? To negate any trouble?”
My eyes are slits. “You’re enjoying this.”
He’s getting closer still. “How about my shirt? Should I take that off too, to be safe?”
Oh good. He’s teasing now. “It’s not nice to taunt someone burning up with ovulation lust.”
But actually, I can handle the teasing. It’s familiar and safe.
James gets closer still, until we’re nearly chest to chest. “You know what I think?” he says quietly, face tipping down toward my ear. “I think you should let me kiss you. See if it gets it out of your system?”
That sounds like a terrible idea. And just the sort of thing I love.
My body is already humming in agreement.Yes.I nod, staring at his mouth. That is just the thing to fix me.
He’ll kiss me and I’ll realize it feels like kissing my cousin, and I’ll never want to do it again.
“Is that a yes?” he asks, and I’m practically trembling now. “I want to hear you say it.”
I swallow. “Yes, I want you to kiss me, James.”
He hesitates only a beat. The air pulses around us, and I hear blood whooshing in my ears.
And then . . . James Huxley turns his hat backward before both hands come up to cradle my face, fingers dipping into my hair. He holds me like I’m fragile. Like he’s scared I might break. His dark eyes drop to my mouth, and his thumb trails across my bottom lip. I’ve never felt more alive to someone’s touch.
And I know I’m in trouble because just his thumb against my mouth feels like too much.
