“Hud…” She panted against his mouth, their lips brushing as she rocked back and forth, back and forth. The rhythm picking up speed and pressure. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, her short nails leaving crescents in his skin.
“You close?” He could tell she was. Her entire body had gone rigid, her muscles locked. Her grip tightened more with each second that passed, and he knew she was going to shatter any moment.
Pressing his hand firmer on her ass, he moved her against him harder, faster. At the same time, he strummed his thumb across her nipple in a rapid movement.
She choked out his name on a sob, her body tightening around him, before she exhaled a moan as she came.
For as long as he lived, he’d never forget her exactly as she was now. Breathless. Boneless. Sated. And completely fucking gorgeous.
Once her hips stilled, she dropped her forehead to his shoulder, her hands resting on his sides. Her fast breaths swept down his chest and didn’t do anything to assuage the rock-hard problem in his trunks.
And Kenna noticed.
She lifted her head and stared at him, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Your turn.” She inched her fingers along his sides until they were low on his stomach, just above the waistband of his shorts.
And then they dipped underneath.
He sucked in a breath, wanting nothing more than to let her keep going. Hecravedit. But he couldn’t. Not without first giving her the truth. He wouldn’t make that decision for her. If she still wanted him after it was all out—and, Christ, he hoped she still wanted him…in every way possible—he’d give her anything she asked for.
With a groan, he grabbed her wrists and halted her questing fingers. “Kenna. Wait.”
“What? Why? You’re still hard.” To punctuate that, she rocked forward, tugging a choked moan from his throat. “Let me…”
It would be so easy to give in. So easy to let her coax his hands away with her hot-as-sin body rocking against him, her lips on his, her tongue in his mouth.
But he’d hate himself for it. Kenna deserved better than that. She deserved the truth.
“Not now.” When he saw the pained look in her eyes, he quickly clarified, “Notyet.” He reached up and brushed back the few strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail. Trailed his fingers down the curve of her jaw, down her neck. He could spend days mapping her body with his fingers, and it still wouldn’t be enough time.
He could spend eternity with her, and it wouldn’t be long enough.
“What is it?” she asked, her eyes darting between his.
He met her gaze. Swallowed down his nerves. He ran his thumbs over the backs of her hands, whether to soothe her or himself, he wasn’t sure.
Unable to stall anymore, he took a deep breath and said, “We need to talk.”
Mac’s body was lit up like the sky on the Fourth of July. Goose bumps covered every inch of her that she could see. And the places she couldn’t? Well, they were faring much worse…or perhaps, muchbetterwould’ve been more accurate. She’d known kissing Hudson would be amazing, but even she hadn’t anticipated it being quite so off-the-charts, toe-curling, and panty-melting as the reality had been.
The two of them…fit. There was no other word to describe it as perfectly. They fit together like puzzle pieces, locking in and never wanting to separate.
True, they’d kissed before—more than once. They’d decided long ago that they’d share all their firsts together. And those firsts? Usually involved some sort of kissing to get the ball rolling.
But as good as those early kisses had been, there’d always been something holding one or both of them back. Because none of those lip-locks had ever been just because they’d wanted to. There’d been an obligatory thread underlying every one of them. This kiss, though? This had been pure, unadulterated want.
She could still feel the evidence of his need, solid and thick, between her legs. Without thought, she clutched his shoulders and rocked forward, pulling a groan from his throat and an answering moan floating out from hers. He felt so good—toogood—and she wanted to soak in the feeling of his body pressed against hers for as long as humanly possible.
With tight hands on her hips, he stilled her movements and dropped his head to her shoulder. “You’re killin’ me, Kenna.”
She laughed, unable to recall a time she’d felt this…light. This happy. She was going off to college, getting away from the demands and unending pressure of her family name, and she was doing so with her best friend in the whole world. A best friend she hoped like hell was on the way to becoming something so much more. “I somehow doubt death would feel this good.”
He panted against her chest, the puffs of air ghosting over her already hard nipples and cranking up her desire to a thousand. She pressed her mouth to his ear, brushing her lower lip against his lobe. She’d never been able to be like this with him, even when they’d given their virginities to each other. But this? Now? She couldn’t help herself.
After all this time, she couldn’t believe they were finally there.
“As much as I’d love to jump into this with you—and I would absolutely fucking love it—we need to talk first.” Hudson pushed her back in his lap and away from the hardness concealed by his swim trunks.
But did they really need to talk? Did theyreally? What else could he have to tell her other than that he thought of her the same way she did of him? That he wanted to be with her—truly be with her—as more than best friends and first everythings. That he wanted her to behis. The evidence of that was so blatant, it might as well be a billboard sitting with them in the fishing boat.
