All I’ve been thinking about tonight is getting her home and peeling my favorite shirt off of her body while I kiss every inch of her silky skin underneath it.
When we pull up into the driveway, it’s already dark. I follow her inside the house and into the kitchen. She pours herself a glass of iced water, turning to look at me with big doe eyes.
“Do you wanna watchTwilight?” she blurts out.
I blink at her for a moment, wondering if she’s getting nervous about our next lesson and the proximity of us being here … alone. I rub my sweaty hands over the tops of my jeans.
“I’ve never seen it, but sure.”
Her mouth gapes open. “You’ve never seenTwilight?” she shrieks. “What aboutNew Moon?”
I shake my head. “Is that the one about the shirtless wolf guys?”
She clasps her hand over her mouth before walking over to me and grabbing my hand to pull me into the living room. “I cannot believe I’ve been living here all this time—duringhoa hoa hoa season, no less—and you didn’t tell me you haven’t seen the greatest movie series ever made! We need popcorn and a cheese board and red wine and cozy blankets.”
“What’shoa hoa hoa season?”
“You’ll learn soon enough, Sam Seymour.”
She pushes me down on the sofa and grabs the remote. “I’m about to change your life—forever.”
I grab her around the waist and pull her down next to me before she dares to try and sit on the end or in the chair on the other side of the room.
She lets out an adorable giggle before scooting away from me. “I need to go make the food and grab the wine. ATwilightvirginity ceremony deserves snackies.”
“I’ll do it. Sit and pull up your movie.” I peck her cheek with a kiss, internally trying to talk myself out of pinning her down on the sofa before she has a chance to search for the movie.
She bats her thick lashes at me before leaning back against the sofa. “Do you know how to make a cheese board?”
“Can’t be that hard. I did graduate high school.”
She purses her lips, but doesn’t move to stop me. I stand up and go into the kitchen to figure out exactly what a cheese board is.
Ten minutes later, I walk back out to the living room, balancing all her requested “snackies” in my hands.
I decided to use my grandmother’s large wooden serving board she usually pulled out during the holidays to hold everything. On one end, I have a bottle of cabernet wine I grabbed from the Seymour wine collection—it’s not a cheap one—and I have two copper wineglasses with it. In the middle, I have a big bowl of popcorn I popped over the gas stove with melted butter and salt sprinkled over it. On the other side of the board, I arranged cut-up Colby jack and Gouda cheese, piled the turkey and salami deli meat next to it, along with crackers, some strawberries, a slab of butter and mayo and mustard. I’ve never made a cheese board, but it sounds like fancy adult Lunchables, so that’s what I went with.
Dolly sits up, nibbling on her bottom lip as I set the serving board down on the wooden coffee table in front of her.
“Your snackies, my lady.” I dip my head dramatically, drawing another giggle from the back of her throat.
I am on dangerous ground right now.
I clear my throat as I take the space next to her. “Um, hope this cheese board is worthy of your standards.”
“It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
She swipes a piece of cheese, pops it in her mouth, and presses play on the remote. Her body squishes closer up to mine. I lean forward, grabbing the bottle of wine I opened in the kitchen. I pour her a glass and hand it to her. Her fingers brush mine when she takes it from me, sending sparks of awareness through me.
I crave the feeling of her skin.
Now that I’ve tasted her and felt her come undone for me, I only want more of her. What we’re doing now feels intimate in a way that not even hooking up could feel. Sitting close to her at dinner and now cuddling up with her on my couch—it isn’t something I can justify as being for her safety or that I’m just helping her gain sexual experience for the next guy who comes along.
Okay, so I’m doing it because it fucking feels right and I can’t stop myself. Maybe indulging in something less bruising than a fight is what I need right now.
Since my grandfather’s death, this is the first time I’ve felt truly content, like maybe the world isn’t a massively fucked-up place I’m being forced to live in all alone.
Dolly leans forward to grab the bowl of popcorn and a few strawberries. I kick my boots off before leaning down to tug off her sneakers. She watches me while licking salt off her lips.
