Without a word, he reached over and wrapped his fingers around my wrist, his touch warm and steady. Then he pulled, gentle but insistent, guiding me out of my chair and into his lap.
I went willingly, my hands finding his shoulders as I settled against him. His arms came around me immediately, one hand splaying across my lower back, the other sliding up to cup the back of my head.
Then he kissed me.
It was gentle. Soft and sure, his lips moving against mine with a tenderness that made it hard to breathe. Like he was reassuring me with the kiss itself, telling me without words that this was okay, that I was okay, that we were okay.
I melted into him, my fingers curling into his shirt, holding on. And that’s when everything shifted. His hand tightened in my hair, angling my head so he could kiss me deeper, and I opened for him without hesitation. The gentleness gave way to heat, hunger replacing tenderness as I pressed closer. He groaned low in his throat, his other hand sliding up my back to pull me tighter against him.
Heat flooded through me, pooling low in my belly, making me forget every reason this was complicated.
His tongue swept against mine and I made a sound I barely recognized, something desperate and needy. He pulled me closer still.
I felt the solid warmth of his chest against mine, the strength in his arms as they held me, the way his heart was pounding just as hard as mine.
When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard. I dropped my forehead to his shoulder, trying to remember how to function, how to think, how to do anything besides feel.
His arms tightened around me, one hand moving in slow circles on my back. The same motion he’d used when I’d fallen apart in his arms after the shed. Steady. Grounding. Safe.
“You good?”
“Yep.”
“Good girl.”
We sat like that for a long moment, just breathing together, his arms around me and my head on his shoulder. The night air was cool but I felt warm everywhere we touched. The crickets chirped in the grass. A bird cooed in a nearby tree.
Normal suburban sounds while my whole world tilted on its axis.
Eventually I lifted my head to look at him. His green eyes glittered in the moonlight, searching my face.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“For what?”
“For being patient with me. For not pushing.”
He brushed a strand of hair back from my face, his touch gentle. “There’s nothing hard about this, Emily. I like you. You like me. That’s all that matters.”
“Okay.” I settled against him again, sighing when he leaned back in the recliner. For the first time in a very long time, the knot inside me loosened.
CAM
Sweet torture. That’s what this was. The sweetest fucking torture.
Emily lay on top of me, her fingers gripping my hair as her tongue tangled with mine. The only light in the living room came from the flickering TV screen, casting blue and white shadows over us.
My hands roamed the curve of her waist, gripping the soft material of her shirt. She tasted like mint tea and desperation, a mix that was quickly unraveling my control.
I slid my palms down to her hips, pulling her tighter against me, and the friction dragged a sound from her throat. Something needy. Hungry.
She pushed herself up, straddling my hips properly now. I was rock hard, so when she ground down, heat jolted through me like lightning.
“Fuck, you feel so good.”
Her only reply was a soft whimper as she planted her hands on my chest, watching me with smoky eyes as she rolled her hips again.
With a groan, I let my head fall back against the cushion.
