“Yes.”
“Roar good night to him?”
“Absolutely.”
“Tell him I come back tomorrow?”
“I promise.”
“Okay,” Noah decides, magnanimously. “But only because I like you.”
“That’s good. Because I like you too.” Beaming, Noah dashes to hug my knees, then he’s already running towards the car. “I can buckle myself in!” he yells from the backseat, again informing half the neighborhood.
At the curb, Elaine turns back. “We’ll text when he’s down,” she promises Cole. “By the way,” she lowers her voice conspiratorially, “apparently Willard’s been asking for something to read. Dorothy sent himCrime and Punishment.”
Cole and I snort almost in unison. We stand side by side, watching the car until it disappears round the corner.
Then Cole leans into my shoulder. “So,” he says, voice low, ears already pink. “Just the two of us tonight.”
“Aren’t you bold,” I murmur, pulling him closer. “Declaring, even. Should we alertThe Baywood Gazette?”
He huffs. I kiss the huff away.Tonight belongs to us.
COLE
We’re in the bedroom. Without clothes. Because we’re going to… yeah.
Never in my life have I felt more wanted, or more safe, or more on the verge of spontaneously combusting from wanting someone so much.
I lick my lips, and Xaden groans. That sound shoots straight through me. I lean forward and brush my lips against his. Just a ghost of a kiss, but it makes him shiver in anticipation. My thumb sweeps gently the almost healed wound on his cheek.
Ann-Sabrina told Xaden that the scar only makes him look hotter. Then she said, “Damn, will I ever learn?” and scribbled something on a notebook titledThat Was Inappropriate. Vol. 3.That makes me grin, and Xaden looks at me, half-amused, half-exasperated.
“If you’re laughing, we’re not doing this right,” he says and then he kisses me, deep and certain, his tongue sweeping into my mouth like it owns me. I sigh into him, slipping my tongue against his, and he groans like I’ve just given him the thing he wanted most.
“I was just thinking about Ann-Sabrina,” I mumble when we catch breath, and Xaden huffs.“I kissed you like that and you’re thinking about Ann-Sabrina Fenton?”
I laugh, and he starts kissing me more purposefully and with so much heat I’m soon squirming under him in desperation. Even with all that power, he’s so tender. Strong, yes. In control, yes. But the way he looks at me? It’s vulnerable, like he’s the one asking for something.
I kiss him back with everything I have, making him curse into my mouth. His voice is rough enough to make me ache all over. Being with him like this — bare skin against bare skin — makes my brain short-circuit. Maybe it was smart to wait all those years ago; Idon’t think seventeen-year-old me could have handled the hotness of Xaden Bailey like this.
“Xaden,” I moan, after he’s kissed me almost into oblivion, “I want—”
“Yeah?” he asks, lips curling into a sinful little smile. “You can tell me.”
“I… can’t. But you know.” And he does. He kisses my eyelids, my jawline, my neck, even plants one on my nose with a heated mutter about my ‘ridiculous freckles’.
I pull his mouth on mine again, whispering his name, and please, and I want, incoherent with lust.
He pauses, lips at my chest, whispering, “I got you.”
Then he goes lower. Much lower. My whole body goes hot. “Oh, God,” I gasp. He chuckles against my thigh. “You keep saying that.”
“I’ll keep saying it if you don’t—” I break off with a groan, half-laughing. “Xaden, please.”
“Tell me what you want.” His voice is pure teasing devil.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I pant.
