He nods slowly, his eyes still glued to my lips.
“Then what are you waiting for?” I whisper. “Devour me.”
His breath hitches—and then his hands find my waist and pull me tight against him. His kiss is deeper now, more urgent. Familiar, but unleashed. Like we’ve kissed a thousand times before, but never like this.
We fall onto the bed, the heat between us rising fast. He kisses me like I’m the only thing he’s ever wanted, and for a second, I feel wild. Weightless. Reckless.
His hands wander up my sides, tugging at the hem of my shirt. I gasp as he pulls me closer, kissing my neck, my jaw, my mouth, everywhere. His lips are hungry, but his eyes… his eyes still ask.
I nod. “Yes,” I breathe. “Take it off.”
My breath catches when he slides off my shirt and sees my bra—the one Ihate, because it’s more functional than cute. Still, he doesn’t hesitate. He pulls it over my head like it’s nothing, and when I see the way he’s looking at me…
Yeah. It’s definitelynotnothing.
“Perfect,” he murmurs, then leans down and kisses me in a way that makes my whole body arch toward him.
“Luca…” I moan, letting my head fall back onto the mattress.
“Yeah?” he murmurs, but he’s barely listening. His mouth is busy. He’s completely focused, like I’m some kind of mystery he’s trying to solve with lips and hands.
“That… feels good,” I gasp, running my hands down his back. That’s when I realize he’s still fully dressed. “Lose the nerd shirt, Walker.”
He laughs, deep and gravelly, and rips it off in half a second.
Now it’s skin on skin, and the contact sends shivers down my spine.
“How do you feel?” he whispers near my ear.
I open my mouth to answer, but he sucks my earlobe and my brain just…blinks. Hard. Gone.Totally gone.
He knows what that does to me, because he keeps going, and I can’t think straight. I’m too busy falling apart in his hands.
“I asked you something, Em.”
“Oh. Um. Good. Really good. Thanks.”
He laughs again, but then he slows down. His arms rest on either side of my face, and his eyes search mine. “I can stop anytime, okay? You don’t have to go any further if you’re not ready.”
“Are youkiddingme?” I pull him down and kiss him with everything I’ve got, just as he starts unbuttoning his jeans.
When he pulls away to grab a condom, he shows it to me like he’s checking one last time. “We can still stop.”
“Am I giving off mixed signals or something?” I raise a brow.
“No,”—he laughs—“I just want this to mean something. I want it to feel right. You only get one first time.”
“I know. That’s why I want it to be with you.”
He nods, then slips out of his boxers, and… okay.
Whoa.I was not expectingthat. It’s…a lot. I swallow hard.
He doesn’t seem to notice my inner panic spiral—just puts the condom on and crawls back between my legs, hooking his fingers in the waistband of my cotton underwear and pulling them down slowly.
“I want to kiss you,” he whispers.
“You’ve been kissing me for months, dummy,” I tease, but he doesn’t laugh. He’s not looking at my face.
