I’m not alone. It’s amazing.“No judging. I do the same, and please don’t take this as an insult, but I’m glad to have finally met someone equally as lame.” The laughter flows freely between us. At my age, I shouldn’t be playing Candy Crush until I fall asleep at night,right?
“We’re sad,” I tell him, swallowing a mouthful of the tartwine.
“Not right this second.” He places his glass back down and leans toward me as if he wants to kiss, but I place my hand on his chest, stopping him in place. “Wait, how old areyou?”
“How old are you?” he responds with surprise, asking as if I had a reason for questioninghim.
“Thirty-one,” Ireply.
“I had you pegged at twenty-four, but was suddenly concerned you might be seventeen or something,” he says, soundingrelieved.
“Seventeen? What grandmother would be interfering with the love life of a seventeen-year-old?”
“Maybe yours,” he says,fairly.
“Goodpoint.”
“I’m thirty-three.”
“Okay, so we’re good,” I say, wiping the fake sweat from myforehead.
“Am I allowed to kiss younow?”
With the playful mood already between us, I press my finger to my chin, appearing to ponder his question. “I don’tknow.”
He steals my wine glass from my hand and places it beside his. “You don’t know?” heasks.
“You’re kind of a bad kisser,” I joke, but with a poor attempt at beingserious.
He presses his hand against his chest. “Am I,now?”
“Kinda,” I say, sounding even less serious than I did a secondago.
Jackson moves forward, trapping me beneath him as I fall deeper into the plushness of his couch. He’s hovering over me, and the view from this angle is generating a fire within my veins. Muscles emerge on his arms that I hadn’t noticed, and with the collar of his shirt unbuttoned a bit; I’m able to see a whole lot more of those muscles rippling down the center of hisbody.
“You think we’re moving too fast?” he asks. “I know you’re still on the rebound and all.” His lips quirk to one side, revealing a sinuous smirk I can’tresist.
“I’m not on the rebound. I’m beingrevived.”
“That is the hottest thing anyone has ever said to me,” hemurmurs.
His proximity is so close, I can almost taste his lips. “Did you know how fast a heart beats right before a kiss?” His words fall warmly against my mouth as I try to think a clear thought while in thisposition.
“Doyouknow?” I throw the questionback.
“I’ve never tested it out,” he says, his brazen smilereappearing.
“Are you stalling?” I askhim.
“Just enjoying the moment,” he whispers before pressing his lips to mine. My heart beats heavily against my compressed chest, and I know he can feel what he’s doing to me. His lips are so soft against mine, but his movements are meticulous, as if he knows where each nerve ending in my lips begins and ends as he connects the dots. His mouth opens slightly, and I follow in motion, feeling his tongue stroke against mine. I feel his entire body melting into mine, and his hands gently graze the side of my face as his fingers weave through the loose strands of my hair. An unstoppable soft hum vibrates through my throat, and in turn, his griptightens.
Our bodies tangle as he maneuvers his legs to the ground, lifting me up with him, where I remain wrapped aroundhim.
Where we’re going, what we’re doing, and how it’s going to turn out doesn’t faze me in the slightest because he has stolen a beat of my heart with every kiss. I can’t imagine anything better than this, but something is telling me the best is yet to come.His lips move down my neck, sending a warm, striking shock down the lengths of my arms and across mychest.
Without an initial tour of his entire apartment, I’m not surprised to find a king-sized bed in the center of an impeccably decorated room that’s coated with hues of blues, grays, and white. I’m even less surprised when I fall heavily against his cloud-like mattress. He climbs back over me, repossessing my lips as the bed covers float around us like a storm offeathers.
“I need you. I’ve needed you in my life for solong.”
