If I looked closer, I’d have seen the way his fingers trembled, caught the light sheen of sweat that coated his forehead. But I couldn’t get past his tone. The absolute longing in his voice for a lifeline. For someone to take the lead and offer him the world.
I could— I would— I needed to be that person for him.
“It is. You have to let yourself try.” I reached forward, holding out my hand to him, my intention clear. He had to make the choice to grasp it—or not. Either way, the lifeline was extended as the silence grew deafening, and I felt my pulse roar in my ears.
My eyes closed and my head dropped to my chest, feeling the wave of rejection as it washed over me. The sting burned like I’d rubbed lemon juice on a paper cut, but at least I knew for sure what we shared was nothing more than a fluke.
I clenched my fist and withdrew, opening my eyes to find him a breath away from my face. His hands found my waist, pushing me further into the kitchen. And without breaking contact, he followed.
Chapter 21
Igripped her waistlike it was my lifeline—and in this moment, perhaps it was—before sliding the glass door closed with my foot. Malibu stared from her place on the kitchen floor, then yawned and closed her eyes, laying her head on her front paws.
Summer said nothing, not with words, at least. Her eyes were dancing with barely contained desire, something I matched tenfold. From the way she touched me, to the way she moved and breathed, it was all a silent dare or perhaps a test of strength.
A test I’d failed miserably the second I took her offering. All I could focus on was the unquenchable heat pooling low in my belly and the slow, tantalizing way my fingers dug into her skin.
The most fucked-up part of this—of me standing in her father’s kitchen with barely restrained need—was that I didn’t want to stop.
I couldn’t stop this.
But still, some part of me felt I should.
I should have snatched my hands back as if they were burned. Stormed away, with every intention of keeping my distance.
But then her body softly brushed against mine as we faced one another.
Too close.
Always too fucking close.
My movements were rigid as my fingers touched her flesh, every muscle locked tight, as if forced willpower would save me from this fate.
I inched my hand higher beneath her shirt, painfully aware that my fingers trembled against the warm skin of her stomach.
Fuck it all.
My pulse raced relentlessly against my breastbone, and when her hands left her side to trace along my back in wandering, deliberate strokes, it sent heat coursing through my veins, unraveling the last of my tightly strung self-control.
As I heard the sliding glass door snick shut, the part of me that had been resisting her since our encounter in the parking lot knew the truth. This was our point of no return. There was no stopping and no turning back. The moment I gripped her waist,I’d set things into motion. She’d brought me here, but I’d let it happen. And now, no one would deny me what I’d claimed.
The door was barely closed before she clasped her hands around my shoulders, reaching for me before her lips crashed into mine with a voracious hunger that stole the breath from my lungs. My hesitation lasted exactly one heartbeat before instinct took over rationale, and I pulled her closer, shattering into oblivion within her kiss.
Her body molded to mine too perfectly, soft curves meeting unyielding need. The temperature between us scorched as her delicate fingers scratched my scalp and tilted my head to deepen our kiss, as if she’d been planning for this moment since before she was a blip on my radar.
Summer touched me without hesitation or doubt, and when she sighed into my mouth, her fingers threaded around my neck. Any lingering doubt to stop this madness vanished as she pressed her hips against mine, sending a violent pulse of need through me.
This was happening.
I was about to take my mother’s neighbor’s daughter to bed.
And I couldn’t fucking wait.
She shifted against me, hands trailing lower, and her lips left mine to brush along my jaw and throat, making my stomach clench and a groan escape my mouth. My internal voice of reason should have been screaming,‘What in the ever-loving fuck are you thinking?’But those words never surfaced, because any second-guessing or regret had long since passed.
No more words were needed as my hands slid to her thighs and I lifted the soft flesh with ease as she wrapped her legs around my waist. I aligned our hips, grinding them hard enough against her to see stars, and seriously considered laying her down on the kitchen floor to fuck her uninhibitedly.
My cock pulsed against her core as I carried her through the darkened hallway and up the stairs toward her room, my strides confident and purposeful. I paused in the doorway, taking a moment to look at her neatly made bed with its pastel purple comforter and more pillows than any one person needed. There would be time for careful perusal of the personal touches around the room later, but for now, I swept my arms from her ass to her waist and tossed her onto the bed, chuckling as she bounced twice against the plush mattress.
