“Right,” I deadpanned. “Because I’m very sneaky like that. Quick on my feet too.”
I patted my stomach and the pooch that had gotten larger over the past few years. Hard work at the diner used to keep me in better shape, but keeping the weight off had become more difficult these days.
While I tried not to be self-conscious of my looks, it was hard, especially now that I was with someone so much younger and in better shape than I was. It was stupid of me to worry when Atlas had reassured me more than once that he liked me just the way I was, but logically, knowing something and actually believing it were two different things.
Atlas pulled away from me, and the sinking feeling that I’d fucked up washed over me. Not even ten minutes into this official date, and I was already fucking things up. Maybe I just wasn’t cut out for this.
But not even a second later, Atlas was back, and this time, he was climbing onto my lap. He made himself comfortable with his legs spread out on either side of me, and his cock practically pressed up against mine.
I instinctively wrapped my arms around him to keep him steady, but my grip was light. I didn’t dare hold him too close.
Atlas wasn’t having it, though, and used his hands to guide mine in place until I was holding him impossibly close.
“It seems my words aren’t getting to you, so I need to speak through my actions. I really do like you, Hector.I do. Exactly as you are,” he said.
Before I could process anything, his face inched closer until our lips crashed together in a kiss that just about breathed life back into me.
Chapter Eight
ATLAS
I should have kissed Hector a lot sooner. Not only because kissing him felt good—so freaking good—but also because it was exactly what we both needed to relax.
I’d been on cloud nine since Hector had finally promised us a chance, but the stalker problem that loomed over me would never let the stress fully dissipate. I believed it was the same for Hector too.
But now? On his lap and wrapped up in each other, all my tension melted away. I could sense it was also the same for the man currently underneath me. His shoulders, stiff from always carrying the weight of the world on them, finally relaxed. Right now, he wasn’t worried about my safety or thinking he wasn’t good enough to deserve me. The only thing that existed at this moment was how amazing it felt to be together.
Hector didn’t try deepening the kiss. His lips were firm but hesitant, like he didn’t want to push too far. With how tightly he was holding me against him, I could tell he wanted me, probably just as much as I wanted him. And the fact that he didn’t dare hold me like this until I guided his hands had my heart feeling soft.
Hector was different from all the other men I’d been with. They were all so self-assured and almost forceful in what they wanted, which was what made Hector’s hesitation endearing.
He let me lead every step of the way, and although I never voiced it, I was grateful for it. It felt like, for once,Iwas in control. I liked being in control, though not all my exes allowed me to be.
I wasn’t being dragged around and played by the shitty boyfriends I’d met online. I got to take things slow, even if sometimes I thought things moved a bittooslowly between Hector and me. Hopefully, that would change today.
I slipped my tongue through my lips, trying to gain access between his. Hector stiffened for the briefest second before he was kissing me back with an intensity that had my cock plumping inside my pants.
It’d been so long since I’d come with another person, and when the person in front of me was someone I liked this much, I had no hope of controlling myself.
I rocked my hips, which, oops. Bad move. Hector’slips went slack as he tried to put some distance between us, but I wasn’t letting up. When I couldn’t reach his lips, I leaned down to suck on his neck and was rewarded with a sweet rumble from him.
“Atlas,” he breathed, voice heavy and thick with need. I could feel him hard against me too, but he had better control over his lust than me. “We shouldn’t. Not out here.”
I licked a stripe up his neck and gently nibbled on his ear. “We’re alone, and we’re deep enough into the springs that few people venture down here.”
“Is that why we passed the first couple of springs? Was this your plan all along?”
“Maybe.”
Another moan came from him when I licked the shell of his ear. His breath was coming out ragged, and his hands were going to leave a mark on my hips with how tightly he was gripping me. I loved how I could make this usually calm and collected man go wild.
“Fuck, Atlas. We’re gonna get our clothes dirty.”
I smiled because there was a very simple solution to that. I climbed off his lap. He easily let me go, though his expression told me he would rather keep me in his arms.
“What are you, um, doing?” he asked curiously. Instead of answering, I whipped my sweater over my head. “Atlas…”
I continued undressing until I was completely naked, and my boner pointed straight at Hector’s face. His gaze immediately dropped to my erection. Therewas no mistaking the heat in his eyes or the way his throat moved as he tried to gather the moisture in his mouth to speak.
