I nod, and my eyes drop to her mouth as she says, “Me too.”
This time, I’m the one who kisses her first.
Twenty-Three
Now
CJ
* * *
So far, Wyatt’s done everything right.
He drove me to his place in a car that smelled so much like him, he practically had to pry my nose off his upholstery with an ice scraper. He carried my bag inside and hung my coat next to his in the hallway closet—he may have had to physically prevent me from burying my face in all of his coats, too—before showing me around his surprisingly cozy house and grabbing us waters from his fridge. Then he goddamn picked me up and carried me into the bedroom, where he undressed himself and then undressed me.
And now I’m sitting on the edge of his mattress in my bra and panties—go to hell, shapewear, you weren’t needed tonight—and am trying not to come undone as he stands in front of me in all his devastating hotness, wearing nothing but a smile.
I flop backward on the bed with a wail. “Why am I nervous?”
“You’re nervous” he says, resting gentle hands on my thighs, “because this is important.”
The stampede of butterflies in my stomach settles the slightest bit at his touch.
“This is important,” I tell the ceiling. “And we waited so long for the rest of our first night.”
He crawls onto the bed next to me, and I roll my head to face him.
“So very long.” He cups my face and brushes the lightest kiss across my lips. “But let’s count the positives.”
“These back muscles are a real positive,” I tell him as I trail my fingers down their lovely length.
“Okay, we can make that number one.” He kisses a spot behind my ear. “Number two: your soft skin right here.”
He licks along my neck and down to my throat.
“Number three: We already know we’re good at this,” he says.
I nod. “Extremely good at this. Number four: Your family thinks I’m great.”
“They do.” He kisses the tops of my breasts where they meet my bra.“I mean, Mom and Phil haven’t had the chance to weigh in yet, but?—”
He twists away when I try to pinch his nipples in punishment.
“Number five,” he says, laughing. “My friends adore you.”
“And I adore your friends.”
“That’s number six.” He kisses the soft squish of my stomach. “Number seven: My body catches fire when it’s in the same vicinity as your body.”
I like the sound of that so much that I wrap my legs around his torso and pull him as close as I can.
“I love you,” I say.
He goes so still that all my nerves come rushing back. “Oh, I didn’t play the game. Sorry.” I laugh awkwardly and try again. “Number eight: I love you.”
He’s still not moving, so I let my thighs fall open, giving him the chance to escape.
“I know it’s too soon,” I say. “And I guess we haven’t spent that much time together, when you add it all up, so do we even know each other that well, really? If you’d rather pretend I didn’t say th?—”
