“You’re overdressed,” I said, grabbing the hem of Ward’s t-shirt and tugging it up over his head without giving him time to protest. He blinked at me, dazed, like he was staring up at the sun, and I kissed him again because I owed him hundreds of kisses, thousands to make up for all the time we hadn’t been doing this.
I could have kissed him for the rest of my life and it still wouldn’t have been enough.
“Could say the same about you,” Ward murmured, splaying his hand under my t-shirt. I took the hint, whipping it off over my head at lightning speed and tossing it aside.
“I love those shots in your movies where you stretch your arms over your head and we just get a little peek of skin,” Ward said, running his thumb over the strip of skin he was talking about. “Is that weird?”
“Definitely.” I kissed him again. “But I’m into weird.”
Ward laughed, tracing patterns over my skin as I sat in his lap, still processing that we were really doing this. That he was touching me, and I was allowed to touch him, and neither of us had to be scared anymore.
“Always wanted to touch these,” Ward said, picking out constellations in the freckles on my stomach.
“You did, remember? When we were little? Used to join them up with markers.”
“I remember.” Ward smiled, joining a handful up into a heart with the tip of his finger. “I miss that.”
“Well, if you’ve got a marker…”
“Maybe later.” Ward glanced up at me under his lashes, shy even now that I was sitting half-naked in his lap.
Then he looked down again, leaning in and nuzzling my neck, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to the sensitive skin of my throat and making me shiver with a hint of teeth.
“Still going too slow?” Ward asked, licking a stripe along my collarbone that made me moan embarrassingly.
“I won’t be happy with the pace until you’re fucking me so hard you put a dent in the wall,” I said. “But this is nice.”
Ward buried his face against my shoulder, heat radiating off him. “You can’t justsaythings like that.”
“No?” I asked, trying my best to sound as innocent as possible. “I can’t tell you how bad I want your dick?” I murmured in his ear, grinding against him again. “I can’t tell you how I never get to be with anyone I reallywantto be with or how I want everything from you because for the first time in my life I get to be with someone I know I’m safe with?”
“Ryder.” Ward looked up again, meeting my eyes, and I could see a thousand thoughts swirling in them at once.
Then he took my hand and linked our fingers together and I might’ve melted onto the floor if he wasn’t still holding onto my butt with the other one.
“Too much?” I asked, licking my lips as I searched his face for a sign that I reallyhadsaid something he didn’t want me to.
“No.” Ward shook his head. “No,” he repeated, catching my lips, sucking on the lower one, scraping his teeth against it like he wasn’t sure whether to flip me over and fuck me into the mattress or kiss me like I was made of glass all night.
I didn’t care what I got anymore. As long as I got Ward.
“You’re perfect,” he murmured between kisses. “Wish I could’ve been there for you all this time.”
“You’re here now,” I said. “That’s all that matters.”
This time when Ward kissed me, I could feel he’d come to a decision. His body tensed between my thighs, and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back, bouncing on Ward’s huge soft mattress that I justknewwas going to be perfect for sex.
I laughed as he tugged on my jeans, got to my shoes, swore under his breath, and then gave me the most sheepish look I’d ever seen on his face.
“Come up here,” I said, kicking my shoes and jeans off once he was out of the way, pulling him down to kiss it better.
“You can tell I don’t do this often.” Ward sighed, resting his forehead against mine but keeping the rest of his body teasingly far away. I couldn’t tell whether or not he was doing it on purpose, but it was hot either way.
I’d waited so long for this, another few minutes would just make it that much better.
“I don’t do it often either, so we’re both flying blind here,” I said, flicking Ward’s jeans open one-handed while I kissed my way along his jaw. He had the forethought to toe his boots off, and soon enough we were both down to socks and underwear, laughing into each other’s mouths as we kissed.
This was exactly how I’d imagined it. Soft, slow, sweet. I’d been teasing Ward earlier, but this was everything I wanted us to be. Like we always had been.
