I pause and frown. “East, move your smelly-ass feet.”
“I’m so comfy, though,” he whines. “And they’re not smelly.” He lifts one toward Jed. “Tell him, Stone.”
Jed’s lips twitch. “I don’t smell anything from here, but I’m not getting closer to find out.”
“Well, then, where am I supposed to sit?” I huff. They’re exiling me to the fucking floor?
East and Paulie exchange glances, and I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit. East does a weird jerking motion with his head. Then I’m shoved hard from behind. I full windmill, zero fucking dignity, and topple into Jed’s lap with a screeched curse. Jed lets out a deepoomph,big hands catching my shoulder and ribs before I end up ass over tits over the side of the couch.
I shift so his face isn’t buried in my chest. “Sorry,” I say weakly.
“There. You found a seat,” Paulie says cheerily. “Let’s start the show.”
Smooth, guys. Really fucking smooth.
Easton presses play on the show and lowers the lights via the app on his phone. I perch on Jed’s lap awkwardly, rigid as a fucking two by four. I’m pretty sure I’m blocking Jed’s view. But what am I supposed to do? Slink down andcuddle? Is that allowed? In front of East and Paulie? I don’t think I know what to do if sex isn’t involved.
I have my little freak out for approximately fifteen seconds before Easton pops up. “Oh, shit. I forgot I have to go call someone.”
Paulie jumps to his feet. “I’m so glad you said that. I need to call Shelby. She’ll kill me if I don’t.”
They both hurry for the stairs.
“Those two could really use a crash-course in subtlety,” Jed says as they thunder up the stairs.
I peer over his head at my retreating roommates. “Uh, yeah.” I squeeze the back of my neck. “Sorry about that. You don’t have to stay. I’m sorry if they—this—made you uncomfortable.” I shift to get off him, but Jed’s hands clamp down on my waist.
My gaze shoots down to his. His dark eyes trace my features, his expression unreadable. “Not uncomfortable in the least, Sunshine.” His voice is low but not heated like it usually is when it drops like this. No…it’s hushed. Intimate. “I’m actually the most comfortable I’ve been all night.”
“S-so, I should stay here?”
He nods slowly.
I settle a tentative hand on his chest, a little out of sorts being in someone’s lap for the first time. His large hands drift up and down my sides, over my long sleeve tee, and the tension drains from my body.
He slowly slides a hand up, fingers drifting through my hair.
I like sinking my hands into it.
I shiver.
I can’t look away from those dark brown irises. So dark. A midnight sky. And just as endless. I can’t help but get lost in them. Can’t help but think I’m staring into something bigger than myself, bigger than him. He gently presses on the back of my head, silent encouragement.
I let him pull me down.
Our mouths meet in the barest touch. Fleeting. But that tiny contact jolts through me, twisting me up inside in thebest way. Our lips linger as we share breaths, hovering but not moving in for more. Like we both know we’re on the precipice of something and are a little afraid of what will happen if we let go. This is uncharted territory. At least for me.
But sometimes you need to feel the fear and do it anyway.
I let go.
I lean in that fraction closer, turning it from a ghost of a kiss to something real.
Not just real in the way we trade these feather-light passes back and forth, but real in the way each one sets off sparks in my chest. Real in the way this kiss might be the first one I’ve ever had that finally delivers the meaning a kiss is meant to carry.
Soft.
Slow.
