“Sorry,” he whispers, his fingertips pressing into my lower back from where my shirt has ridden up.
“I don’t mind.” The words escape my mouth before I can process what I’ve said, but I don’t regret them. Bailey’s searing gaze combs over my face, ultimately landing on my mouth. His pupils dilate, and I’m tempted to count the freckles on his cheeks.
If my brain were working, it’d probably try to tell me it’stoo soon to want him to kiss me, but my god, I want Bailey to kiss me.
My hand is shaking as I move it to cup his jaw from where my arms are hooked around his neck. I feel him swallow when I sweep my fingertips over the light stubble growing. With hurricane prep the last couple of days, it doesn’t shock me he hasn’t taken the time to shave, but his facial hair is light enough it’s not noticeable.
He exhales a shuddering breath, and I wait for B to tell me to stop, but he doesn’t. I lift my fingers to trace over the puckered scar cutting through his eyebrow, brushing his hair back to follow it up into his hairline. Bailey’s eyes close, and it feels like my heart is about to burst right through my ribcage.
“Does it hurt?” I ask, hoping for his sake it doesn’t.
He didn’t tell me how he got this.
“No.” Bailey’s voice is a low rasp, causing my skin to pebble with goosebumps. “I’m just not used to being touched like this.”
Shit. I can clearly feel his arousal, but I don’t want to make him uncomfortable. He hasn’t explicitly said he wants this, yet here I am, touching him without permission. Bailey has been the perfect gentleman, following the lines I put around us, and I’m not giving him the same courtesy.
I start to pull away, but he moves faster, covering my hand with his to keep it where it is. “I don’t mind you touching me. I’m all yours.”
Is this the time for truths?
There’s nothing uncertain about the look on his face, and once he seems sure I’m not going to pull away, he holds my cheek in a similar manner. His touch is sure, and Bailey’s other large hand is still splayed across my lower back.
He leans down, resting his forehead against mine.
Bailey smells like oranges and summer days with endless blue skies.
“Sunshine, I don’t want your pity, or to be a rebound while you figure shi—” I cut him off by tilting my chin up to press my mouth to his.
This isn’t pity, and if anyone was the rebound, it was Hunter. I know it’s awful to think after how long we were together, but he helped me get over the heartbreak Bailey put my seventeen-year-old heart through. It became more than that after, but I think I understand now that’s what it was at first.
I think I’ve broken him.He’s frozen, and I pull back, whispering against his lips, “Please, shut up and kiss me back.”
This time, Bailey doesn’t have to be told twice. He kisses me deeply, his soft lips taking away any doubt I had he might not return my feelings. His hand slides to tug on my braid while I pull him closer to me.
He feels like fire, threatening to burn me with every touch and kiss. I want to be burned if it means feeling this alive. I gasp when B tugs a little harder on my braid, and he’s quick to slide his tongue into my mouth.
I feel free.
Everything is right and perfect.
My core is pulsing with want as Bailey devours me. He wraps my hair around his hand, tilting my head backward to press a kiss to the spot right below my ear. A low moan catches in my throat at the sensation of his stubble against my neck, and I twist my fingers into his hair, giving a tug of my own. He groans, nipping at my skin, turning my body into a living flame as the sound of desperation pours kerosene on me.
“Don’t stop,” I plead, grabbing his shoulder as he pushes me backward until I can feel the shelf behind me.
“Never letting you go,” he says, and I press my hips forward against his.
“Promise?” I need to hear Bailey say it again.
He lifts his head, letting go of my hair as I swallow backthe desperate sound threatening to break free. My body tenses, and I try to pull him back to me, but Bailey keeps his head just out of reach.
We’ve gone from zero to sixty in rapid acceleration. Hitting the breaks is the last thing I want.
“Kait, I’m not stopping,” he says, and I relax enough to listen to what Bailey has to say. “I promise I’m not leaving you. The way I feel for you isn’t something I can survive walking away from a second time. I fucking promise.”
He reaches for my hand, pressing it against his chest, and I smile because Bailey’s heart is an echo of mine.
“You’re not a rebound for me, Walker. How could you be if I’ve never been able to move on from you?”
