I walk up to her and grab her hand. “Do me a favor. Take a breath.”
She lets out a flustered chuckle and takes a deep breath.
“Sorry. I’m a little nervous about tonight,” she says.
“It’s okay. I am too. But it’ll all be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”
Her tight expression eases. “You’re the best.”
“What’d you cook?”
She bites back a smile. “Frozen pizza. You know what a terrible cook I am.”
“And you know how much I love pizza.”
We head into the kitchen together. When she pulls the pizza out of the oven, I see that there’s only one piece missing.
“That’s all you wanted to eat?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I was too nervous to eat much.”
I down a few slices while Briar sips on a sparkling water.
When I finish, she looks at me with an expectant look on her face. “So, um, should we go upstairs?”
I grab her hand. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 20
Blake
We head up to my room, and I close the door behind us.
When I turn to her, she’s fiddling with the hem of the hoodie she’s wearing.
“Should I, um, take off my clothes, or…”
I sit on the edge of my bed. I pat the space next to me. She hesitates before sitting down next to me.
“You don’t need to do anything you’re uncomfortable with, remember?”
She nods.
“So if you don’t want to take your clothes off, you don’t have to,” I say.
Her brow furrows like she’s confused. “How are we supposed to fool around if we’re fully clothed?”
“The point of this is to help you feel comfortable. And diving into this by having you take off all your clothes with zero build-up isn’t going to make you feel comfortable.”
She looks at me, her pretty green doe eyes big. “Oh. That’s a good point. So what are we going to do?”
I cup my hand over her cheek. “We’re going to keep our clothes on. And we’re going to figure out what turns you on.”
She nods and swallows hard. My gaze follows the delicate line of her throat.
“What turns you on, Briar?”
She looks at my mouth. “Kissing.”
