“No,” I whispered, unable to lie. “Don’t get up. I like how your body feels against mine.”
He seemed surprised, then his lips curved into a pleased smile.
“This time, it’s you throwing yourself at me,” I said, joking but strained. He still hadn’t replied. Told me how he felt.
“Yeah, I definitely am. I’ve wanted to throw myself at you for a very long time. I feel so drawn to you, Tabitha, I can barely breathe sometimes.” His voice cracked with raw honesty. “Last time, you had too much to drink for me to act. But things feel different after all the time we’ve spent together.”
“Well, I’m not drunk now,” I said.
“No, you’re not,” he said with a wicked grin.
Our eyes locked, and I could feel my heart racing faster and faster against his, which was pounding like a jackhammer… And lower down, something else of his was getting harder.
“Shall I help you close your robe?” he asked.
“No.”
His eyes flickered with surprise, then glittered.
My heart was beating so hard and loud, he must have heard and felt it.
“Fuck, Tabitha, I want to kiss you.”
His eyes seared into mine.
“Yes,” I said, desperate for him now.
But he didn’t kiss me right away. Holding both sides of my face, he moved his thumbs in circles against my temples and stared into my eyes, his brown eyes warmed with the golden hour. Everything around us, the grass, trees, river and sky, lit up.
Under his intense gaze, I felt suddenly very shy. We’d known each other a lifetime, and it was only when we were young that I knew exactly what we were to each other. Best friends. Grown up, we’d become amorphous and confusing. These tense three months, working together, had forced us to face each other and our connection. Three months of skirting around this intensity, my lingering looks while his back was turned or when I thought he wasn’t watching, me wondering if his edgy second glances meant anything.
“Tim?” I murmured, uncertain now, not even knowing what I was asking.
“I got you.” He brushed a strand of hair from my face, seeming to know I needed reassurance. Tipping his head to get a better position, he finally pressed his lips to mine. He took small, slow sips at my top lip, then my bottom lip, and Imeltedbeneath him, soft and slippery as satin.
“Tabitha.” His voice was cracked and husky and arousing. I loved how he said my name with the local burr that rounded the letters and caressed the syllables, rolling them around in his mouth.
“Your eyes are so blue,” he said. “I could fall into them and stay there all day.” Then, as he breathed out, he sank his hard muscled body fully into mine and he rolled his hips against me.
Whoa.
“Tim,” I sighed.
“Oh fuck, Tabs, finally. Finally,” he growled out with frustration. “I know we should go slow, but I don’t know if I can.”
Now his voice was grabbing my name by its arse as he ground intensely against me. I no longer doubted how fiercely he wanted me, and I ached to show him how much I wanted him too.
There was no uncertainty now. His body on top of mine, his huge robe parting around me, I could feel his need and his passion because it matched mine. His hands raked my scalp. With a groan, he parted my lips with his, and the kiss sent signals to all the nerve endings in my body. I’d never felt this much need or urgency from just kissing. He teased my tongue with flicks and rolls as we ground our hips into each other.
I thought I knew the taste and feel of Tim’s mouth, the feel of his fully clothed body against mine. We’d kissed that summer when we were twenty-five, excited and sun-warmed and supple-limbed, but this was like kissing a different person. He was a grown man now, his fingers through my hair firmer and more experienced, his mouth more nuanced. One minute, seeking and flirty, the next, forceful and hard and firm.
I was certain where this was going now, and I wanted him so badly. I wanted to feel his hands all over my body. I wanted everything.
After some time—minutes or seconds, I wasn’t certain—he gently pulled away. Emboldened by his kisses, I chased his mouth, and with my hands firmly on the nape of his neck, I pulled his face back down to me. A husky laugh came from the back of his throat. With a groan, he grabbed one of my bare thighs and hoisted my leg up and over his hip. His large hand spread over my skin and pressed into my flesh. He dragged his fingers up and down, sending pulsing, wanting signals into my core. I shamelessly groaned for him.Yes.
“Oy! Get a room, you two!”
Tim’s head shot up.
