Fall Back Skyward (Fall Back #1)(50)

“I have no idea what I did to piss him off, but when he told me to stay away from you, I intended to heed his warning. I was walking past your window when I realized I couldn’t do it. I could not ignore the pull I felt between us in St. Christopher’s.”

I shrug off the uneasiness inside my chest. He kisses my forehead, and then turns me around and sits on the bench in front of the piano, pulling me on his lap. He sweeps my hair to the side and places kisses along the length of my neck, and down the side of my arm. I shiver, gasp, fight for air and my heart flips around inside my chest. I press my thighs together, and I swear he knows what he is doing to me, if that chuckle is any indication.

Shifting on his lap, I turn to face him. He groans and I can feel him getting hard under me.

“Should I sit over there?” I point at the space on the bench next to him.

He shakes his head and gestures for me to play.

I scroll through my mind, thinking of my favorite songs. Something to express what I’m feeling, what I feel for this boy. I can’t believe how strong my feelings for him have become in such a short time. He hasn’t voiced his feelings yet but I’m falling hard for him, which scares the crap out of me. The only people who have the ability to evoke these feelings inside me are my sisters, my mom and Grandma. And now Cole, but with him, it’s different. Everything about him lights me on fire. His kiss, his touch, and the way he looks at me.

I let my fingers hover on the keyboard, and then slowly lower them onto the keys. He slides his hand to the nape of my neck, his hold possessive, before resting his chin on my shoulder.

Humming softly, I start off with the notes of Dionne Warwick’s This Girl’s in Love with you. I learned to play this by ear after my grandma Phoebe sent an old record of Dionne Warwick’s to me for my birthday three years ago.

I let the last notes of the song trail off, singing the last of the lyrics softly. I’m quite relieved because Cole can’t see my face. He can’t read what I’m feeling and neither can he read my lips. I let my breathing slow down before turning to face him.

“So?” I let a smile cover the state of havoc I’m feeling inside. “Did you like it?”

His throat moves as he swallows hard, still staring at me as if I’m something. . .special.

“What?” I ask, squirming on his lap.

He brushes a finger along my throat. “I could feel you. What was the song about?”

I snag the corner of my lip and close the lid of the piano.

“It’s about a girl confessing to a man that she loves him.” I speak aloud the first few lyrics then stop when I get to the chorus. He gestures for me to continue. And I do, speaking the words of the chorus then pause.

He wraps his fingers around my wrists and peppers my skin with open mouth kisses on the scars.

Oh, God.

I’m not just falling for him. I’ve already fallen and I’m just waiting for him to catch up. I hope he feels the same way as I do.

His hands drop from my wrists and wrap around my bottom, pulling me to him. He presses a kiss on my stomach. Heat shoots between my legs at that simple, tender gesture. He looks up at me, a slow smile stretching across his face. His fingers shake as they move down my dress, under it and on to my thighs, skipping my underwear and circle my waist.

I need more. I need his mouth on more of my skin. I grab one of his hands and my dress drops back in place. I dart a look at the clock. We have over three hours before Dad comes home. If he comes home at all. “If you’re going to attempt hitting third base, we need some privacy.” And he follows me, his hand trembling in mine but the grin on his face. . .Jesus. It’s beautiful and confident with a trace of shyness. You’d think I promised him the moon and exceeded his expectations by delivering the galaxy on a silver platter.

Once we stumble inside my room, I flip the lock and pull Cole toward my bed. The sound of our quick breathing fills the room, mingling with the hurried sound of our muffled footsteps on the wood. My knees hit the edge of the bed and I turn around to face him, tug the beanie from his head and toss it on the bed.

“I love touching your hair. So soft,” I say making sure he can see my lips.

He grabs my chin between his thumb and index finger and looks into my eyes. “I have been dying to see you today. God. Snowflake. I just need to kiss you. Let me kiss you.”

His mouth is on mine, kissing me hard. Desperately. My fingers grip his hair while looking for something to hold onto. His hands grip my waist and flip me around. He lowers himself on the bed and pulls me to him without losing the connection between us. I love the way he desires me. I don’t care that he hasn’t said those three little words, but I feel like I belong with him. To him. My hands leave his hair, exploring the hard muscles on his back, his chest, his abs. I feel his muscles tense beneath my fingers when I move them further down, skimming the edge of his shorts. He sits upright without warning and rolls me over so that I’m lying on my back and he’s straddling me. His shaking fingers travel down, take the edge of my dress, and slowly pulls it up. He pauses and looks at me. We’ve never gone this far before and I’m nervous, but I want him to touch me so bad. Biting my lip, I raise my chin and nod. The dress is up and over my head before I can blink, which makes me giggle.

I grab the edge of his shirt and tug it up. He hooks his fingers around the edge and slides it over his head.