Sweet Nothing(30)

Slipping my fingers to the back of her neck, I slowly pulled at the knotted purple fabric until it became slack and fell loose. I could feel goose bumps rising on her skin as I let the pad of my finger slide down her spine. Her lips turned rigid, and then she pulled away. Her hands shot up, holding her dress in place over her chest as she took a step back from me.

I reached out for her. “Jesus, Avery. I didn’t mean to—” Too fast. I always move too f*cking fast. The girls I typically spent time with after dark didn’t care how many hours we had known each other before my hand was under their clothes, but I knew better with Avery. She didn’t need to let me f*ck her in hopes it would keep me coming back long enough to feel something. I was the one hoping for more time.

“No. It’s fine. I mean, you …” Her voice wavered as she raked her hair back with her free hand.

Closing the gap between us, I wrapped my hand around hers and pulled it down to her side before reaching back to retie her halter top.

She didn’t look away, but she breathed through her nose, crushed under her embarrassment.

I pulled the fabric until it caught, and then held the soft skin of her cheeks in my hands. “I don’t expect anything, Avery. Not a f*cking thing. Tonight was perfect, and if it ends here, we have …” Forever. “… plenty of time. I don’t want to rush if it’ll ruin anything.” I wasn’t sure if it would be ballsy or stupid to tell her how I really felt, but tomorrow seemed too small for what I wanted from Avery. Even forever felt like it could crash down around us. Every second I wasn’t with her was beginning to feel stretched, tearing gashes into the fabric of space and time.

“That sounds dangerously close to you planning to stick around a while.” She attempted to smile, but failed.

“Hey.” I lifted her chin. “You can talk to me.”

“I’m just …” She sighed, her smile fading as she struggled. “I’ve seen the women you chase, Josh. I’m not like that. I …” She trailed off, wincing with humiliation.

It took a moment to wipe the confusion from my face while I tried to process her words. I laughed once. “Thank Christ. That’s what I like about you, Avery.” Caressing her jawline with my thumb, I watched as the rosy color of her cheeks deepened.

“I probably haven’t done … a lot of things,” she said.

I shook my head, failing to stifle a laugh. Her expression turned from worried to pissed off. She pulled away from me, and I was learning quickly that I hated that.

“You’re laughing at me?” she snapped.

“No. Jesus, Avery. Is that what you’re worried about? A lot of this is new to me too, y’know. I’d rather be your first. And if I can’t be your first in something …” I gritted my teeth, willing myself to grow a pair.

“What?”

Her anger fizzled, but the worry in her eyes had returned. I would have to choose my words carefully. If I seemed like the old Josh, she was going to bolt. If I told her the truth, she was going to bolt too.

“No,” I said with a sigh. “I’m trying to tell you that I … I’m just going to f*cking say it. I care about you, okay? And that is new to me and f*cking terrifying. And I’m not really sure what to do if you don’t feel the same way.”

Her lips parted and she sucked in a tiny breath. After an eternity, she finally spoke. “I do. Feel the same, I mean.”

“Yeah?” I asked, relief making my shoulders sink.

She nodded. “It scares me too. But something about us is different. I want this. I want you.”

My eyebrows pulled together and I exhaled. My mouth crashed into hers, as if she were the only source of oxygen in a burning building. I wanted to be consumed by the inferno now raging between us.

The fabric of her dress fell away, and I scanned every soft curve of her skin. The only sound in the room was our breaths; the only movement was the reflection in her eyes as she watched me reach for her. I lifted her effortlessly, wrapping her legs around my waist. She kept her mouth on mine as I walked across the living room to the bedroom doorway. Reluctantly, I lowered her to the ground, until she was standing on her toes.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Something new for me.”

“Which is?”

“A bedroom.”

Avery bit her lip and giggled as I slowly slipped a hand behind her, fumbling with the small clasp of her bra before it snapped free and slid down to her waist. She broke her hold on me just long enough to toss the lace to the floor before pressing her body tight against mine.

My dick was painfully hard against the rough fabric of my jeans, but I didn’t want to rush things with Avery. Her hands slid tentatively over the ridges of my abdomen, and they involuntarily flexed under her touch.

“Josh,” she whispered against my lips as her fingers slipped under the waistband of my jeans. I quickly undid the button and zipper before shoving the denim to the ground and kicking them off my feet.

Giggling into my mouth, Avery gripped my shoulders. I lowered her back onto her bed, our bodies tangling in the mass of fluffy comforter beneath us.

There was no urgency between us. I wanted to savor every taste of her skin, from the valley above her collarbone to the soft curve of her breast.

I kissed my way down her stomach as it dipped and raised with her ragged breaths, her long, elegant fingers lost in my hair, guiding me lower.