The Friendship List(65)

Keith studied her, as if trying to figure her out. “What were you doing?”

She hung her head again. “Don’t make me say it. I can see you’re upset and mad and you have every right to be.”

“I’m not mad. I’m confused. You kissed me.”

Could someone please kill her now? She nodded.

“On the neck.”

Another nod.

“You touched my butt.”

Her head snapped up. “I didn’t. I got close, but I never actually... You know.”

“Were you coming on to me?”

Oh God, oh God, oh God. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’m not sure what that means. I was thinking about how nice it was in your arms and, you know, how it felt and then it all got out of hand.”

He turned away and said something she couldn’t hear before looking at her again.

“I wasn’t mad,” he told her. “I was surprised. And uncomfortable.”

She’d made him uncomfortable? Had she just sexually harassed one of her closest friends?

“Oh, no. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. It will never happen again, I promise.”

“Stop,” he told her. “I said that wrong. I wasn’t uncomfortable because of the kiss. I liked the kiss. I was—” He swore again and pushed a hand through his hair.

“I didn’t want to stand there with a giant erection, okay?” He glared at her. “You’re making my life difficult, Ellen. I thought the worst thing I’d have to deal with on the bus trip was arguing teenagers, but then you bounced on board with your tight clothes and your breasts and then you get a damned tattoo on your ass.”

“It’s my hip,” she said primly. “Hip, not ass.”

“Whatever. You get it somewhere I’m not used to seeing then show it to me like I’m your hundred-and-eighty-year-old uncle. You strip down to a bathing suit and ask me to rub on lotion and talk about masturbating and toys and then kiss me. I can’t take it anymore. I’m only human, Ellen. At some point, I’m going to snap.”

She might not be an expert on the boy-girl thing, but he didn’t sound like he minded that she’d kissed him. If she had to guess, he was saying he was admitting he was attracted to her. As in wanting to do it with her.

“Are we talking sex?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

He glared at her. “Yes, Ellen, we’re talking sex. I want to make love with you. Are you happy? I think about it all the time. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t stop thinking about it and just when I get myself under control, you wear a dress like that. I know I should have more control, but I don’t.”

The bubbles of joy nearly made her float. Keith wanted to have sex with her!

She reached for his hand. “Which way is the hotel?”

He hesitated. “Ellen, you have to be sure.”

“I’m very sure. I’m seventeen years of not doing it sure. I want to feel someone else give me an orgasm.”

He surprised her by smiling. “That, I can do.”

They practically ran back to the hotel.

“My room,” he said when they got off the elevator. “I have condoms.”

“You travel with condoms?”

He flashed her a smile. “They weren’t for me. I keep them around for emergencies.”

“And now you have one.”



sixteen


Ellen was too excited to be nervous. It was going to happen. Finally. She was tingly and wet and excited. She wanted to do everything she’d ever read about or seen in the movies. She wanted to feel him inside of her because she really couldn’t remember much about her brief encounter with Jeremy.

They went into his room. He locked the door behind them and looked at her.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. We’ve talked about this. The surest of the sure.” She stepped out of her shoes. “Come on. Let’s do this.”

He smiled. “Give me one second.”

He walked over to the king-size bed and drew back the covers, then turned on a floor lamp in the corner. She danced impatiently from foot to foot as he pulled a box of condoms out of his duffel and put them on the nightstand.

When he turned to her, she launched herself across the room. He caught her in his arms and pulled her close. She rose on tiptoes, he lowered his head and they met in a kiss full of heat and hunger and need.

Ellen liked how his lips claimed hers. There was no delicate dance, just complete going for it. His tongue swept inside, tangling with hers. Excitement shot through her as she realized this was actually going to happen. All of it. Finally!

She kissed him back, stroking his tongue, then clamping her lips around it and sucking. He hauled her against him and dropped his hands to her butt, holding her still, then rubbing himself against her. It took her a second to realize he was already aroused.

She pulled back. “I want to see. I want to see!”

He stared at her. “See what?”

She pointed to his crotch. “That. I never got to see one before. Not in real life. Please? I’ll show you mine.”

He smiled. “That is an offer I can’t refuse.”

He made quick work of his shirt, then stepped out of his shoes and socks. At the same time, she unfastened her dress and stepped out of it.