Her Destiny (Reverie #2)(28)
Gripping her by the waist, I haul her into my lap, until she’s straddling me, her knees on either side of my hips, slender hands gripping my shoulders, her fingers pressing into my skin, making it sizzle. “You miss me now?”
Reverie nods, her voice soft, her eyes heavy as she stares at my mouth. “Yes.”
It’s the aching whisper of her voice that urges me into action. I kiss her, my mouth settling on hers, our lips connecting, our bodies pressed close together. My body instantly reacts to her taste, to the way she touches me, her knees pressed hard against my hips, the eager little noises that escape from the back of her throat when I part her lips with my tongue. I haven’t kissed her in months and the rush that comes when I touch my tongue to hers for the first time since forever spurs me on.
I’m going to have to exercise some serious control tonight or she’s going to be naked in seconds. That’s all I really want. I think that’s all she wants too but I’m not about to risk her brother discovering us like this. He’ll hand me my ass on a platter for screwing his sister on his couch.
And I’d like to keep my ass, thank you very much.
“Nick.” She whispers my name after breaking our kiss, bending her head so she can kiss a path of heat along my jaw. My arms tighten around her waist and I want to shout in triumph that I have her like this. “I need to go back to bed.”
Say…what? Pulling away from her slightly, I give her a little shake so she lifts her head, her gaze meeting mine. “What did you say?”
“I keep kissing you like this and I’ll want more.” She skims her fingernails down my chest, across my pecs and yeah, I’m instantly, painfully hard. “And I don’t want to move too fast.”
Says the girl who came to my apartment and jumped my bones a few months ago. But she’s right. I know she’s right. We need to get through all of this, one step at a time. We shouldn’t cloud our judgment with a night of awesome sex.
Though that sounds pretty damn good right now.
“You’re right.” I lift her up and set her away so she’s sitting on the couch next to me once more, the both of us breathing a little too hard. My heart is racing and I feel like I’m on edge but damn it, I’m going to respect her wishes. “Go back to your room.”
She gapes at me. “Nick. Really?”
I need her to stop contradicting herself. She wants me. She doesn’t want me. I understand her struggle, as much as it frustrates me. “Yes.” I nod and stand, grabbing her hand so she has no choice but to stand with me. “Go to bed, Reverie. We’ll talk in the morning.”
Her face falls and I pull her to me, kissing her for a long, deep, wet minute so when I break the kiss, she wobbles on her feet, her dazed expression filling me with satisfaction. “Night,” I murmur against her lips before I give her one more lingering kiss.
She heads for her bedroom with a weird little smile on her face, closing herself away within seconds. I collapse on the couch, my mind a disastrous mess because that was the most intense ten minutes of my life and now she’s gone.
Fucking head trip is what that girl is giving me, not that I’m pushing her away. Hell, I’m reveling in the head trip, as f**ked up as that sounds. The push and pull, the back and forth, it’s all worth it if the ultimate reward is Reverie in my arms.
Forever.
Another door opens and this time it’s Evan in the hall, wearing a pair of sweats and nothing else. I brace myself, knowing he can see me, that he can tell I’m awake and yep, here he comes, a grim look of determination on his face as he settles into the chair across from me.
“You’re awake,” he says.
“So are you.” Obviously.
“And Rev just went back into her room,” he states as fact.
A fact I can’t deny. But I won’t confirm either so I say nothing.
“You’re lucky I didn’t find her out here with you. I won’t hesitate to kick your ass.”
“We were just talking.” With our lips and tongues and no words being said but yeah. Let’s go ahead and call that talking.
“My ass, you were just talking. But whatever, if that explanation makes you happy then we’ll go with it.” Evan leans forward, clasping his hands in front of him as he peers up at me. “Let’s get a few facts straight about my sister.”
Great. At the rate I’m going I won’t get any sleep tonight. “All right,” I say cautiously.
“She got all f**ked up after what our parents did to us. Fucked up over what you did to her too,” he says, silencing me with a look when I’m about to open my mouth to protest. What the hell did I do to her? All I ever did was love that girl.
“But she’s strong, my sister. I’m proud of Rev. She works hard, she’s doing well at school again and her friends are helping her out. Her life is on track the way it should be. I have a feeling she’ll get into a great college and then everything I’ve ever done for her won’t be in vain, you know?” He sounds like her dad, not her big brother. But it’s kind of…nice, for lack of better term, to see the perpetually spoiled rotten Evander Hale step up and take care of his sister. I’m impressed.
“What about you?” I ask. Didn’t he have plans? He’s given everything up, sacrificing it all for Reverie, but what does Evan want?