Undeniable (Cloverleigh Farms #2)(86)

“It was stupid then too.”

I ignored that and went on. “The longer I put it off, the more it builds up in my mind. I want to get the first time out of the way so it doesn’t feel like such a big deal.”

“Are you drunk?” he asked, squinting at me.

“No! I haven’t had a drop of alcohol tonight.” I stood up and started pacing back and forth between the two beds. “Look, all my friends are being pressured into having sex with these total assholes who don’t respect them and treat them like shit. I want my first time to be on my terms with someone I know and trust.”

“You trust me?” He sounded surprised.

“Up to a point,” I said carefully. “I mean, I’d never actually date you, but for my current purposes, you’ll do.”

“I’ll do?” He stood up and puffed out his chest. “I’ll have you know that there are a lot of girls dying to sleep with me. I don’t need to be your trust fuck just to get laid.”

“I know,” I told him. “And I figure your experience will come in handy. That’s another reason why I chose you.”

I was leaving out the third reason, because I didn’t want to say it out loud—that our kiss on prom night still had the power to turn me on whenever I thought about his body beneath mine, and the sensual way he kissed. I was attracted to Oliver without having a crush on him, which made him the perfect candidate to help me accomplish my goal.

He kept looking at me, like he wasn’t sure whether this was a joke or a dream. “Why wouldn’t you ever date me?”

“Because I’ve known you too long, and I know you too well. Your priority is a good time. You’d never be faithful to me. Plus you’re immature, conceited, spoiled—”

“Okay, okay.” He held up one hand and frowned. “I get the point.”

“So you’ll do it?”

“How come I feel like I’m supposed to lecture you about having more respect for your body?” he asked, shaking his head. “What the actual fuck is wrong with me right now?”

“I do have respect for my body.” Because I felt like he might not agree to my plan, I decided to take it to the next level.

Step one—I grabbed the bottom of my sweater and whipped it over my head, letting it drop to the floor.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as his eyes drifted down my chest. Beneath the sweater, I’d worn a very fitted black tank top with a scoop neck and a pushup bra. The look on his face was exactly what I’d been hoping for. Boys were so predictable.

Step two—I took off the tank top and let it fall from my fingers. “Come on. Say yes. Don’t you want to?”

“Yes, I want to,” he answered, his voice raw, his gaze on the rounded tops of my breasts above the top of that ridiculous bra. When I took it off, he was probably going to feel cheated.

“Good.” Time for step three. I reached behind my back and unhooked the bra. But before it slipped from my shoulders, he slammed his eyes shut.

“Jesus, Chloe. What the fuck are you doing to me? I’m all …” He swallowed hard and squirmed before opening one eye and adjusting the crotch of his jeans. “Confused.”

“Why?”

He looked at me seriously. “Because no-strings-attached sex with a hot girl is pretty much a guy’s dream, and I’m sitting here trying to talk myself out of doing it. I feel like I’m in the fucking Twilight Zone.”

“Look, Oliver. I want this. I’ve thought this through. I want to lose my virginity, and I want it to be with you.” I started hooking my bra again. “But if you’re not willing and able, I’ll have to find—”

“Wait, wait, wait just a damn minute,” he said, sticking his chest out again, hands on his hips. “I never said I wasn’t willing. And I’m definitely fucking able.”

I looked up at him. “Then I dare you to prove it.”

“You’re on.” He reached for the bra, but I held it in place.

“There are just a few things we have to agree to first.”

He groaned. “I knew it. What?”

“Number one—we use protection.”

“Duh. Next.”

“This is our secret. We never tell anyone it happened.”

“Fine. Next.”

“This is a one-time thing. Nothing changes between us. So no weird texts or phone calls or treating each other differently. We don’t like each other afterward.”

“I don’t like you at all right now.”

I smiled and let the bra fall. “Perfect.”

His hands were on my breasts before I could even take a breath, and he pushed me back onto his bed so fast I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

Somehow—I’m not sure how, since he never seemed to take his hands off my body—he took off his navy blue henley and whatever he’d worn beneath it and stretched out above me with his bare chest on mine. It felt sort of warm and heavy in a nice way, but then the feeling was gone, replaced by a different one as his mouth traveled down my throat and chest and over each breast. My nipples stiffened and tingled, sending little bolts of arousal deep into my belly. Oliver wasn’t the first guy to get this far with me, but he was definitely the most skilled. He did things with his lips and tongue that made me gasp and arch up off the bed. My hands moved of their own volition, threading into his dark hair. My fingers curled into fists.