Page 10 of Only His

Why had it felt so easy to taunt him with skimpy clothes, but so impossible to navigate the waters once I captured some kind of interest? He didn’t seem keen on breaking the silence right away either. I blushed hard as he looked me over and the smirk that formed told me he knew exactly what he was doing to me. Bastard.

“Where’s the dress?”

“I’m sorry?”

“The dress you wore last night. Where’d you put it?”

“In the laundry. It got dirty, remember?”

David hummed, regret flashing through his eyes so quickly I almost missed it. My eyes fluttered when he leaned in and I caught the potent mixture of his cologne and his natural scent. My heart started pounding hard in my chest—I was certain he was going to kiss me.

I gasped when he suddenly leaned back and went stalking toward my bedroom. I’d given him a tour of the house not long after I moved in, and he wasn’t shy about making himself right at home. I hobbled after him, frowning when I finally caught up and found him rummaging in my closet.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked incredulously.

“Helping you get ready for our date,” he said as he flipped through my clothes. He must have found something he liked because he took a sharp inhale of breath and said, “Perfect.Put this on.”

What he chose was the tightest dress I owned—not to mention incredibly short and fire engine red. It was an impulse purchase that I never had any intention of wearing outside the house, but David was insistent as he pushed it at me.

“I-I don’t think I should be going out,” I said nervously, searching for any excuse I could find to not wear the dress. “My ankle still hurts.”

“Do you really think I’d let you go out in public in this dress?” he asked with a raised eyebrow and a humorless laugh. “No man would be able to keep his eyes off you. This is for me alone. We’re staying in.”

He laid the dress on the bed, waiting patiently as I made my way toward it. I gulped as I touched the fabric and looked back to find him watching me intently. I was about to snap at him to at least give me some privacy when I noticed his lips twitching at the corners.

He was messing with me! My teasing over the years had obviously gotten to him and now he was trying to call my bluff. His intention was written all over his face. He didn’t think I’d do it. He thought this was all a game—the crush of a little girl who didn’t know what she wanted.

Raising my chin in defiance, I turned around to face him directly and lifted my oversized t-shirt over my head, leaving me standing before him in only a pair of beige panties. I only had a brief moment to revel in the victory of his wide, shocked eyes before David let out a growl and surged forward, smashing his lips against mine in a wild frenzy.

I moaned and closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around his neck as a single thought echoed through my head:Finally!

Chapter 6

His lips were addictive. Firm against mine, he led me through the motions of how to kiss with ease, despite my inexperience. When he slowed his pace seemingly out of nowhere, I wondered if he knew it was my first kiss. If he knew I was a virgin.

Warm palms caressed my bare back and I arched out of instinct, pulling a groan from David that I could feel where his chest met mine. My gasp against his lips must have broken the spell because he turned his head away and sucked in a long breath.

“Fuck, Emily,” he breathed. He swept the hair from my neck and bent to brush his lips against my shoulder, making me shudder. “I didn’t want to rush this. I wanted to take it slow.”

“I’ve been waitingyearsfor this,” I said with a pitiful whine, sliding my hands up the back of his shirt and smiling when I heard him grunt in approval. “I think we’ve taken it slow enough.”

David hummed and reached back to remove my hands, making atsk-tsksound when I tried to continue. “Hold up,” he said with a chuckle as he dragged my hands to my front and stepped back. The smile fell from his lips as soon as he saw my breasts. “Shit, bad idea. Get in bed and cover yourself for a minute. Please.”

He turned around and I followed his directions, sliding beneath the covers and pulling them up until the majority of my skin was out of view. When I announced that I was decent, he turned back around, a hand scrubbing roughly at his jaw.

The seconds ticked by in silence until he finally asked, “Why me?”

“What do you mean?”

David sighed and sat on the foot of my bed, gazing back at me with a helpless look that reminded me of how I usually felt around him. It was so familiar it was almost eerie.

“Out of all the guys you could have picked… Why me? Why not someone closer to your own age?”

“It’s not like I did it on purpose,” I admitted softly, looking down at my comforter and picking at a stray string as I added, “You can’t really pick who you fall in love with.”

“Emily—”

“Did you move because of me?” I demanded, trying to fight back tears as I mentally ran through all the horrible things he might have said in response to my declaration. “Tell me the truth, please.”

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