Page 54 of Edge of Desire

“This is relatively comfortable,” she commented.

“Did you think you’d be sleeping on a bed of nails or something?” I teased.

“Haha, funny man. I thought it would be hard and cold.”

“Technology is an awesome thing.”

“I know, isn’t it though? But it does have its limitations.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, this sleeping bag isn’t big enough for both of us,” she whispered as she scooted close to me and touched my cheek.

“It’s probably a good thing because we would never get any sleep otherwise.”

“Would that be such a bad thing?” she asked in barely a whisper.

“Oh, it would be quite the opposite. But you see, I want something more than just one night of passion in a sleeping bag with you. I want it to be more than just sex. And if it ever happens between us, I want it to be for all the right reasons.”

“Preston, how long before you think that will happen?”

“Why do you ask?”

She inched her way next to me and put her mouth next to my ear. I felt her warm breath fan across my neck as she spoke the most beautiful words I’d ever heard. “Because I think I might be in love with you.”

Seventeen

Avery

Maybe it was the darkness that made me so bold or maybe it was the setting. Perhaps it was seeing that word carved into his beautiful skin and loving him more for it. I’m not quite sure exactly what it was that made me tell him, but I’d been wanting to say it for a while. I’d known it since that day in the shower, when he told me we wouldn’t have sex until it was an emotional experience. It happened so fast. Maybe too fast. Who knows? But how could I stop those feelings? He was on my mind every waking moment.

I couldn’t see his expression, but his arms slid around me, then tightened and he rolled so I was on top of him. He kissed me deeply before I could even think. His lips caressed mine with care as his tongue slipped past them and explored every inch of my mouth. I loved the way Preston kissed. He was so precise about everything he did, but his kisses were deliciously slow and tantalizing. It wasn’t long before my body hummed with desire, desperate for his touch.

“Please tell me again,” he begged.

“I’m in love with you, Preston.”

“Once more.”

“I love you.”

He framed my face with his hands and said, “I’ve been hoping you’d say those words. I think I’ve loved you from the day you launched yourself at me at Caroline’s. It took everything I had to stay in control. When you made those sweet and sexy kitten sounds, I almost lost it.”

“Preston, about those kitty noises.”

“Hmm, I love those kitty noises.” He kissed me again.

“But that’s the weird thing. It’s never happened before.”

“You’re telling me that Avery-kitty is just for me?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” I said in a breathy voice. I purred again because his hands lifted the hem of my shirt and were inching their way up my back. When his thumbs began to make those little circles I loved so much, my purrs transformed into blaring moans, surprising even Preston.

His mouth sought out mine again. My belly tightened with a need that was so profound, my hands tore at his sleeping bag in frenzied attempts to touch his skin. I wanted all of him beneath my exploring fingers. Only he captured my hands and raised them to his lips instead. Kissing each finger slowly, deliberately, he said, “There’s no rush. We have forever. I want to hold you in my arms and just hear you tell me again how you feel.”

My body burned with desire for this man, and he only wanted to hold me? “Preston, I want you. I’ve wanted you for the longest time.”

His eyes met mine for a moment and then he said, “Come with me.” He unzipped the tent, grabbed our sleeping bags and pads, and I followed him outside. He threw some more wood on the fire and got the flames leaping again. I spread the pads and bags down and he joined me a few minutes later.

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