Page 62 of Love Like Lightning

For a moment, we’re both still and then we’re moving together like we were made for each other. Her hands grip and caress me while I hold on to her like my life depends on it. Our moans crash together as we kiss and it can’t get better than this.

Gia’s inner walls squeeze around me, and my eyes roll back. Gasping, I shift and bring my thumb to her clit. I press against it in the way that I know she likes, pulling a keening moan from her.

“Yes, Henry, right there.” She throws her head back, hands firmly gripping my sides.

Her nails bite into me as my orgasm rips through me, mind blanking and body shaking. Gia comes with me, pulling me close and gasping for me.

We both go boneless, spent and wrung out. For a moment, I stay there inside her. Hovering over her, I drop kiss after kiss to her neck and shoulder. To her face and lips. After several moments, my brain starts to come back online, and I say the first thing that comes to mind.

“I threw in a load of your clothes, by the way.”

Blinking her eyes open, she just looks at me before letting out a startled laugh. “Henry, I don’t think I want to just be friends.” She whispers.

I almost laugh, but the tugging in my chest stops me. “What do you mean?” I ask, desperate for some kind of clarification. With everything she’s said, the lines she’s drawn, I don’t know what she means.

“I mean,” she starts and stops, a contemplative look crossing her face. “I don’t think that being friends with you is enough for me.” Her voice is quiet, tentative, almost like she’s worried about how I’ll react.

“You mean you want to bring hooking up back on the table?” I ask, not willing to let myself believe that she’s saying what I’m hoping she’s saying.

“What? No.” She moves so we’re facing each other. “I mean, yes, but not just that. I like you, a lot more than as a friend, Henry.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Yes. I thought it was obvious.” Her forehead scrunches, and she frowns.

“No, at least not to me. After everything you said and all the talk about you dating people your family knows and all of that, I didn’t think you liked me at all.” The familiar feeling inadequacy starts creeping over my skin. “I’ve liked you from the start, Gia, more than I’ve ever liked anyone. And I know you said I’m not a relationship kind of guy, but I think I’ve just been waiting for the right person to become one.”

“Henry…I never meant to make you feel like that. You’re more relationship material than all of the boyfriends I’ve ever had combined. I like you an exhausting amount, really.” She teases a smile from me, cupping my cheek in her hand and pushing it up through my hair.

“Yeah?”

“One thousand percent, yes.”

I drag her toward me, pulling her into a kiss. It’s soft, slow. Our tongues glide together, and our bodies end up wrapped around each other. Before we get too worked up, I slowly pull away, dropping a kiss to her forehead.

“We should probably talk about what this means. Do I get to take you out on dates now? Can I call you my girlfriend? My family will probably want to meet you at some point.” I know I’m bulldozing ahead, but I’m excited. Hopeful and keyed up.

The same isn’t reflected back in the look she’s giving me now. Her eyes are wide, suddenly guarded. She shifts, creating some space between us, and my heart starts to plummet.

“Maybe we should talk about this another time. Maybe tomorrow?”

Confused, I question her. “Why?”

“I just don’t know if we should have conversations about our relationship status while we’re in bed naked post sex.”

“It sounds like maybe you’re regretting some of what you just said.” I say exactly what I’m thinking, not knowing what else to do.

“No, not at all. I just want us both clear-headed and not amped up by orgasmic hormones when we figure this out.”

It sounds like she’s backtracking. Like she’s pulling away from the words she just spoke, and it worries me. Maybe she just said all of that because we slept together again. Maybe she wasn’t being as truthful as she seemed.

Despite my slowly spiraling thoughts, I don’t push for a conversation now. It’s clear she doesn’t want to talk right now.

We’re definitely not just friends, that’s for sure. I just wish I knew what we were. Hopefully, she sticks to what she says, and we can figure that out tomorrow.

26

Gianna

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