Page 58 of Solitude

“What’d you mean then, baby?”

She shivers, and I rub my thumbs over the pretty pink coloring her cheeks right now. Her embarrassment makes me soft, and at the same time I need her to say it.

“Beck, come on.” Her lip pokes out, a pout on her full lips, and I kiss it away. “Youknow.”

“Do I?”

She wriggles out of my grip and mirrors my position so we’re knee to knee, and I sit back on my heels again with wide eyes.

Winnie grips the hem of her jersey, and my eyes track the movement as she pulls it over her head without another moment of hesitation. She throws it somewhere to the side of the room then stares at me with determination lighting up her golden eyes.

“Your turn.”

With a chuckle, I undo the buttons on the cuffs of my dress shirt. I shed my jacket and tie before we ever even got in my truck when we left the stadium, and for that, I’m grateful. Still, it’s not fast enough for Winnie, and she leans forward with eager hands.

“May I?” she asks sweetly, fingers already grasping the top button of my shirt.

At my nod, her face creases in concentration as she deftly manages to unbutton my dress shirt like she’s been training for this moment her whole life. When she finishes, she begins pushing the material from my shoulders with a giddy grin.

Between Winnie’s eagerness and my determination, it doesn’t take long before we’re standing on opposite sides of the bed, completely naked. I expected Winnie to feel self-conscious and unsure of herself, but her hands are hanging by her sides, relaxed and loose as she openly ogles my body.

There’s an entire mattress separating us, but I swear I can feel the heat from her gaze. It’s palpable and leaves meswallowing nervously. I thought I was supposed to be the confident one between the two of us.

Winnie licks her lips and pushes her knees against the bed. “I…am having a hard time standing still.”

“Who said you had to stand still?”

“I want to touch you,” she tells me, already crawling onto the bed and toward me. She looks up at me through her lashes then down at my dick, which jerks at her attention. “I really want to touch you, Beck.”

I can tell she’s not trying to be sexy. It’s not some facade or act to make me bend to her will. In fact, it’s just Winnie being herself, and it’s making my goddamn knees buckle. Her innocence is hot. Don’t get me wrong. Knowing that I’m going to be the first person to touch her makes me harder than it should, butthis… Her honesty and eagerness turn me on more than anything else.

“You can do whatever you want, Winnie,” I finally say. “Touch me anywhere you want.”

And she does.

She sits back on her heels and raises her hands. She plants them just under my collarbones, her fingers wiggling a bit before she drags them down my torso until she gets to my hip bones. She hesitates then pulls her fingers back up my abdomen, softly moving over each ridge and bump as my stomach contracts under her touch.

I won’t stand here and claim to be a virgin. I’m not, and I know Winnie knows that. Gus already shared my reputation on campus with Magnolia Hollow, and I ownthat shit. I’m a giver. Always have been. I am a generous lover.

I’ve been touched by a lot of people in a lot of different ways.

But never in the way Winnie touches me.

I don’t know how to explain it except… Winnie once read to me an excerpt from a book she’d bought, and it was one of the cheesiest, sappiest things I’d ever heard. The woman described the man’s touch as something akin to worship. She went into detail about how every sweep of the Hero’s hands made her feels safe and adored andloved.

So I get it.

Winnie is my Fabio right now, and that’s the thought that makes me drop my head back for a moment in shame.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she confesses in that soft voice like her hands aren’t driving me crazy right now.

“You’re doing really fucking great so far, Win.”

“Yeah?”

I nod, too distracted by her movements to do much else.

Her hands trace every line and contour on my body. She maps every scar, scratch, and bruise with her finger tips then scrapes her lips over each spot until I’m staring at the ceiling and breathing hard. Her hair slides over my cock every time she leans close, and after the fifth time I can’t take it anymore.

---