Page 57 of Hold Me Today

Memories of her prom night, when I’d held her in my arms and her lids fluttered shut, and I thought, for one moment of temporary insanity,if only.

If only she wasn’t my sister’s best friend.

If only I hadn’t started seeing Brynn.

If fucking only.

Mina wrenches her mouth from mine, gasping, “This is crazy.”

And it’s only about to get that much crazier.

Lust pounds through my limbs, and I let instinct take over.

My hands go to her ass, palms completely full, and I boost her up into the air. She defies gravity for only a second, eyes round with shock, before resettling into the cradle of my arms.

“Oh!”

“Wrap your legs around my waist,” I growl, trailing my mouth over her jaw to the shell of her ear.

She does, and this time she whispers “oh” in a completely different tone. It’s breathy and feminine and accompanied by a squeeze of her legs and a swivel of her hips. “You feel . . . you feel sogood.”

With her back pressed to the stairwell wall, I stabilize my weight on two rungs, one hand planted on the wall beside her and the other still clutching her ass to keep her steady. Her pouty mouth finds mine as I grind my erection into the fleece-lined apex of her thighs. Back and forth, a slow, sensuous glide directly over the seam of her leggings.

My control frays just a little more, and I force my hips to keep the smooth, easy rhythm instead of picking up tempo.Slow. Easy. I repeat the words like a mantra.Slow. Easy.

Mina arches her back, driving her hips against mine.

Slow. Easy.

She’s killing me. Destroying any willpower I have left, decimating it into smithereens when she reaches between us and shoves my T-shirt up, exposing my stomach . . . and the crown of my cock trying to make an escape from my jeans.

I squeeze my eyes shut and drop my forehead to her shoulder. “You drive me fucking insane.”

Avidly, I watch her fingertips trace the rigid lines of my abs. My breathing comes heavy and labored, and she takes no pity on me. Those fingers skate down, light as a feather, and tease the tip of my cock with a caress I feel to my soul.

“Fuck me.”

She gives a throaty laugh. “I was so wrong about you.”

I can’t look away from her hand. It mesmerizes me with every torturous pass over my cock, never gripping me fully or pulling me completely from my jeans. But she circles her palm over the crown, spreading my pre-cum, and I’m powerless to the guttural groan that escapes me. “How?” I finally grunt, thrusting my hips upward.

Another swirl of her palm over my dick. “I thought you were rigid.” She tightens her legs around me, and the very rigid part of me strains against the very soft part of her. “Cold,” she adds softly. “But clearly I just need to listen for when you start cursing in English.” Hooking a hand around the back of my neck, she drags me close and molds her mouth to mine for a hot-as-hell kiss. She pulls back only long enough to whisper, “It’s your tell, how I know you’re teetering on the edge of showing whatever you’re really thinking.”

I nip at her plump bottom lip. “Oh yeah?”

It’s then I feel the button of my jeans come loose. The zipper inches down, far enough for Mina’s slender hand to dive inside my briefs and circle my hard-on with a tight, confident fist.

Holy hell, she feels good wrapped around me. She pumps her hand once, twisting at the crown, and stars dance in front of my vision. Shit, “good” doesn’t even cover it. This is . . . this is—my mouth parts as she glides up and down, up and down, never losing pace. She squeezes at the base, then allows her thumb to run along the vein on the underside of my dick on her next pass up my length. Another groan frees itself from my chest.

“That,” she says, her honey eyes colliding with mine, “and I thought you’d be quiet in bed.” Her lips curl flirtatiously. “Or maybe that was wishful thinking on my part, a way to make me feel better about not having you for myself.”

A way to make me feel better about not having you for myself.

Her words only make my cock swell more. I’ve never thought about how I am in bed, aside from the basics: that I know exactly how to make a woman orgasm. But the particulars of howIam? Yeah, it’s not something I dwell on. And it’s not like anyone’s ever called me out for being vocal in the sack—except for Mina.

The one woman who never fails to challenge me, no matter where we are, including an old and rickety stairwell, the location of our first kiss. It’s a major contrast to my time onPut A Ring On It, when every date and every moment was orchestrated for a panoramic view and a drone flying high above us to catch an embrace from all angles.

I’d prefer the raw honesty of this moment with Mina any day of the week.

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