Page 45 of Make Your Move

NOVA

Lincoln’s arm is around me for the entirety of the movie. He laughs along, chuckling to the funny parts as if it’s his first time watching it. When I stayed with Nash and Lincoln for a few days during summer break in high school, Lincoln and I had a movie marathon one day where we watched half a dozen rom coms together. I was sworn to secrecy when Lincoln told me he’d never speak to me again if I told anyone.

He has always been a closet rom-com lover, and it’s honestly adorable.

“I forgot how that one ended,” he admits quietly as the movie rolled onto the credits, and he shifted beside me. I go to move away to give him space, but he quickly looks at me. “Where are you going?”

“I thought maybe you were uncomfortable,” I offer, shrugging with a touch of doubt. “I don’t want to crowd you.”

“Nova, Nova, Nova,” he murmurs my name, his arm tightening around me as he pulls me back to him, except he doesn’t pull me back to his side. He moves me directly onto his lap so I’m sitting on him, my legs straddling either side. My hands land on his abdomen, and I flatten my palm against his stomach. “I want you to crowd me.”

His hands start on my thighs, slowly drifting farther up my legs to my hips. He pushes my oversized T-shirt up, the material bunching around my waist as he lifts one hand to trail his fingers along my collar. His digits dip beneath the material, coasting across my skin.

His fingers move upward until he plunges them through my curls. “Is this my T-shirt?” he asks, sliding his hand out to cup the side of my face. “The one you were wearing the other night?”

I pull my bottom lip in between my teeth and nod. I slowly begin to push his shirt up, my hands dancing over the muscles carved into his abdomen. Lincoln groans. “Did you want it back?”

Lincoln’s eyes drift across the shirt, down to where I’m straddling his lap, and they begin to lift back up to my face. I’m acutely aware of his growing erection pressing against me, and I fight the urge to shift my hips as warmth builds within my body. “No, I don’t think I do,” he admits, his eyes meeting mine once more. “It looks better on you.”

The warmth spills into my veins as Lincoln’s finger trails along the waistband of my panties. I inhale sharply, instinctively moving against him as I feel him pulsing between my legs. “Lincoln,” I almost moan his name, but it comes out softly. “What are you doing?”

“What do you want me to do?” he asks me, his voice low and husky. He removes his hand from my abdomen and brings it up to my face. He cups both sides, his fingertips pressing along my jaw. “Tell me what you want, Nova,” he murmurs, slowly pulling me closer.

I slide my hands closer to his chest, memorizing every inch of his flesh as he pulls my face down to his. He pauses, hesitating as his eyes search mine. “I want you to kiss me,” I tell him, my voice thick with need as I watch his tongue dart out to wet his lips.

Very slowly, he shakes his head at me, his grip on my face growing softer. “I lied. I don’t want you to tell me what you want.”

Confusion floods me, and my eyebrows pull together. “Oh?”

“If you want something, I want you to take it. No hesitation, no overthinking. Just take it.”

For a second, I do what he tells me not to do. I hesitate, I overthink. His grip on my face grows tighter, gaining my attention once more as he gives me a knowing look. I’ve never been one to take what I want. His words swirl around in my brain, and there’s a nervousness that pricks my skin. I don’t know how to do it. I don’t know how to be in charge.

“Nova, baby, you’re overthinking it.” He pauses, a tender smile dancing across his lips. “Let me show you.”

His movements aren’t rushed as leans forward, just enough for his mouth to touch mine. He kisses me with a sweetness that seeps into the fibers of my bones. There’s nothing rushed about the way his lips move over mine, but he stops abruptly just as I’m waiting for him to deepen the kiss.

“If you want more, you’re going to have to make your move, supernova,” he murmurs against my mouth as his lips delicately skate across mine. He nips at my mouth, but he doesn’t dare kiss me again. “What’s it going to be?”

I swallow roughly as my heart picks up the pace inside my chest. His skin is warm beneath my hands, and I press my fingers deeper into his skin as I let go of any inhibition or hesitation I have. I’m the one who makes the next move, and my mouth crashes into his, stealing his next breath.

Lincoln doesn’t object, settling back into the couch as I follow after him. Our mouths fuse together, tongues tangled, bodies melting. He tastes like every answer I’ve ever searched for. Like every wish upon a full moon. He’s soft and sweet, gentle andtender. I steal the air from his lungs right before he takes it back, draining every bit of oxygen from mine.

There’s a hesitancy to my movements as I hold back from diving in deep. Lincoln Matthews is a quiet force, similar to gravity. He pulls you in, holding you safe and steady. But he isn’t gravity. Matters of the heart are never predictable. They’re volatile and uncertain, and Lincoln Matthews has the power to throw my entire world off its axis.

He kisses me back like we have all the time in the world, but there’s an urgency building. A deep-seated need within the fibers of our marrow. The need that makes us…us.I slide my tongue along the seam of his lips, tasting him. He parts them in a rush, and my tongue moves into his mouth, sliding against his own as the kiss grows deeper. Stars form in the darkness behind my eyelids, and I let go.

Lincoln is worth the risk.

I push his shirt farther up his body, stopping as it reaches his neck. The movie switched to the regular TV at some point, but the sounds are background music. I hear nothing, I see nothing—except for him. He surrounds me, he consumes me, and I breathe him in like the night sky swallows the stars.

Lincoln shakes me to my core without any realization of what he’s doing. The warmth sends my body into overdrive, my senses hanging on to every touch, every taste, every smell. What was once slow and sweet has now become urgent and heated. I want more of him. I wantallof him.

Abruptly I break away, sitting upright, grinding myself against his cock. He feels so hard beneath me, and there’s only the material of my soaked underwear and his two layers of clothing that are between us. “I want your shirt off.”

Lincoln stares back at me with a fire burning in his irises. “Done,” he says, sitting up just enough to take it off. I watch him as he rests back against the couch, his hands falling to myhips. I swallow roughly, reaching for the bottom hem of my shirt. Lincoln’s eyes burn holes through mine, his cock throbbing as I pull the article of clothing up over my head and toss it onto the floor behind us.

“Look at you,” he murmurs, his voice thick with lust. “You’re fucking perfection.” His eyes travel over my body before his hands start to follow. I revel in his touch, feeling his fingers tracing and memorizing every inch of my body. His fingertips gently brush across my nipples, and I shift on his lap, grinding against him. “Do you want me to touch you, baby?”

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