Page 223 of Accidentally Under Your Tree

A million partial thoughts flitted through my mind, but they all agreed with him. At the same moment, I didn't feel used, just dissatisfied.

I finally said, "It's temporary."

I glanced down at my fidgeting fingers. "It'd take some finessing. You and Rose would announce your break-up"—I put finger quotes around break-up—"You and I could date in secret for a few months. I wouldn't want to go public because it's just not me."

"So, you wouldn't openly date me?"

"That's not what I'm saying." I wrapped my hands around my thighs and pulled myself closer to him. "I wouldn't want to be on your show, or on any of your social media. We'd be public in our lives, but not on the internet."

"Given some thought?"

If you only knew how much I think about you…

"Some," I conceded. "Would that be enough for you?"

"Yes." He answered without hesitation. There was something so earnestly sweet about it. I fell a little further for him.

I nodded.

His thumb went back to its up and down motion. I was robbed of my ability to think. There was still more to discuss. Long-distant relationships were hard, and I didn't know how it would work, but he had a way of keeping me in the present. At that moment, we had an opportunity I wanted to take advantage of.

"No one knows we're down here," I whispered.

He froze before his eyes drew searing lines up my legs and body. His eyes bore into mine.

"If anyone walked down the hallway," I continued, "we'd have enough warning."

He swallowed. His shoulders clenched. I wanted to run my hands over the bound muscles. To wrap my legs around him. To have his mouth on mine and not deprive myself.

It had only been a few days, but the memory of his body on mine, in mine, kept me awake at night with need. My pulse drummed a beat through my whole body.

His eyes flicked to the ceiling, then to me.

The graze of his fingertips up the thin layer of my leggings sent shivers down my spine.

He gripped the back of my knee. "We have to be quiet."

"I can be quiet," I promised.

The press of his lips on the inside of my knee burned through fabric. My back arched. My nails scraped against the sofa cushions. I gasped.

Already too sensitive to his touch. It would have been humiliating if I wasn't so incensed.

"Shhh." He breathed down my thigh.

He pushed my leg between his body and the backrest.

With every kiss he pressed to my stomach, my chest, my throat, bound my heart. Until he brushed his soft lips along my jaw.

I bit my lips between my teeth to keep from calling out.

Hooking my legs around his waist, I pulled his mouth to mine. The brush of his tongue pulled me from underwater. My lungs filled with air, my body desperate for the oxygen that only he could provide. The soothing clarity that he was just as needy for me. I couldn't explain how I knew. Whatever called from within me found its answer in him.

His fingers dug into my waist.

We both groaned as I rocked my hips. The pressure of his hard cock against my sensitive clit sent shivers down my spine.

A floorboard overhead creaked.

---