Page 225 of Forbidden Lessons

“There’s no coming back from this.”

I lift my hand, cupping his face. “I want you. I want this.”

He drops his head, and his body is heavy on mine as he lowers himself onto me. Leaves crackle and crunch under our makeshift bed. Just a blanket pulled over what we could scrape together over the cold ground beneath our favorite tree.

The towering maple sits sentry over the clearing where we first met. The one where we’d brainstorm our next adventure.

I’d been planning this for three years.

On the day I turned sixteen, Kai would take my virginity under this tree.

It’s all I ever wanted.

All I thought I needed.

And the day was finally here.

Only problem is my period started this morning. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that ruin my special day. I’m wearing black, anyway. Black panties, black dress.

It’s been my favorite color lately.

Matches my mood most days.

We haven’t been out here for nearly four years. It’s a miracle we even managed to both be here today. But Kai swore an oath to me…even if he didn’t know what the hell I was making him promise.

All I told him back then was that on my sixteenth birthday, come hell or high water, he would meet me under this maple tree. In exchange, I’d do anything he wanted. An eternal IOU.

I thought it was romantic as hell, and while Kai was confused at first, it looks like he’s coming round to the idea.

I laugh, and Kai pushes onto his palms, hovering over me again. “What’s so funny?”

“Your face,” I say through another laugh. “When I told you what we’re doing here.”

He grins, shaking his head as he looks away. “Yeah, you can be glad I made it. My girlfriend wanted me over at her house today.”

“You have a girlfriend?” I hadn’t meant that to come out like a banshee’s shriek, but here we are.

Kai’s grin is even wider than before when he turns back to me. “Every time, Heavenly. Every time.”

I growl as I punch his arm, and then his weight is on me again.

“You don’t need a girlfriend,” I mutter. “You’ve got me.”

His eyes lock onto my mouth, and my lips part in invitation. But he hesitates, and then goes for my neck, planting me a flurry of light kisses on the side of my throat.

I groan, eyes sliding shut at the way it feels.

We’ve kinda done stuff like this before. Never full-on-the-mouth kissing or anything, but whenever I was curious about how something felt, I’d rope him into an experiment.

He’s played with my boobs.

Fingered me a few times.

I gave him a handy once.

I never made a big deal out of it. Then it would have been awkward for both of us. When I told him I wanted him to deflower me—because yes, of course, that’s how I phrased it, I’m a damn lady—I thought he’d laugh it off.

But he just went really, really, quiet…

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