Page 57 of Wyatt

Holding me in place, he licks into my mouth. It’s a deep, indulgent, almost lazy sweep of tongue. A bolt of lust cracks me in half, the heaviness between my legs almost unbearable in its intensity.

He sucks my top lip into his mouth at the same time, urging me to open up to him.

For a second, I hesitate. I wasn’t lying when I said I forgot how to do this.

What if I’m slobbery? What if I’m too eager or not eager enough?

What if I just suck at kissing, plain and simple?

Wyatt, though, doesn’t seem to have any qualms about his ability. Or mine. He continues to kiss me deeply, patiently, like we have all the time in the world. Like he’s not afraid of spit, or slobber, or someone seeing us.

Whatifsomeone saw us? What excuse would we havethen? Beck is long gone by now. Clearly, this kiss has nothing to do with him and everything—everything—to do with us. Me and Wyatt.

His beard scrapes against my chin and cheek. I love the feel of it, how intimately rough the contact is. Without thinking, I reach up and press my fingertips into the thick, wiry hair.

A low, dark rumble rolls through Wyatt’s chest. He likes that.

I do it again, running my fingertips over the hard ridge of his jawline, stopping to feather my pinkie along the top of his neck.

Another rumble. He’s good at telling me what he likes.

Wait, does Wyatt actually like kissing me?

Yes.The answer comes in a hard, decisive heartbeat. This kind of passion, of hunger, can’t be faked.

I’m determined not to fake anything either. I wait for my thoughts to rustle in that annoyingly familiar way of theirs—the second-guesses, the equivocations. The doubts.

Instead, my thoughts are shockingly…clear. Concise.

Confident.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m scared as hell I’m going to fuck up my friendship with Wyatt. But I’m not scared to kiss him. Not when he’s touching me like this, encouraging me to rise into his caress withhisconfidence. His silent assurance that everything is going to be just fine.

I stroke my tongue into his mouth. It’s a baby lick, just deep enough that I can taste a hint of the clean, earthy malt from his beer on his tongue.

Yet another rumble, this one accompanied by him stepping into me so that our bodies are flush. My coat is in the way though, so I let it fall to the ground and put my hand on his face, arching my back so that our hips melt together.

I am throbbing everywhere as Wyatt spreads his legs and captures mine between them. His kiss becomes hungrier, histeeth sinking into my bottom lip before he gives it a tug. Fireworks erupt across the back of my closed eyelids.

Suddenly, I’m the one making a noise, a high, embarrassingly breathy moan that I try to mute but can’t.

Wyatt chuckles, his hand finding my hip as he breaks the kiss to murmur into my neck, “Look at you, telling me what you like. Good job, Sunshine. Let your body keep talkin’ to me, yeah?”

If only my heart were as brave. There’s some irony here—the fact that I’m okay communicating what my body wants, but not what my heart, my soul, longs for.

I tell myself that’s okay. At this point, I’ll take what I can get. And I have to remember that I’m leaving. Even if Wyatt were open to falling in love—which he definitely isn’t—it’d be a dumb move on both our parts.

It is pretty sweet, though, to think Wyatt likes it when I make weird noises. Judging by the way he presses a scruffy kiss to my jaw, he likes it very much.

More. That’s all my body is saying right now as sparks erupt from the place where his nose nudges against the hollow beneath my ear. He inhales deeply, like he digs the way I smell.

Holy shit, am I actually getting this right? Does Wyatt actually think I’m sexy?

I grab his tie and yank his mouth back up to mine. He deepens the kiss right away, his tongue in my mouth, the fingers of the hand he has on my hip moving ever so slightly toward my ass.

I am a hot, hollowed-out mess, and I fuckingloveit.

Speaking of heat, it radiates off him in waves that smell like wintergreen and sandalwood. The contrast between the warmth at my front and the cold at my back makes me shiver.

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