Page 96 of Caught Stealing

“You’d probably go find someone else to get off with in the meantime, right? Revert back to your slutty ways of one-night stands and meaningless sex?”

The words come out with all the snarkiness and sarcasm I’ve come to expect from him, and usually, I’d toss it right back to him in kind. But there’s something in his eyes that gives him away. Like he thinks it’s actually a possibility.

As if he hasn’t completely flipped my entire world upside down.

“In the past, yeah. Maybe I would have. But I really hope you’re starting to realize I’m true to my word,” I murmur, my hand reaching out and brushing through the silken brown locks on his head. But the heaviness of the conversation is a bit too much, so I make an effort to lighten the mood. “Because, believe me, Nix, you’re the only one I’m interested in getting naked with.”

He laughs, another one of those genuine ones, and my heart stumbles in my chest.

“Well, that’s a relief,” he says, rolling over to mirror my position. “I was getting really worried there for a second.”

I smirk, the sarcasm lacing his tone now back in spades.

My level of comfort around him has increased dramatically over the past few weeks, and it’s showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. Even in the silence—like right now—there’s a sense of calm and familiarity I’ve begun to crave when he’s not around.

Which, truthfully, isn’t all that often anymore.

My free hand reaches out on impulse, coasting up and down his arm. I feel his eyes locked on my face while my fingers dance over his skin, tracing the network of veins beneath the surface.

“Since we’re on the subject of one-night stands,” I murmur, focusing on the heat of his skin beneath my touch, “Was I the last person you slept with? Before Florida happened, I mean?”

“Are you gonna judge me if I say yes?”

“I definitely could since you love judging me about my sex life.” A soft smile forms on my lips as I gaze at him. “But no, not at all.”

“You were,” he says slowly, his nose scrunching up a little before he asks, “Am I that out of practice for it to be obvious, or—”

“Absolutely not,” I cut in, not daring to let him even entertain that idea. “I promise, you’re not.”

“Then what made you ask?”

I lift my shoulder in a shrug. “You know all about my promiscuity, so I just wanted a little insight into yours.”

He lets out a long, deep sigh. “Well, I was dating this one guy for about six months last school year, but he broke things off at the end of April because he ‘wasn’t feeling it anymore.’” He does little air quotes around his ex’s words before continuing. “Besides him, there was only you.”

The revelation of being one of two people to have him this way is intoxicating, but I’m more interested in the timeline he just laid out for me.

“So it seems I wasn’t the only one looking for an escape that night.” My hand halts over top of his, and I lace our fingers together.

“You’d be right,” he whispers, his thumb brushing over the back of mine before he meets my eyes. “And before you even ask, no, I’m not gonna tell you what happened.”

Damn.

“Are you ever gonna tell me?”

“Maybe one day. In the far-off, distant future.”

I shove him away from me and laugh. “Jackass.”

“Gotta keep you interested somehow,” he says with a sexy little wink.

“Oh, you’ve already got that covered, Nix.” A smirk curls the corner of my mouth. “So unless your relationship with fuck-knuckles started the same way, I was your first one-night stand?”

He nods, his teeth sinking into his lower lip. “First and only.”

Somehow, that fact fills me with pride. No matter how misplaced it might be.

“Well, you’re the only blackout hook-up I’ve had, so I guess we both had firsts together that night.”

---