Page 313 of Keeping 13

Icouldn’t. I was desperate to have him. To justbewith him again. Everything felt so frantic.Iwas frantic. “Please?”

“Fuck, please don’t say it like that,” he choked out as he climbed off me. He dragged a foil wrapper out of the side of his jocks and tossed it onto the bed before stripping off. “Keep begging me, and you’re going to make me explode before I even touch you.”

“Sorry.” Trembling, I scurried under the covers and watched in fascination as he ripped the condom wrapper open and quickly rolled it on. “I just…yeah.” Nodding, I flopped onto my back and whispered, “Yeah.”

“Yeah?” Pulling back the covers, Johnny climbed in beside me. “Are you sure?”

Unable to bear another moment of not touching him, I cupped Johnny’s neck in my hand and drew his face to mine, lips sealing together in a kiss that I never wanted to end. He moved over me and then on me, slowly nudging my thighs apart with his. I let my legs fall open, fingers digging into his sides as I felt him settle against me. He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling in quick succession as he pushed himself inside of my body with an aching gentleness.

His forehead touched mine in a move so comforting and tender that I felt the bite of tears sting my eyes as my emotions threatened to rip through me. “Shite,” he groaned in an oddly helpless tone, sounding pained, as he held himself above me, taking his weight on one elbow while using his free hand to cup and stroke my cheek. “Are you sore?” Stilling inside of me, he whispered, “Am I hurting you?”

I was overwhelmed, drowning in sensations that were both searing me and setting me on fire, but he wasn’t hurting me in the way he thought he was. Biting down on my lip, I shook my head and pulled his face down to mine. “No,” I breathed against his lips as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “You’re perfect.”

His eyes searched mine, uncertainty flashing across his features as he pressed deeper inside of me, burning a scorching trail of delicious destruction with every thrust of his hips. “Are you sure?”

My hands were wrapped so tightly around his neck that I was sure I was cutting off circulation somewhere, but I couldn’t release him. I physicallycouldn’tlet him go. I was frightened of the unknown, unsure of the future, and desperately in love with him. The only true thing I knew in this moment was that Itrustedthis boy. I trusted him with every inch of my body, and with my eyes I willed him to never break my heart. “I’m sure of you,” I whispered. “Move in me.”

A shudder rolled through his body and then he was moving in and out, deep and slow, hips rocking in an addictive rhythm as his lips never left mine. Clutching him like a lifeline, I locked my legs around his waist and trusted my body’s instincts, rolling my hips upward with every downward thrust of his. “Tell me again,” I begged, arching my back upward, fingernails digging into the suntanned flesh of his bare back. “Please—” Biting down on my lip to stop myself from crying out, I absorbed the feel of him, of his weight pressing my body deeper into the mattress, of the inexplicable sensations he brought to life inside of me as he thrust inside me over and over. “Johnny…tell me again.”

“I love you, Shannonlike the river,” he whispered, and the heat of his breath on my flesh caused a shiver of pleasure to roll through me. “And I’m coming home to you.” He was breathing hard, his heart racing almost violently in his chest as he drew in short breaths. “I promise.”

A momentary flash of relief coursed through me, but it was quickly overtaken by the pleasure thrumming through my veins as my body drowned in love.

75

Birthday Boy

Johnny

Someone singing“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, old purple balls, happy birthday to you,” broke through the best fucking dream I was having that involved a naked Shannon with her mouth around my dick. The sound of a door slamming loudly tore through my happy thoughts, and then I was buried beneath an insufferable weight as her pretty face disappeared from my mind’s eye.

Jerking awake with a start, I scrambled to push the covers I was smothering under away from my face. “My best friend is all grown up!” the voice continued to say. “The big one-eight! You can legally buy me drinks and smokes whenever I want now. It’s like it’s your birthday but I’m the one reaping the benefits.”

“Get off me, you big bastard!” I snarled when I finally managed to free myself from the sheets I was tangled up in. Shooting straight up in my bed, I snaked an arm out and shoved Gibsie off the bed before throwing back the covers, panic-stricken at the thought of the pancake he might have made of my girlfriend if he managed to land on her, but she wasn’t there.

Confused, I searched my mattress, but no naked Shannon.

“That’s a lovely way to treat me,” Gibsie huffed from where I had knocked him onto the floor. “Charming.”

“What time is it?”

“You just threw me off your bed when I came all the way over here to wish you a happy birthday,” he grumbled, climbing to his feet. “You should apologize for manhandling me, Johnny, not ask me for the time—”

“What fucking time is it, Gibs?” I snapped, rolling out of bed to search the room.

“It’s only half six,” he huffed. “Jesus, you’re supposed to be peppy on your birth… Oh for the love of god! Would you put that oversizedbeastaway!”

“If you don’t want to see my cock,knockbefore you walk into my room,” I shot back as I stalked, bollocks naked, into my bathroom and slammed the door behind me. In a hushed voice, I said, “Shan, you in here?”

“Over here,” she whispered back.

Grinning, I pulled back the shower curtain and cocked a brow. “IknewI didn’t dream you up.”

“Uh, nope, not a dream.” Blushing, she dragged the shower curtain back around her body and squirmed. “Happy eighteenth birthday.”

“Best birthday yet,” I purred, pushing back the curtain once more to step into the tub. “You in my bed—” Pausing, I grabbed her thighs and hoisted her into my arms. Pressing her against the wall of my shower, I smirked. “With your mouth around my—”

“Are you talking to yourself again?” Gibsie shouted from the other side of the door. “Should I be worried? Are you having another panic attack? Is it because of the tour or your birthday? Because you’re only turning eighteen, lad, not eighty, and the tour will be grand. Just breathe. Nice and slow. Will I get your Mam–”

---