Page 60 of Something Cheeky

“I’m honored,” he replied. She searched his face to make sure he wasn’t teasing her but found no signs of it.

“Was that—our—kiss really the best?” Zoe asked quietly. She was annoyed that she needed the validation, but she did want to be his best. In fact, she didn’t want him to kiss anyone else ever again.

“Yes. Because it’s always been you. Only been you.”

Maybe it’d always been Derek for her, too. How much time had they lost because she hadn’t allowed herself to see him as more than a best friend? He could’ve been her partnerandher lover.

He’d slung a sledgehammer into the wall that she’d put between them. She didn’t want to fix it. It was time to tear the whole damned thing down.

“Derek,” she whispered, “I’ve never kissed anyone the way I kissed you last night.”

“Well, then kiss me again.”

Chapter 27

Before she could overthink it, Zoe jumped up and walked around the coffee table to face Derek. Her best friend sat up and smoothed his pants. His eyes shone in anticipation. She took a few steps closer until her right knee touched his.

Her body jolted as if electricity shot through her. His nostrils flared and his breath became shallow. He’d always been Derek, her best friend, but their confessions had peeled back another layer of their relationship.

She paused, suddenly afraid.

In front of her sat a man who knew her better than anyone in her life. One who had seen her at her lowest senior year in college. The man who encouraged her to give her dream a second chance. A dream that was in the process of coming to fruition.

The friend-only filter she’d placed over him had disappeared. This man cared for her more deeply than she’d ever allowed herself to imagine. Until tonight.

And it was fucking hot.

Heat bloomed across her body as she remembered their first kiss. Her desire had been simmering patiently below the surface, waiting for the right moment to make itself known. But now the wait was over and she was shocked by her urge to rip off his clothes and let their bodies become as close as they could possibly be.

She lifted her leg and straddled Derek. He bit his lip as her inner thighs pressed against his outer thighs.

“Are you sure about this?” she whispered. “We can never go back to before.”

“How many times do I have to say yes for you to believe me?” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

Zoe’s heart pounded while her breasts rose and fell with her shallow breaths. If she were an inch closer, he’d not only see the movement of her chest, but feel it against his. She ran her fingers through his hair and settled her hand on the back of his neck.

“One more time?” she whispered. Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for him to change his mind.

“It’s always yes with you, Z,” Derek declared as he closed the gap between their bodies.

Their lips crashed together. This time it didn’t matter who initiated. What mattered was that they wanted each other.

Zoe groaned as he parted his lips and invited her to explore his mouth. He was giving himself to her as he’d always done but she hadn’t seen—no, she’d ignored the signs until now. After years apart she needed to be closer to him. She reached between their bodies to search for the buttons on his shirt without breaking free from his kisses.

When she grumbled in frustration, he pulled her hands away.

“Let me,” he murmured as he kissed her neck.

She shivered, even though his mouth was hot and hungry against her skin. She leaned back in invitation. He complied by leaving a searing trail of kisses down her nape and onto her shoulders.

Zoe reached for his shirt buttons again, but he pushed her hands away to do it himself. She gasped when the back of his hand brushed against her chest. He stopped after the first button and flipped his hands around so that his palms cupped her breasts.His thumbs circled her nipples through her bra. Zoe arched her back as heat surged through her body and pooled below her belly.

“Derek,” she said between gasps, “I need—”

He drowned out her words with a deep kiss that made her toes curl.

Flames licked her body as he stoked the fire within her. She grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it off her body.

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