Page 42 of Crash and Burn

So she tried playing just a little dirty. It was either going to work out really well or be a phenomenally stupid move. She stepped closer and put her hand on his chest. “You can tell me.”

Big Sebastian, who could face anything, looked terrified. But he blurted out the words. “I want us to be more than friends.”

Her eyes went wide and her breath sucked in. It was exactly what she

was hoping he would say, but she hadn't believed he actually would. She’d been waiting for this, but it was still a shock.

“I'm sorry,” he blurted that out just as fast and stepped back. “I don't want you to think that that's the only reason I came, or that I'm staying because I think that you owe me something, or—”

The fingers she’d laid on his chest curled involuntarily. And it had the effect of stopping his words in their tracks.

Stepping closer, she lifted up on her tiptoes and said, “Me, too.”

Her lips lifted to his, the shock of finally kissing him reverberated through her system as she pressed her mouth to his.

But Sebastian stood stock still.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sebastian had expected Maggie to tell him he wasn’t welcome anymore. He’d been ready to beg her to let him stay until someone else showed up, maybe even Rex. Or he’d planned to squeeze his eyes shut and listen to her tell him how she liked him, a lot, but not inthatway.

He’d been braced for a lot of outcomes.

But not this one.

Her lips on his shot fire through his system and he wasn’t ready. The headiness of her wanting him had him frozen in place.

Until the touch of her left and he had nothing but air to make him wish for something he hadn’t expected. His eyes blinked open as she stepped back.

“Oh. I’m sorry, I thought ...”

Hell, no.

He was not letting her think he didn’t want her.

“If you thought I wanted you, you’re right. I just … I didn’t expect you to want me, too.”

She laughed, a soft sound that didn’t ridicule his uncertainty, it only assured him. “I wish you’d asked me out first.”

He would have reached out to pull her closer, but she stepped back.

“If we’re confessing things, I wished you’d asked me out even when Rex and I were first going out. And that was horrible of me. Rex is a great guy who got a rough deal lately, though Hannah is awesome, but I was not a good girlfriend.” She seemed to be explaining away things Sebastian didn’t think she owed anyone. Besides, he was still hung up on the ‘wish you’d asked me out first’ part.

“You were a really great girlfriend, babysitting full time like that.” He stopped himself right there. The last thing he wanted to talk about was her ex. Instead, Sebastian wanted to suggest she could be an amazing girlfriend tohim. “Can I make up for just now?”

Those mossy green eyes blinked at him, confused until his hand slid around her hip and nudged her closer. As she moved willingly into his arms, he slid his other hand into her hair, hinting for her to tip her mouth up to his. The headiness of finally having Maggie in his arms washed over him and his movements were pure instinct.

This time, when her lips touched his, Sebastian let the fire take over. Every connection lit up, the feeling of kissing Maggie engulfed his whole world. Her lips parted for him and he didn’t know if he’d done it first or if she had, but his tongue swept her mouth, an intimate invasion that felt right.

Her breasts pressed against his chest as she shifted upward, fusing their mouths together. No more light touches, no more tastes, Maggie had moved to devour him, and Sebastian was willing to return the favor.

His hands roamed and slipped beneath the edge of her t-shirt. Though he had traced every curve of her—the fabric was so thin—the touch of skin under his fingertips burst through him like wildfire. There was no containing it.

Maggie’s touch roamed his shoulders, her fingers curling in to pull herself up higher and letting him know that she was here for this as much as he was. He let her nudge him backward, until the wall was at his back and he almost slid down, just a little, to put them on more even levels. She was tall, but not as tall as him.

When Maggie pulled back with a small frustrated growl, his heart stopped cold in his chest. What had he done?But she grabbed his shirt in fistfuls and pulled him away from the wall.

He was more than willing to let Maggie steer him around.Dear God, yes.

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