Page 97 of Play Pretend

Not tonight.

After we were inside, I went through my routine then checked the stove and microwave. I felt her eyes on me the entire time, but not heavy with judgement. When I looked at her, the only thing I saw on her face was curiosity.

“I have to make sure the microwave is unplugged and the stove is off,” I explained. Her head flopped to the side.

“But you checked before we left.”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t make sense to me either,” I said, though it did. But now wasn’t the time to get into it. “You should get some sleep. You have to work tomorrow, don’t you?”

She let out a long, dramatic groan that made me laugh. “I’m not even tired.”

“You’ve been yawning all night,” I countered, and she rolled her eyes.

“Only once,” she said, throwing her pointer finger up.

“Once every five minutes.” Another eye roll. I moved to her, my hands balling into fists to keep from touching her. “Do I need to carry you to bed, shortcake?” It was supposed to come outteasing, but my voice had dropped too much, and the air around us shifted.

She inhaled sharply, her gaze lifting to meet mine. Her green eyes were glassy and red, but bright and full of…want.

Shewantedme.

It was hard to swallow. Lust burned inside me, and it took every ounce of strength I possessed to not throw her on the couch, lift her dress up, and eat her like a starving man.

But just one look in her eyes, just one smell of the alcohol wafting off her breath, I remembered she was drunk.

Not. Tonight.

She rested her hand on my chest, and I knew she could feel my heart thudding beneath it. “Ronan,” she started, but I shook my head.

“You’re drunk, Willow,” I murmured.

“I’m sober enough to know I want this,” she said softly, her words slurring together. “To know I wantyou.”

Her hand traveled down my chest, down the hard plane of my stomach. I let her—I shouldn’t have, but I did. I let her rest her fingers on my belt, let her wrap them around the buckle and tug me forward.

“Please,” she whispered.

My breathing turned ragged, and my cock grew impossibly harder. I squeezed my eyes shut, my hands finally moving to rest on her waist. A teasing smile played at the corners of her mouth like she’d somehow won. Her eyes grew hooded in a way I’d never seen before, and it made my breathing even more harsh.

“You’re drunk,” I said again, mostly as a reminder to myself. She reached up, wrapping her arms around my neck. I let her tug me down until her lips were a breath from mine.

“I’m sober enough?—”

I didn’t let her get the words out before my lips crashed against hers, kissing the breath from her lungs. She tasted sweet,like cranberry and lime juice, the hint of vodka an afterthought as I swept my tongue into her mouth.

Her mouth moved harder against mine, our lips crashing together in a way that was different from our previous kisses—this was hotter. Harder. It was a frenzy of hands and lips, teeth and tongues. We were desperate for each other’s touch, for each other’s body.

I walked her backward until she hit the wall. Her movements were confident as she dropped her hands to my belt, fumbling with the buckle.

Not tonight,my mind screamed at me.Not tonight!

But I couldn’t think past the way she palmed my cock over my jeans, her shocked gasp enough to make me groan. “You’re so big,” she breathed, and I nodded.

“I’ll take it slow with you,” I whispered. “I’ll go easy, baby.”

A needy whimper left her, and I smiled against her mouth. I trailed my hand up her thigh, and she shuffled her legs further apart, silently begging me to touch her. To make her feel good.

I’d been so close to her pussy so many times tonight but always stopped before I could touch her. But now we weren’t in public. Now I could touch her.

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