Page 73 of Landon & Shay: Part One

He never pushed for more than I gave him, though. It was as if any kind of touch was enough for him. Me, on the other hand? I craved more. Quietly, I thought about what it would be like to kiss him, to touch him, to have him lead me to his bed. But, in the back corner of my mind, I kept thinking about the bet, not to mention Eleanor reminded me of said bet all the time.

“Don’t let him play you,” she would say. “That’s how he’s getting to you—by being too sweet. Flowers and candy? That’s basic boy 101. At least that’s how it is in the books I read.”

I knew there was a chance she was right, and maybe I was letting my guard down a little too prematurely, but I couldn’t help it. My heart craved him, even if my brain told me not to do so. I tried my best to listen to Paige’s advice, but hearts were stubborn. They beat faster for certain people without the brain’s permission.

We still had our sharp tongues. We still hurled insults toward each other on a daily basis, but they felt so lighthearted, so flirty and fun.

Sometimes he’d smile at me, and I’d be smiling all day from his smirk alone.

I wrote down everything about him in my notebook. Before the bet had even started, I’d already filled a notebook with my thoughts on Landon. I’d started it the night of his uncle’s funeral. I couldn’t get him off my mind after that, and every now and then, I’d add my thoughts on the type of person Landon was. In the beginning, the words were not the kindest. In the beginning, I wrote with hatred and annoyance. I spelled out my anger toward him through my written words. Even after the bet began, my words stayed on edge. But lately the narrative had shifted. The story of the boy I’d once hated was shifting into something new every time he showed me a part of him he hid from the rest of the world. He was one of the most complex characters I’d ever had the honor of studying, and if we kept down this road, it would be my heart that was going to fall first and hard, not his.

Plus, he’d become my outlet from my home drama. Tension was building up in my family, and now the arguments seemed much more common between Mom and Mima. Those two had never fought when Dad was locked up. They loved each other so much whenever he wasn’t in the picture. I hated that he was creating a crack in a bond that was so strong while he was gone.

When I needed a break, I went to Landon and lost myself in him, in us—whatever we were. He always welcomed me in, too. No matter the time or the last-minuteness of me reaching out to him, he always told me to come over. I was thankful for that, for his willingness to let me in.

I told him it was simply so we could rehearse. I think he knew it was more than that. I think he was learning to read me the same way I was reading him. He never asked me for details. If anyone knew how important it was to escape from life sometimes, it was Landon.

That Saturday was no different. He was there when I needed him to be.

“We should really be rehearsing.” I giggled in between short kisses. I’d finally managed to enter his house to work on our scenes together, but I forbid myself from going to his bedroom, or his closets. Closets at Landon’s house had a history of getting hot and heavy.

“We are rehearsing,” he muttered against my lips as he placed his hands beneath my butt cheeks and pulled me into his lap.

I wrapped my arms around him and shook my head as I gently sucked on his bottom lip. “I mean we should be rehearsing our lines.”

“These are our lines,” he mumbled, sliding his tongue into my mouth and forcing a moan to escape me as I felt the hardness in his sweatpants. I definitely shouldn’t have been sitting in his lap, because as he grew, my desire to grind against him grew, too.

I slid off, moving to the left side of the couch, feeling a bit bashful about it all. It wasn’t the first time I’d felt Landon’s happy member since we’d started making out on the regular, but it still always made me blush. I pulled my shirt up to my mouth and chewed on the collar, trying to hide my nerves.

“You do that a lot, you know—chew when you’re nervous,” he told me, running his hands through his hair.

“You do that a lot.” I nodded toward him. “Run your hands through your hair when you’re turned on.”

“Well, you keep turning me on.” He smirked, grabbing me again and placing me back onto his lap. He rocked his hips upward ever so slightly, pressing himself against my jeans. My thighs began to quiver, and my heartbeats intensified instantly. Oh my gosh, he was dry-humping me…at least I thought that was what was happening. I’d never been in the dry-humping phase, seeing how Eric and I hardly made it to first base.

“You’re just so easy to turn on,” I pushed out, my head feeling dizzy. I wondered if this was what it felt like to be high—dazed, confused, fan-freaking-tastic.

A slight moan escaped my lips as he pressed his hips up and kept them there. I closed my eyes in bliss as he began rubbing back and forth against my jeans. My forehead fell to his and my eyes fluttered shut.

“Yes…” I whispered, which made him grind even more. My fingers landed on his shoulder blades and I dug in ever so slightly as he moved his lips to my neck and began sucking. “Yes…” I muttered once more, loving it more and more as he continued doing it.

He groaned against my skin as his voice went deep and smoky. “Let me taste,” he begged, grunting against my neck.

My mind was clouded, I could hardly breathe, and oh my gosh, how did this feel so good?

“I…I’ve never…” I’d never had a boy go down on me before, and even though I wanted it, I heard Eleanor in the back of my head.This is a part of it…this is part of the game.“No,” I said hurriedly, leaping out of his lap. “No, no, no.”

I stood up and shook my hands and kicked my legs around.

He sat up straighter and cocked an eyebrow, though that wasn’t the only thing he was cocking up, that was for sure. His gold member was trying its best to burst right out of those sweatpants.

Also, boys shouldn’t be allowed to wear sweatpants around us girls. It makes it almost impossible to think straight.

“What is it?” he asked.

I started pacing back and forth. “This is just part of the bet. I got caught up in the moment, but this is the bet.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Shay, this isn’t the bet. This is just you and me right now.”

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