Page 48 of The Road Trip Romance

“It’s OK to want what you never had,” I whisper.

“Do you have any idea how wonderful you are?” he asks as he runs his nose along mine.

“What?” I ask, startled by his words. But then a loud clap of thunder outside has us both jumping. I start to scream in surprise when Tate’s lips land on mine, dousing my scream as his tongue runs over mine.

I don’t know if it’s lying here in my underwear with him, the storm, the sharing of childhood stories and deep truths, or the half a beer I had with my hot dog, but I find myself closing my eyes and kissing him back. His mouth feels so warm against mine, even warmer than our acting kiss. One hand runs over my body as the other supports his weight. He traces my side and I melt into his touch. His fingers run along the underside of my breast, his thumb grazing my erect nipple.Holy shitballs! I’m making out with Tate.

A guttural sound leaves his throat as he palms my breast. I feel his erection dig into my belly as a I release a deep breath. The stories are true. This man is enormous…everywhere. I’ve felt his erection against me when we practiced kissing and in bed earlier but feeling it like this…it feels different, bigger, harder.

His fingers skate down my abdomen and toy with the hem of my soaking underwear. I spread my legs, giving him access. It’s all the consent he needs as his hand dives beneath the wet fabric. His middle finger glides over my folds and I groan into his mouth as he sinks a finger inside me. The palm of his hand presses against my clit, giving me the friction I so desperately desire.

“Yes, right there,” I moan.Who am I?The fleeting thought leaves my head as fast as it entered it because Tate adds a second finger and whatever movement he’s doing down there has me going from zero to sixty in five seconds flat.

“That’s right, gorgeous. Let go, Soph. Let me make you feel good, M,” he whispers in a low voice against my lips. I fall deeper into a sex-laced trance with each one of my nicknames falling from his lips. He curls his fingers inside me as he presses his palm harder into my clit and I explode. He swallows my cry with another deep kiss as I tremble beneath him, my hands gripping his upper arms.

When I finally sink against the ground, I open my eyelids and find him searching my eyes.

“You’re even more gorgeous when you’re coming undone beneath me,” he says with a slow smile and quick kiss to the corner of my mouth.

“Is that a movie line?” I ask, my voice breathy as I try to get air in my lungs.

“No, it’s a Sophie line,” he says, using my pen name.

“If you’re trying to prove that you could play a book boyfriend on the big screen, you really didn’t have to take it so far,” I whisper.

“I’m not trying to prove anything, Sophia, except that I can make you feel good,” he assures me.

And I realize right then and there, I’m so totally fucked. Tate is the real deal. He’s everything I ever wanted and everything I can’t have.

CHAPTERNINETEEN

Tate

Fuck me. Sophia’s body is a twelve out of ten. And the way she’s responding to my touch has me nearly coming in my underwear like some horny teenager.

Her eyelids flutter at my words and she closes them again, sucking in a big breath before blowing it out again.

“Tate…we can’t,” she whispers. “It’s…wrong.”

“No, it’s right, Soph. This is the first thing that feels right in my life in, well, forever,” I reply, my fingers still buried inside her wet heat.

“But what about Lacey?” she hisses. “This whole trip, everything, has been about getting you back with Lacey. She’s…your destiny.”

I shake my head. “We were wrong. I was wrong. She’s not the one. She’s not even close to being the one. She was right when she said we wanted too many different things. We aren’t compatible. And we’d just end up right back where we are if we try again, I know it,” I ramble as I attempt to find the right words.

“No, you’re wrong. She’s definitelythe one. You two…you look perfect together,” Sophia says, her voice nearly drowned out by the continuing downpour of rain.

“No. We aren’t. We don’t even like the same music.” I pause as I think of all the songs I’ve carpool-karaoked with Sophia. “The only thing she and I ever agreed on is that we both like your book.”

Sophia raises an eyebrow that even in the dim light of the tent makes me feel like she can see through me in a way no one has ever done before.

“OK, we both like sushi and beaches, but that doesn’t make us compatible. It doesn’t make us…anything,” I argue.

“I’ve seen the videos. The red-carpet events. You were always watching her, and she’d look back at you…I know you two were in love once,” Sophia protests.

“It was an act on the red carpet…always. And yes, once I did think we were in love. But now, looking back, I’m not so sure. I think we were in love with the idea that we were in love,” I try to explain as I gently pull my fingers free of Sophia.

I can’t help myself as I bring them to my mouth and suck her creamy wetness off them. I groan at the taste of her, and she shudders beneath me.

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