Page 17 of Fluttering Heart

“Yes, are you?” he demands, frowning.

I guess I didn’t hide my wince at all.

“It’s just my back. Don’t worry about it.”

Lou just stares at me for a long moment, then chucks off his sweater and shirt in one single move and falls back on the bed.

I laugh, delighted.

“This way we’re the same height, so come down here.” He speaks through a smile as big as mine and damn, I’m already having a good time.

I go to take another step but think better of it and take my phone out instead.

“What are you doing?” Lou asks.

“Just texting Beau that I’m staying here. Wait.” I look away from the screen and up at him. “Do you want me to stay the?—”

“Yes,” he says loudly again, and this time it’s him laughing. “Yes, I do want you to stay.”

“Good, then.” I nod and go back to writing the text. “This time I can stay in your bed, not only invited but with you in it too,” I mumble, and smile when I hear him chuckle again.

I put my phone back in my pocket and toe off my shoes while I reach for the hem of my shirt. When the fabric is over my head and I can feast my eyes on Lou’s creamy skin again, I see he’s staring at me... almost looking mad.

“Seriously?” he demands. “What are you the accountant of, agym?” The question is more a screech by the end and I think it’s a compliment?

“No. I’m an accountant for all kinds of people, but my uncle and I have our own business, we don’t work for a company at?—”

“Shut up,” he mutters and pushes up from the mattress only to sit on the edge and lean in until his nose almost touches my belly. “You have actual abs,” he whispers.

“Oh, yes,” I nod, still thinking that this is probably a good thing. “I work out with Beau and he’s a beast so?—”

“I wanna lick them,” he mumbles and startles a cackle out of me. “Go ahead, cutie.” With that I step around him, and throw myself onto the mattress and bounce on my back.

“Are you one of those people who always want to bring the new people in their lives to the gym, or to exercise in general?” he asks, not moving to come closer but twisting his torso to look back at me.

“No,” I tell him, amused.

“Okay, then this still has a shot of working even though you clearly are the Italian god I mistook you for last night.”

“Italian god, huh?” I ask softly and beckon him to come closer with two fingers.

He complies, crawling to me. Lou straddles my hips and then slams his kiss down on mine, hard but oh-so good. I open for him and get to work on taking his pants off as he starts undoing the button of my jeans.

We end up naked without stopping the kiss, and again, he very quickly moves away and I have to take a second to reorient myself.

“Supplies,” he mumbles, and scrambles away to open the closet doors where his suitcase is. Then I lose all train of thought because ... well, his ass isright there, bouncing and stretching as he looks all over the place.

After three minutes, though, he lets out a very frustrated sigh and turns to look at me.

“I don’t have any condoms.” He sounds dejected and ... resigned.

“Uh.” I stall, not knowing exactly what’s wrong. I mean, I know that we can’t have penetrative sex without a condom, I’m not irresponsible and I’m pretty sure Lou isn’t either, but why does he look so... I don’t know, sad? “Do you have lube?” I ask, trying to not only bring back the mood, but make him smile.

“Yeah,” he says lamely, looking down at his feet.

“Lou,” I call out so he’ll bless me with those green-gray eyes of his. I only keep talking once he does. “We can do a lot of other things besides penetrative sex. Things I’m just as excited about doing with you as I am about fucking you. Also, I have an emergency condom in my wallet. Why did you react like that?” I can’t stop myself from asking even though I already got the smile I was hoping for.

That question makes his smile disappear and his shoulders sag with a sigh.

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