Page 7 of Opening Hearts

She didn’t respond at first, her mouth unmoving under his. He was about to back away and let her go, thinking he’d completely misread the situation, when she pressed herself closer to him, her lips pushing back against his. With a swipe of his tongue along her lower lip, she opened for him. He explored her mouth, seeking out her tongue. She was tentative at first, only briefly touching his tongue with hers. His other hand came up to her face, cupping her cheek, angling her head so he could devour her, her response unleashing something inside him. Something that couldn’t get enough of her. He wouldn’t let her hide, showing her what he wanted from her, seeking out her tongue with his and sliding them together. Again she responded quickly, giving as good as she got, her initial hesitation disappearing.

This was more like the confidence of the girl who’d approached him on the beach. But that initial hesitation niggled at the back of his mind. She blushed like a virgin. And she was still in high school, even if she was almost eighteen. Could she be?

He pushed the thought away to consider later, more concerned with what was going on right here, right now. His hips moved against her, and he gripped her hips with one hand again, pulling her tight against him, letting her feel what she did to him, what he wanted, dancing long forgotten.

Until someone bumped into him. “Dude! Get a room!”

Hannah stiffened, pulling back, her face flaming. Matt glared at Ben, partly for interrupting him, partly for embarrassing Hannah. Yeah, he liked seeing her blush, but when he was the reason for it, not from his friend being a dickhead. “Fuck off, Ben.”

Ben laughed, moving away. Matt turned his attention back to Hannah, who’d now put as much space between them as she could with people dancing all around them, her hands pressed to her cheeks. He reached for her, pulling one hand down and threading his fingers through hers. “Come on.” He tugged her after him, pulling her away from the crowd of his friends who loved nothing more than to give him shit. He didn’t mind, but Hannah didn’t know them, didn’t realize it was all harmless teasing, and he didn’t want her to feel embarrassed or self conscious.

“Where are we going?”

He glanced back at her, the sand kicking up behind her as she tried to keep up with him. He slowed his pace so she could walk beside him and grinned down at her. “Just over here a little ways, away from my obnoxious friends.”

She looked back at the group, her brows creased with concern and upper lip caught between her teeth.

“Hey.” He stopped and waited for her to look at him. “You’re not from the coast, right? Have you seen the green flash when the sun sets into the ocean?”

She shook her head, concern still written on her face.

He pulled her in close and wrapped an arm around her. “Relax. We won’t do anything you don’t want to do, okay? We’ll just hang out over here for a bit until you’re ready to go back.”

She glanced back one more time before she faced him again and nodded. “Okay. I just don’t want to leave Elena.”

“We won’t. And if she’s ready to leave before you are, I’ll give you a ride home, okay?”

She shook her head. “No, we’ll all get in trouble if we don’t come home together. That was one of the conditions for getting to come tonight.”

He nodded. “Alright. Either way, I just want to spend some more time with you, without Ben being a dick, okay?”

She nodded, still chewing on her lip. “Okay.”

Unable to help himself, he cupped her cheek and dipped his head for another kiss, savoring the feel of her soft lips against his. He wanted to stay there, just like that, losing himself in the feel of her, the scent of her in his nostrils, her soft skin under his hands. He really wanted to lay her down in the sand, still warm from the day’s sunshine, strip her clothes off her and cover her with his body, using his own warmth to block the chill from the evening air. But that obviously couldn’t happen tonight. The only privacy on this beach was to get away from the crowd, nowhere near enough for what he really wanted to do. And she had to go home with her friend, so there was no chance of taking their private party elsewhere. And truthfully, he wasn’t sure if she’d be up for moving that fast anyway. Maybe it was for the best that he knew how things stood tonight anyway. But God, he was going to be hurting later from how keyed up she had him already.

He broke away, leading her further down from the shore, far enough away that the sound of the waves overpowered the noise from the party around the fire further up the beach. Settling himself in the sand, he pulled Hannah down between his legs, leaning her back against his chest, his arms going around her, both of them facing where the sun was little more than an orange-gold sliver above the water.

He leaned down so he could whisper in her ear. “Watch. It’ll only take a few more minutes. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it.”

He felt as much as saw her sharp intake of breath, and he couldn’t hold back the smile that spread across his face at the goosebumps racing down her neck when he whispered against her skin. That expanse of skin peeking out of her sweatshirt was too tempting. He dropped his head further, brushing his lips below her ear, then trailing kisses down her neck, tracing the path of her goosebumps with his mouth.

She gasped, her head pressing back against him, and he smiled against her skin before scraping his teeth over the tendon where her neck met her shoulder.

“I’m going to miss what you want me to see if you keep that up.” Her voice was breathy and tortured sounding.

Matt kissed her once more on the neck before sitting up, snuggling her back into him. They didn’t have to wait much longer, the sun sinking lower and lower into the ocean, until it disappeared with a green flash.

Hannah let out a soft gasp, and he shifted, trying to make more room for his rock-hard dick in his shorts. That sound was just like when he’d started kissing down her neck.

She turned her head up to look at him. “That’s amazing. I’d heard about that, but didn’t know if it was really real or not.”

He grinned at her. “It doesn’t happen every night, but it’s not uncommon. I’m glad you got to see it tonight.”

“I’m glad you made me watch it, even if you did try to distract me before I could see it.”

“You like that kind of distraction, though?”

He could just make out the pink tinge on her cheeks in the deepening twilight. She nodded.

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