Page 16 of Outcast
“I guess I was,” Emory said. “Just a naïve one. I’ve never done that before, and I was just curious, you know? He said we could talk. I shouldn’t have been so stupid.Of coursehe didn’t really mean he wanted to talk. I got in his car with him. I let him take me to the middle of nowhere. I made him think?—”
He cut off with a rough breath, and I reached for him without thinking. My hand landed on the nape of his neck. He tensed, then relaxed as I squeezed gently.
“Don’t go blaming yourself, golden boy. Dallas is the asshole here, not you.”
He exhaled. “I guess. It was a stupid idea, putting myself in that situation.”
“Maybe, but plenty of folks do it. You just wanted to understand yourself. Nothing wrong with that.”
He peeked at me out of the corner of his eye. “All that, and I didn’t even let him kiss me.” He huffed a ragged laugh. “Maybe I’m not that curious, after all.”
“Well, if you want to find out for sure…”
He turned toward me, eyes wide. How stupid could I be? Emory had just fended off a creep, and I was offering to kiss him?
“Never mind, I?—”
“Yes,” he said. “I want to know.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure? You don’t owe me anything.”
His gaze swept over me. He seemed nervous, but he unclipped his seat belt and inched closer.
“You won’t push for anything more?”
“Never.”
He nodded, then dropped his hand to my forearm again, tracing over a portrait of my foster mom, then the petals of a rose.
Goose bumps shivered to life.
“Your ink is sexy.”
“Yeah?” I rasped. “Well, your everything is sexy.”
He sucked in a breath. “Kiss me?”
I leaned in and brushed my lips over his. He hissed, jerking back.
“Shit, sorry.” I pulled away, cursing myself for forgetting about his split lip.
Emory latched a hand around the back of my neck, pulling me back to him. He was stronger than he looked, but I didn’t fight too hard.
He pressed his mouth to mine with a pained groan, but there was pleasure in the sound too. I flicked out my tongue, soothing his abused lip.
He gasped, and that was all I needed to thrust my tongue into his mouth. He tangled his fingers in my hair, tugging me closer as his tongue met mine.
Fuck, he was hot, making little whimpers. Pain or pleasure? I wasn’t sure, but he sucked my tongue like a man who was dying for more, so I gave him everything I had.
We parted for a breath, then reconnected again and again, mouths hot and wet and goddamn, I was so hard my cock hurt.
I ground a hand into my lap, trying to ease the pressure, and kept on kissing him because it might be my only chance.
Lights shone through the windows as a car passed on the blacktop behind us.
Emory pulled back with a gasp. “Shit. That, uh…”
“Answered some questions for you?”
