Page 59 of Spark
After a tumultuous week of extreme highs and lows, things finally seemed to be running smoothly again. She couldn’t believe that she was lucky enough to be having a great time exploring sex with Chris while still dating Matt, who definitely seemed like he would make the perfect boyfriend.
Maybe everything is going to be okay now.
* * *
Grizzly Creek Ranch
Four hours later
Despite being rattled to the core by Sophie’s confirmation that she was having sex…reallygoodsex, with Chris, Matt thought things were actually going pretty well in his courtship.
For one thing, he had the house to himself. Chris was at work, and he wouldn’t be coming home tonight because it was his turn to spend the night in the dormitory at the fire station in town.
Because the members of Bearpaw Ridge’s all-volunteer fire department lived in scattered locations in and around town, the firefighters took turns staffing the station so that they could maintain and repair the equipment, as well as drive the fire engines to the scene of any emergencies.
With half of the town's most experienced volunteers fighting the massive wildfires currently devastating California, the younger volunteers had been asked to fill the gaps, both Chris and Matt had been working extra shifts on-call, and taking their turns at the station during the week.
Matt was very happy that he wasn't on-call tonight. Because Sophie was currently up in his bedroom, looking expectantly at him.
He had enjoyed going out to dinner and the movie with her, with the added bonus of sitting at the very back of the movie theater, where he’d taken shameless advantage of the darkness and relative privacy to kiss her and touch her.
Nothing that would embarrass her or get them thrown out of the theater, of course, but flirtatious things, like stroking her fingers and caressing her palm with his thumb, and putting his arm around her and trailing his fingertips over her smooth neck and the expanse of warm, soft skin exposed by her low-cut peasant top.
He’d been rewarded by feeling her pulse begin racing in response. His own pulse accelerated wildly when she turned, leaned in, and began kissing his neck and nipping at his ear.
Distracted like that in the most pleasant way, he didn’t remember much about the second half of the movie.
They’d held hands on the drive home, and when he’d asked whether she wanted to come up to his place and hang out for a while, she’d told him “yes” without hesitation.
Now, he wondered how to make the first move to get her into his bed. And how to figure out whether that was really what she wanted.
When it came to Sophie, he wanted to do everything right.
It didn’t help that she’d already mentioned how good Chris was at sex. He didn’t want to think about the two of them together like that…and there was a tight knot of anxiety deep in his gut that he might not please her as much as Chris had.
“Hey, um,” Sophie said, breaking into his anxious whirl of overthinking. “Want to make out?”
He saw the blush creeping up her neck.
“Hell, yeah,” he said, with enthusiasm. “I just wanted to make sure that you wanted that, too.”
She gave him a smile that made warmth kindle in his chest. “I appreciate that, but I sort of figured that since I agreed to come up to your room after the movie…that our date was maybe not over yet?”
He grinned at her. “Oh, thank goodness. Not that it wasn’t nice spending time with you earlier,” he added hastily.
She laughed, and the awkwardness between them melted away. They met in an embrace, and he bent to kiss her, holding her tight and enjoying the hell out of having her curves pressed against him.
Her mouth was so hot and sweet against his that he could hardly stand it. Just like their first kiss last week, it felt exciting and perfect and so very right.
Ours, rumbled his bear half.Our mate.
Working on it, Matt assured it silently.
Both of them were panting when they finally came up for air.
“Wow,” Sophie said, her cheeks flushed and the sweet scent of desire rising from her clothing. “Have I mentioned what an amazing kisser you are?”
“You may have said something earlier,” he admitted.So far, so good.“But you can keep telling me. It’s nice to hear that I measure up to all those college guys.”
