Page 84 of A Certain Step
“Sure,” he answered, his voice softer, lazier. He was at her disposal. He’d do whatever she wanted him to.
Her gaze was drawn out and searching. She traced the lines along his face, tipping his chin up to her. “You look like a kid whose parents took away his favorite toy. What’s wrong?”
“You changed out of the bodysuit,” he answered honestly.
A small laugh chirped out of her. “Wait, are you serious?”
He blinked once, twice, and nodded sincerely. He traced his hand along the rigid denim, angling his hands toward the outer parts of her thighs.
“Oh my God, you’re ridiculous,” she said, pressing her hands against his chest.
He let out a low grumble. “I miss your thighs. I haven’t touched them bare for weeks. You keep wearing jeans or sweats at home,” he confessed.
“That’s an exaggeration. I wore shorts to bed last week.”
“Yes, but you were on your period, and then you almost cried after dropping the Schmackary's cookie on the floor, so I kept my hands to myself.”
Grinning, she held his gaze. “Okay, you have a point there. It was cute how you tried to get it delivered for me, then realized it was too late and brought me more the next morning. But also, you realize that you wouldn’t be touching me bare, right, but three layers of pantyhose?”
She had a point. But it was the principle—the visibility of her irresistibly toned legs—her thighs. “Ssh,” he rasped into her neck, kissing her frantically.
Willa sighed in response, dropping her shoulders in a state of relief. “I have a mini skirt in mind I could wear tonight,” she proposed.
“Yes,” he groaned against her skin, trailing his lips back up to hers to take her in a searing, sweltering kiss.
Saharopenedthe door when Ethan knocked. “Hi, hi. She’ll be out in a sec. She had a wardrobe malfunction with the top she wanted to wear.”
Ethan nodded. He joined Sahar on the couch, where she had reruns ofThe Golden Girlsplaying.
“Did you start playingHades 2yet?” he asked.
“No! I keep meaning to, but I’ve been in a shit mood, so I just startedTears of the Kingdomfrom the beginning again.”
He gave her a concerned expression. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You know what won’t be fine, though? The fact that I can’t share the review key forDread Quest,the game Jay’s mate developed, because it’s so good, and I don’t have anyone to talk about it with. The animation on the zombies is wild.”
“When is it supposed to be released?”
“I think at the end of August? Or early September, I’ll have to double-check,” Sahar answered.
“It’s on my list. I tried startingElden Ring, but either I’m getting old, or the lore is too dense for me.”
“Oh, I definitely don’t have the bandwidth for that one. I mentioned it to Dec the other day, too. Although, to be fair, my brain is mush by the time we get home from a show, so it could also be our exhaustion.”
“Yeah, I wondered if that was the case, too,” Ethan replied.
“Agreed. But you have to playDread Questwhen it’s out. You’re going to love it. Don’t wait.”
Ethan bobbed in his head. Knowing it was a frequent talking point for both of them, he was about to ask what she thought of the soundtrack when Willa came out of her bedroom.
She wore a short black skirt with a slit on the side and an oversized heather-grey T-shirt of sorts tied at the front. “Boots or trainers?” she asked Sahar.
Sahar rounded her lips in thought. “Uh…boots. They’d dress up the outfit more.”
“Do you have an opinion?” Willa asked Ethan.
Her legs. Her taut calves.Her thighs.He couldn’t speak his opinion aloud, so he settled for a different version. “You look perfect,” he acknowledged.
