Page 57 of Drifting Hearts
We piled into my car and Clay gave me a funny smile when he buckled his seatbelt. “You need one of those old trucks with the bench seat up front so I can scoot over and cuddle you while you drive.”
“That sounds less safe.” My eyebrows pinched together.
“But cozy.”
“And like a good way to die.”
“No one lives forever.” Clay shrugged. “Besides, it sounds romantic.”
I smiled at him. My secret softie. I wanted to get a truck like that, even if I borrowed it, so we could take a drive with him tucked in against my side. We’d go during the golden hour after a long summer day and I’d roll the windows down. I wanted to give him everything he ever wanted.
“What?” Clay asked, looking at me with a confused expression on his face.
“I think you’re cute, that’s all. I’d love to take you on a drive like that.”
“Well, for now I’ll settle for going back to your place.”
“Your wish is my command.”
I took him home and wondered how long I’d have to wait before I got to wake up with him every day. Clay made me want to pack as many good things in his life as I could. Starting with myself and all the big, wonderful, complicated things I felt for him.
Once we were inside, the atmosphere between us shifted. I’d wanted to be alone with him for hours, and now that I finally was, I wanted to take my time with him. To savor the way he looked at me, the way he toed out of his shoes and stepped into my space, immediately reaching for me.
Both his hands were on my chest, sliding upward, and he wrapped his arms around my neck. I wanted to kiss the palms of his hands. His knuckles. Every inch of him from his fingertips to his lips, then down again to the soles of his feet.
I settled for his mouth, slanting mine over it. Clay opened for me, sighing softly, like he was as relieved as I was that we were finally alone together. I grabbed his waist and pulled him against me. His shirt rode up and I slid my thumbs along the strip of bare skin in that deliciously inviting space.
My hands had a mind of their own and suddenly one was in Clay’s hair and the other was splayed against his back, relishing the heat of his skin. He deepened the kiss, keening, pressing his hard cock against me. I wanted to devour him.
I was suddenly nothing but a gnawing, ferocious need. I was going to fuck Clay against my goddamned back door if we didn’t find our way to my bedroom soon.
Like he weighed nothing, I hoisted him up so he could wrap his legs around me. Clay made a muffled sound and broke the kiss as I strode toward my bedroom. Maybe one day, our bedroom. That would come later. I had no doubts about that. Or us. Or the way I felt for him.
My heart had been an empty cavern and I felt like I’d been waiting for the right person to fill all the vacant spaces. And I found Clay. I hadn’t meant to. Or wanted to. But even the most awkward, uncomfortable, aggravating conversation with my brother was worth it to have days like today. Kisses like this. That were all of me and all of him, meeting in the middle, expressing affection in a way that needed no words.
I took Clay to my bedroom, laid him on the bed, kissing him the whole way down. My body blanketed his. His legs stayed tightly around me and he held me against him as we kissed and kissed. Our tongues battled, caressed, danced together until my face ached. Until my body was nothing but need for him.
I broke the kiss and pulled my shirt off over my head.
“Fuck yes,” Clay breathed before scrambling to remove his shirt too. He tossed it aside then fumbled with the button of his pants. I stood and got rid of the rest of my clothing before helping Clay with his pants. Then I went right back to where I belonged.
Clay underneath me, bare and unbroken. His arms wrapped around me again, one a little paler than the other.
“Hey,” he whispered as I settled over him again. Naked this time, I savored the warmth. The softness of his skin. The slender form beneath me, vibrating with arousal. Or nerves. Or both, just the same way I was.
“Hey,” I whispered back.
Clay’s fingers toyed with the short hairs at the back of my neck.
“I wanted to tell you earlier…” He paused. Licked his lips. Looked away, then looked back at me, like he needed that split second of courage. “I love you. It terrifies me, Kieran, because I’m so scared that I’ll ruin it. That I’ll ruin us like I’ve ruined everything else. And I tried not to, but you’re too fucking lovable, goddamn it.”
I was helplessly under his spell to the point that I smiled down at him, giddy like a kid. “You won’t ruin us.”
“But—”
I shut him up with a kiss. Hard and deep and desperate. I pulled away suddenly and watched the way he blinked at me, stunned and probably as horny as I was by now. I felt like I was dying I wanted him so much.
“You won’t,” I told him again. “I won’t let you. What you are going to do, I hope, is take a trip with me. The first of many. I want to do that with you. We’ll go wherever the road takes us. We’ll have adventure. And romance. And when we come home, I want it to be here. I want you to come home with me. I want you to heal with me, here. I want a life with you, Clay. I love you. I tried not to, but you’re too fucking lovable.”
