“Go on.”
 
 She rolls her eyes. “I want to try touching someone when we’re not alone.”
 
 “Explain not alone,” I encourage, my thoughts tipping over into a place that’s hot and raw, pulsating with excitement.
 
 “Like beneath the table at a restaurant or hidden in a dark hallway somewhere. I’ve obviously never tried it, but the thought of doing something like that has always excited me. I know it might be too much?—”
 
 “It’s not, Millie. You’re interested in something, and it doesn’t matter how big or small it is. If I were uncomfortable with the idea of trying, I would tell you that,” I explain, hardly holding on to my head at this point.
 
 “And you’re not uncomfortable with it?”
 
 “Far fucking from it.”
 
 Some of the tension disappears from her. There’s a lightness there now that betrays how relaxed she’s growing.
 
 “What’s on your list?” she asks, voice more confident now.
 
 Instead of answering, I stand from the stool and move our joined hands to rest on the table behind her. Then, I let her fingers go. She sucks in a breath at our sudden closeness, and I tip my lips in a crooked grin while gripping the backs of her thighs and lifting her clean off the floor.
 
 “Shade—” she gasps when her ass hits the leather table, bringing us face to face, my height no longer a hindrance.
 
 I slide a hand through her hair and palm the back of her head. I’ve never felt hair this fucking soft before or smelled the soft scent that drifts from it. It’s sweet yet spicy, and I’m hoping that’s exactly what I’m going to find when I break into that beautiful fucking head of hers and uncover all the parts of her she didn’t know existed.
 
 “We need you to get more comfortable with me before hearing what’s on my list,” I rasp, gently guiding her head back.
 
 Her lips were glossy when she arrived at the studio this morning, but that was from the makeup I caught her applying. Right now, they’re wet from the pink tongue that can’t seem to stop gliding across them, taunting me. And the longer I look at them, the more I’m struggling not to imagine an entirely different way to make them shine, and that’s what gives me the final shove I needed.
 
 “Follow my lead,” I whisper before slanting my mouth over hers.
 
 Millie makes a noise that gets caught in her throat. I hold back a smile at her surprise and focus on the small, soft lips that haven’t moved yet. She purses them slightly, and I know she’s in her head when she can’t follow my lead, moving to her own beat instead of the one I’m trying to show her.
 
 Keeping my lips on hers, I bring a hand to her waist, cupping it softly. My other one stays in her hair, pulling on it gently. She parts her lips in response, and I do it again, encouraging her to keep her mouth relaxed.
 
 With a sweep of my hand from her waist to the small of her back, she finally falls into the kiss. Her lips chase mine, almost like they’re trying to steal the lead, and while that has an immediate effect on my dick, that’s not my plan.
 
 “Slow down. Follow my lead. Make me earn it, Millie. I don’t deserve it yet.”
 
 Her breath fills my mouth as she nods, a hand brushing my forearm. She slows again but doesn’t fall back into the frozen state from before. Her lips cling to mine, still chasing, but slower, patient.
 
 I pull her forward, the fabric of her pants making a rough noise as her thighs scrape the table on her way to the edge. She drops her head further back without encouragement but then circles my wrist, clinging to it.
 
 Our pace is still slow, but it’s hot, tension clinging to the breaths we share and encouraging the slow rock of our bodies. Millie’s not thinking about my tongue or worrying about when I’ll use it, and that’s exactly why I slide it along her bottom lip.
 
 She jerks in my hold. I wait, testing if she’s truly as ready as she thinks she is. The responsive glide of her tongue against my lip is the confirmation I needed to continue.
 
 Palming her head a bit harder, I curl my fingers in her hair and get a squeeze of my wrist in return. She arches into my touch and presses her chest against mine before flicking out her tongue against mine. I trap a moan in my chest and nip at her mouth instead.
 
 “That’s it. Follow your instincts, Millie.”
 
 Nodding as much as she can in this position, she slips her tongue into my mouth the moment I release her lip. I’m not ready for the confident swirl of it or the shudder that ripples through me afterward. I pull on her hair and shift my hand back to her waist, holding it tightly.
 
 She’s moving with more skill than I could have expected this soon, and I’m almost disappointed to have to cut the first lesson so short.
 
 As if reading my mind, Millie steals my tongue, sucking it sharply. There’s no stopping the groan that travels from my mouth to hers. I keep my feet planted on the floor, refusing to move even an inch forward to where I know we’d press together.
 
 I try to pull back before I get in trouble, but she doesn’t release my wrist, even as our lips separate.
 
 “Don’t stop yet,” she blurts out. “Tell me how to kiss you here.”