Page 76 of What About Us
Not expecting her to be so direct, the question catches me off guard. I blow out a breath and scratch my eyebrow with my thumb. “Honestly? I’m not sure.”
She nods, her lips twisting to the side. “Can it be— Is it like…with you and Brittany?”
“Like friends with benefits?”
“Yeah,” she says, fidgeting with the hem on her shorts. “Like that.”
My pulse skyrockets at her admission. I thought I knew what she wanted, but hearing her admit she wants me is like nothing I’ve ever felt. Still, I have to be sure I’m understanding her correctly. “Is that what you want?”
She searches my face, hesitation in her eyes. Then, they drop to my mouth, lingering for a couple of seconds, before she meets my gaze again. “Yes.”
My sharp inhale isn’t voluntary. I’m caught between carelessly taking what I’ve wanted for so long and my feelings for her. I’m not sure of anything, except that I don’t want this door to close before we’ve even explored what’s on the other side of it.
“It could change everything.”
She nods. “If we let it.”
I stare down into her eyes. Is she honestly asking me to do this? Can I really agree to it? Can I have sex with her without getting my feelings involved? When it ends, will I be able to go back to being friends after having the most important woman in my world in my bed? Is that even fucking possible?
“Unless you don’t want to.”
The look of rejection on her face is slight, but it’s enough to have me pulling her by the hand, so we’re chest to chest. I reach for her other hand and drape both over my shoulders. Then, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against me, I push my hips lightly into her, just to make sure she feels how badly I want to. She lets out a breathy chuckle.
“Does that answer your question?”
Finn peers up at me, lips parted, her chest rising and falling a little faster now. Her mouth covers mine before I can register that it will. No hesitation, taking what she wants. I moan against her mouth when she opens for me, my tongue sliding along hers slow and deep. Her hips rock against mine, making my fingers involuntarily dig into the skin just above her waistband. Her tongue dances over my lips, and mine devours hers. This kiss is nothing like our first one.
It was impulsive, tentative, mixed-up with a million emotions—the most prevalent being fear. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown. It wasn’t thought-out. It was strictly taking something to make myself feel better in the moment. Turns out, that comfort only lasted the couple of seconds it took to happen and was over as quickly as it began.
But not this kiss. This one is different. This kiss is straight-up desire. Desire so bright and so hot, it makes my ears ring, and I can’t catch my breath. This is months long of thinking about that first kiss and wishing it’d gone very differently. In this kiss, there is everything I’ve always wanted to tell her with words but can’t.
I’m panting like a motherfucker when we finally pull apart. Our mouths hover, breaths mingling, before I’m diving back in like an addict needing his next fix. Kissing Finnley Jameson is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, and I’ve kissed my fair share of women, working in a bar. But this? This is next level.
I run a palm over her ass and her fingers tighten in my hair, pulling just the slightest bit. I pull at her bottom lip with my teeth and give it a little nip before soothing the spot with my tongue. She tastes sweet, like coconut lip balm, and fucking hell; she tastes like mine.
Mine.
That one word echoing through my skull has me breaking the kiss, and I drop my forehead to hers. Our heavy breathing almost drowns out themusic that has now switched over to something I’ve never heard before. It’s slow and sultry, and if we don’t put a stop to this now, we’ll end up in bed before we have a chance to figure out what it all means.
“We should talk.”
“This is more fun,” she says, lightly brushing her lips against mine.
My answering chuckle is a low rumble in my chest, and I nod, pressing a couple of quick kisses to her parted lips. It’s amazing how easy this feels.
“It is,” I say. “But we should really set some ground rules. You know, so shit doesn’t get messy.”
“I fucking love messy,” she says, before licking my top lip and kissing me again.
I reach up and unwind her arms from my neck, pinning both of her hands in mine between us. I love messy, too, and God, would I love to see this woman messy. But I care about her too much to go balls out and fuck up our friendship. Not to mention that one taste of her won’t be enough for me. I can try to keep this thing casual if that’s what she wants, but it won’t be easy. There’s also the small detail of my feelings for her, and I don’t know how I feel about doing this if she doesn’t feel the same.
Sure, we’re both clearly into each other physically, but I’m not sure what that looks like long-term. She means too much to me to jump in full tilt without thinking it through, and I’m sure she would say the same if she could keep her tongue out of my mouth for five seconds.
I lean in and press a kiss to her lips once more. “As much as I want this—and I hope you can feel how much I do—we need to be smart about it.”
The lust haze she’s been drowning in clears from her eyes and she pulls her lip between her teeth with a nod.
“And I’m gonna need you to stop doing that,” I say with a nod to her mouth. I don’t know what it is about this woman’s mouth that turns me on so much, but fuck, I can’t think straight when she bites that damn lip.
