Page 94 of Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places
“That’s what you wanted to tell me in the tree house, wasn’t it?” He shifted to look at her.
She smiled from the feeling of his voice vibrating in his chest. It’d been so, so long since she’d been close enough to experience it like this. “Yeah.”
“That makes sense. Explains a lot.”
It took some effort, but she managed to roll over, lying on top of him. He moved with her, hands holding her steady at the hip.
“Do you want to talk about it?” She traced the curve at the hollow of his throat with nimble fingers.
He inhaled sharply in response but said nothing, gaze fixed on her face.
“It’s okay to ask me. About anything. I don’t mind.”
He captured her fingers suddenly and held them in place against his chest. She caught the barest hint of frustration in his expression before it faded.
“It’d be helpful, for me, if you told me whether or not you wanted to.”
“What do you want?” he asked.
“I want to know what you want so I can start processing the idea.”
“Processing.” He laughed, chest rumbling beneath her, but he stopped abruptly. “Wait…you’re serious?”
Lucky nodded. She hated feeling ignorant. She wanted to be informed and confident in her choices. So, she’d taken Georgia’s advice, which led to her researching how to approach a partner about sex. She’d get it right this time.
“I don’t handle spontaneous well. I know that’s a big turn-on for some people, so I need to mentally prepare for that kind of thing. My libido is also on the lower side. I don’t think about sex often, if at all, and I really don’t like being surprised.” She scrunched her nose, completely comfortable with him. “Now, I know that might make me sound boring, but I promise having sex won’t be.”
“It won’t.” He traded the last bits of his smile for a furrowed brow.
“Nope. I’d like to think I’m pretty good at it.”
“I see.”
She kissed his chin and kept smiling. She’d learned the most important behavioral parts of sexual negotiations were smilingand eye contact. She also needed to be firm but not inflexible. Give-and-take and compromise were crucial to setting boundaries. She wanted Maverick. She wanted to make this work.
So why wasn’t it working? Maverick wasfrowning.
“Was that too nerdy? I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He frowned harder. “For what?”
“Ruining the mood by talking too much. But if I don’t ask, then—”
“You haven’t ruined anything.” He paused. “I’m…processing. I’m not sure if having sex is a good idea.”
“Oh, you don’t want to.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I said.”
“You don’t want to…with me?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to—”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Nope, no, you didn’t. No.” He laughed nervously. “I feel like you’re spinning out here and that’s not where I’m going. I’ll explain. I need a second.” He raised one of her hands to his mouth, kissing her knuckles and then her palm.
She pressed her lips together to keep quiet. He let her get everything she wanted to say out into the open and she’d do the same for him. No interruptions. No assumptions.
