Page 36 of Purity

She looks up at me and smiles—a sultry quirk of her lips that’s completely unlike the Livvy I know. “Do you like it when I do this?” She moves her hips slightly forward. It’s a small motion—not even really a thrust—and yet it sets me on fire. I know I need to push her away, but my arms feel like they’re glued to her, like they have a will of their own.

“You did that to me when we kissed, and it made me—” she lowers her voice, “—wet.”

“Oh fuck, Livvy.” My voice is a rasp. “Please stop. I’m begging you.”

“Okay.” Her smile grows bolder as she drops her arms at her side. “Now you’re the one touching me. Why don’t you stop?”

My groan is so loud it’s almost a growl. I lift my hands and set them on her cheek, forcing her to look at me. “I cannot have this conversation with you right now. You’re drunk, and I need to think. This is not something I can decide on a horny impulse. Your friendship means more to me than any—”

I’m startled when she jerks away from me. “If I hear how much our friendship means to you one more time, I think I might throw up.”

I scowl. “What the fuck does that mean?”

When she whips around, her eyes are blazing. “It means I’m sick of excuses. I’m not asking you to give up our friendship.”

I open my mouth and close it. “You don’t know how it might—”

“No, I don’t know.” She sets her hands on her hips. “I don’t know if it will change things between us because I’m not God, but I do know that the door is closing. I’m not going to sit around and wait forever for you to decide. I’m giving you three days.”

“Three days? Are you fucking kidding me? This is a big deal. It’s not something I can decide quickly.”

Her jaw hardens as she shrugs. “You’ve known me for five years. If three days isn’t enough for you to decide if you want to have sex with me, I think that’s a pretty good sign you don’t.”

I grit my teeth, struggling for control. “You already know that I want you. You felt my cock pressing into you when you hugged me.”

When her eyes grow hesitant, I smile darkly. For all her drunken boldness, she has no idea what she’s doing or who she’s dealing with. Words like “cock” terrify her. She only thinks she wants this because she doesn’t know what she’s asking for.

If I showed her the full extent of my desire for her, she would run away.

“This is about much more than sex, but if you need to set a deadline, I’ll respect it. Just know that I’m going to err on the side of caution. If I haven’t made a decision by then, the answer will be no.”

When her face falls, I want to reach out and hold her, but I can’t touch her again. Instead, I soften my voice. “Come on. It’s only ten now. Let’s hurry back to my place so you can get a good nap in before I take you home.”

Livvy

“Drunken angel, it’s time to wake up.” The soft voice curls through my insides, pulling me from the darkness. Big, warm fingers brush my cheek. When the world comes into focus, Cole’s handsome face is in my view, smiling tenderly. Goodness, where am I?

As I stare at him, memories drizzle back in. On the car ride home from the bar, I got dizzy. Cole told me to lie back in my seat and shut my eyes. I think he rubbed my arm. But what happened before that? Oh, that’s right. The conversation on the sidewalk.

Jesus, help me, I threw myself at him.

When I sit up suddenly, he sets his hands on my shoulders and gives them a squeeze. “It’s okay. It’s only midnight.”

“I’m not worried about that.” I glance around the room, trying to collect my scattered thoughts. My gaze settles at the wet spot on his pillow, and I wrinkle my nose. “Oh no, I drooled on your pillow.”

He laughs softly. “You sleep with your mouth open.”

When I grab the pillow and start yanking down the case, he sets his hand on mine. “A little bit of spit isn’t going to kill me.”

“It’s gross.”

“Most people’s spit is gross. Yours isn’t.”

My gaze snaps to his face, and he’s smiling faintly. “Does that weird you out? If it does, I’m probably not the guy to take your virginity.”

I stare at him for a moment. “Do you really not think my spit is gross?”

He leans forward, stopping when his face is a few inches from mine. The warmth of his skin radiates from him, and that’s when it finally settles over me that I’m lying in a bed, and he’s sitting on the side of it. Close. Close enough that I could pull him in.

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