Page 32 of All It Takes

We stared at each other as my heart thudded hard and fast against my rib cage. “I need to kiss you,” I murmured.

I stepped closer yet again. Our bodies were flush now, and I could feel her nipples, tight little peaks, pressing through the fabric of her shirt and mine. My cock throbbed. I knew she felt my arousal, nestled in the cradle of her hips. She shifted slightly, just enough that her hips rocked against me.

I let out a low growl before dipping my head and claiming her mouth in a kiss. For a moment, my mind went blank when her tongue glided against mine. She made this little sound in her throat. I rocked into her, and her hips rolled to meet my motion. Abruptly, I remembered where we were. As if we were entirely in tune, we broke apart at the same time, staring at each other.

Her breath came in little pants. I leaned my head back, scrambling for control. When my gaze met hers again, she bit her lip. It was all I could do not to start kissing her again.

“I want you,” I said flatly.

She let out a startled, almost disbelieving laugh. “Wes, this is crazy.”

“I know.” I rocked against her again, and she released a little moan. “Fuck,” I muttered.

“We have to get it together,” she said quickly.

I took another deep breath, marshaling my discipline and stepping back reluctantly.

Somehow, I got the need raging inside me under control and managed, or at least I thought I did, to return to the living room and socialize like a normal human being. I was profoundly relieved the evening was winding down because looking Chase in the eyes was challenging.

“Is that okay with you?” Tiffany’s question broke through my fuzzy thoughts.

I’d been so damn busy trying not to look at her that I’d lost the thread of the conversation. “Excuse me, I zoned out. Is what okay?”

When I glanced up, my gaze passed briefly by Hallie’s. There was a mischievous, knowing glint in her eyes. I forced myself to look at Tiffany.

“Tommy asked if Ross could spend the night,” she explained.

“Tomorrow,” Phoebe chimed in. “He can stay here.”

“They can have my office for the whole night,” Archer said with a dry chuckle.

“If it’s okay with you all, it’s definitely okay with me.” I glanced at Ross. “What about you?” He nodded enthusiastically. “Sounds like a plan. What time should I bring him over?” I looked over toward Archer and Phoebe.

“Let’s say five,” Phoebe said. “Archer was already planning a pizza night.”

“I love any excuse for pizza,” Archer said with a wink. “And we were planning to do a fire outside with marshmallows, s’mores, the whole deal. That’ll be dessert. If I can break these guys away from video games, that is.”

“I’ve never had a campfire,” Ross piped up.

“You’re in for a treat,” Tiffany offered with a warm smile. “They’re the best in the winter.”

Fuck me. I could not even look at her, not if I wanted to hold my need at bay.

ChapterTwenty-Two

TIFFANY

It was late, and I was restless. I’d never been a great sleeper, even when I was younger. Maybe it was the wondering about how things were with my mom or the occasional fraught arguments she would start with my dad. It was almost as if it angered her that he was a steady, stable presence in our lives and hers. Whenever it came to my mother when I was a little girl, a churning sense of uncertainty mingled with a needy wish for her to pay more attention to me and not to view me as an inconvenience, for her to want me, to love me.

As an adult, I could see that she did the best she could, which was not very good at all. Her own sense of need felt yawning sometimes, as if she couldn’t get enough of what she hoped from the world and those around her. I had a distant recollection of my grandparents, her parents. They’d not been very warm or very stable and were mostly distant, like her. I recalled they both died sometime during elementary school, but the details were thin.

As I’d gotten a better sense of what my father had given me and my brother, I understood that he gave us the very quality she simply didn’t have—we mattered because of us, not because of what he needed from us. His steady love felt like a soft ray of sunshine, casting warmth and light.

Yet I still couldn’t believe love was worth it. Not even trying was the safe, smart option.

“Ugh,” I muttered to myself, rolling onto my stomach and groaning into my pillow.

My insides were churning. This whole thing with Wes was muddling my emotions. I wished, desperately, that I didn’t want him so much. Our kiss tonight had felt like the equivalent of flooring the gas pedal on the need racing through me. I couldn’t find the brakes to slow it down.

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