Page 24 of Loving You

Don’t move? I won’t even fucking breathe.

My pulse raced, then outright rocketed through me when she bit her lip at the same time her fingers gently sifted into the short hair at the base of my neck.

My heart rate must’ve been anaerobic, and the desire to move closer, to take her mouth and finally taste her, almost took me to my knees.

But her tentative touch wasn’t seductive. It felt more like an exploration, like even though she’d asked permission to try something, it was her movements that were now asking a question.

And not only had she told me not to move, but it was also the wondering—at once curious but also heated—look in her eyes that made me think that question wasn’t for me.

No, the slow slide of nails against my skin didn’t have anything at all to do with me, nor did the way her gaze traced my face and dipped to my lips.

This was a question she was asking herself, and I was more than willing to let her use me to get her answer. But if she’d posed this kind of question to me—this achingly soft touch, this careful consideration…

I would’ve answered.

Standing in the moonlight and crisp night air while April Carrigan’s full attention traced my every line was a test of my will. And, god forgive me, my ability to ignore signs I wouldn’t ever have dreamed I’d see from her.

Bottom lip still caught between her teeth.

Hair drifting over her shoulder with a slight breeze.

Nipples peaked under her threadbare shirt, and the tantalizing inches of skin bared between the hem of it and the top of her shorts.

I took in every possible detail while she took her own fill, and it was killing me not to reach for her. Slide my hand up her shirt. Press her soft body into my rapidly hardening cock. Throw her over my shoulder and take her to bed. I wouldn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop the images from flashing through my mind.

But just as those thoughts reached a crisis point, her wandering eyes caught mine. Her breath hitched, and she leaned up on her toes, her other hand steadying her on my shoulder.

Then, as if she could read my wayward thoughts, she pulled herself against me with that hand on the back of my neck, and she hovered with her lips an inch away from mine.

Everything slowed. My pulse. Time. My breath. The rotation of the earth. All that existed was her slow ascent, her cool hands against my hot skin in this gauzy darkness.

All while I wasn’t allowed tomove.

And then her mouth met mine. Just a peck, a touch, and then a breath. Her eyes flicked back and forth between my own before she leaned in again with a more insistent press of her soft lips to my aching ones.

Fuck.

My hands fisted at my sides, unwilling to let my control slip.

Don’t you touch her, asshole. This isn’t about you.

I didn’t understand what was happening, but somehow, even if she hadn’t explicitly asked me to stay still, I knew on instinct that if I did what I wanted to do right now, it’d scare her away. And I’d be damned if I’d interrupt her from taking whatever she needed from me.

April broke away again, focusing only on my lips and not meeting my eyes. And then, because the cords of my control weren’t frayed enough yet, she moved inagain.

Whatever she was testing, the third time was the charm, apparently. Her hands gripped me, and her soft breasts flattened against my chest. But my hips jerked back as my cock jumped, because no matter how much I ached to feel her there, I sensed there were limits to this whole thing.

And if this was a test, I was determined to pass it.

If I had to stand here all night and let her run whatever experiments she wanted, I’d do it in the name of her science. My ironclad self-control would allow me to do it, too. It was clear she wanted to kiss and notbekissed, but if this went well… then maybe, someday, she would.

In an act of mercy, she pulled back.

Her hands dropped, and then she sidestepped toward the door.

The chill of the night swept in and filled the gap between us with cruel coldness and a sense ofwrongbecause April being that close had felt very, very right.

“Thank you,” she said before slipping inside.

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