Page 55 of You, with a View

The silence stretches out unbearably.

When Theo’s hand slips across my collarbone, resting there, every part of me pulls tight. And when he pushes me back against the door with the slightest pressure, I stop breathing altogether.

His thumb grazes the base of my throat, right where my pulse is beating wildly. Forhim, and he knows it. Everything he’s doing is just a suggestion, the lightest touch, but he might as well be gripping me.

“Do it,” I whisper.

“You,” he demands, so I grab handfuls of his shirt and pull him tight against my body, lifting up to take his mouth.

He opens up for me immediately and at the first slide of our tongues, lets out the softest, most aching groan. His hand moves into my hair, the other cradling my cheek. And then he takes over, tilting my head exactly the way he wants it. Even though I started it, it’s Theo in charge now.

He kisses like some people fuck: slow, deep, and dirty, with bitten-off noises that broadcast his need. The damp slip of our mouths, the occasional click of our teeth, the way we’re tastingeach other—all of it feels like we’re doing this with our clothes off. His body on mine against the door feels like his bodyinmine in the bed just beyond the wall.

I turn wild at the thought, knowing I can’t have it, knowing this is it. Our shared secret, a truth we’re only telling each other. My fingers slip into his hair and tighten, and he groans so deeply I feel it between my legs. I press into him, where he’s hard for me already.

“Fuck,” he says against my mouth, dragging his hands down my body until they’re at my hips. His fingers dig in hard, then he pushes, pinning them against the door. “Just kissing.”

“Sorry,” I groan.

He moves his mouth from mine, across my cheek, panting against the spot where my ear meets my jaw. “Your rules.”

Right. Kissing, just this once. Dry humping is not on the approved list, but god, it felt good.

We have to stop, though. Eventually I’ll remember why.

I rest my head against the door, staring up at the fire alarm blinking silently down at us. “Okay. Okay. That was—okay.”

“Isokayyour review, or did I kiss you into speechlessness?” he whispers into my neck. I feel his smirk against my skin.

I groan. “Oh my god, you have to leave.”

He goes still before pressing a soft kiss to his spot. No one will ever be able to touch me there again. When he pulls back, mouth damp, his expression is unreadable.

“You have to leave,” I repeat, “because I’m going to shove you into my room otherwise.”

The naked lust on his face is devastating. I should have a street named after me for all this control I’m showing. “And we can’t do that.”

“No.”

“Because of the...”

“The everything.”

“Right.” He blows out a breath, running a hand through his wrecked hair. “Okay.”

“Yes, okay.”

Tucking a strand of wild hair behind my ear, he says, “Okay to the other stuff, not the kiss.”

“Yes, the kiss was five fucking stars, Spencer, nowgo away.”

I push at his shoulder, laughing in exasperation as a smile spreads across his face when he stumbles back. His mouth is swollen, shirt wrinkled where I grabbed it. He looks like a mess, like he belongs in Vegas. He’s all sin.

He walks backward as I stick my keycard into the slot. “You never answered my question earlier, by the way.”

I pause halfway into my room. “What question?”

“Whether two fingers would be enough to satisfy you tonight.”

---