Page 118 of Insatiable

“Yeah.”

I don’t want to end our call, but I say, “See you soon, Freckles.”

“See you soon.”

The call ends, and I’m in a much better mood. So much better that when Base finally appears, I get drunk and dance around the club with him and my sister to some sort of electronic dance music until we give up at six in the morning.

As soon as I see her walking along the hallway on my side of the manor, my sour mood aftertravellingfor hours vanishes. Her eyes find mine as I get to the bottom of my stairs, and like something from a movie, Stacey runs. Her long hair flows behind her, her robe unfastening to reveal her GrinchPJs, and when she leaps into my arms, I catch her by the thigh and lift her into me.

“This is dramatic, but I missed you. I really missed you.”

I smile. “I missed you too,” I reply, kissing her bare shoulder as her robe hangs from her body. I take a step. “Come to the kitchen with me.”

She shakes her head, leans back and runs her fingers through my hair. “Kiss me. Then take me to your room.”

Stacey tastes fruity with a hint of mint when my lips press to hers. Her soft mouth moves with my own while her legs tighten around my waist, and my grip on her thigh trails to her ass.

I somehow manage to keep kissing her while I carry her up the stairs and into my room, not breaking it as I lower us to the bed. Our mouths slant, heads tilting as we devour one another – hands in hair, lips between teeth, names dropping from our mouths with how much we missed each other.

“I meant it when I said you could see other people,” she whispers against my lips. “But I’d rather you didn’t.”

I part her legs with my knee and settle between her thighs. “Why?”

She gasps as I press against her.

“I like you,” she admits. “Is that too soon? I’m sorry.”

“Stopapologising.”

“But is it too soon to say that? I don’t know abouttimelines.”

I kiss her once, twice, three times. “We make our owntimeline. If you feel a certain way, then you feel a certain way. If it helps, I like you too.”

She beams, smiling so hard I think I might just hug her to death. “I get butterflies.”

“So do I.”

Stacey lowers her hand to the hem of my top and tugs it up. I sit back, reach behind my head to pull it off and toss it across the room. She drags her hand down my chest, which is only starting to properly show now that I’m doing work withEwan. She stops at the waistband of my shorts.

Her green eyes stare into my soul, the soul I would rip apart for her. “I get nervous.”

“So do I,” I reply, my heart speeding up as her fingers bend into the waistband, playing with the fabric instead of taking them off. “Are you nervous now?”

“Yes. But I want to…” She tugs at my shorts. “I want to touch you.”

Fuck.

I’ve wrapped my own hand around my cock more times than I can count, but the thought of having hers around me is like being on a high. Well, I assume. I’ve never taken drugs, apart from smoking joints with Base andDez.

“Lie beside me, on your side.”

I shift onto my back, and I can tell she’s really nervous. Instead of telling her to take my shorts off, I pull her to me and kiss her mouth, her nose, her forehead, everywhere I can.

“We don’t need to be nervous,” I say to her but also to myself. “We like each other, and this is what people do when they like each other.”

“Can I tell you something?”

Shit. “Of course.”

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