Page 74 of Insatiable

Shoot me.

“This movie is terrible,” Stacey says, crossing her arms. “I don’t know how people enjoy being terrified every two seconds.”

I gulp. “Yeah.”

“I’d rather watch the film you mentioned –The Great Man?”

Smirking, I rest my elbow on the arm of the couch. “The Greatest Showman,” I correct. “You were close.”

She chews her lip, and my eyes drop to her mouth. “Do you think they’ll notice if we change it to that?”

“Luciellawould notice if we fast-forwarded it by five seconds.”

“Hmm. True.”

Our eyes clash, and the insatiable desire to wrap my hand around her ponytail and yank her to me increases with each passing moment. I could look at her forever – the different shades of light green looking back at me; the way her pupils dilate as I absently reach my hand forward, twirling a dark strand around my finger.

“Why did you let me kiss you?” I ask, remembering her mouth on mine in the kitchen a few days ago. “I teased you for years. You should have slapped me.”

Stacey blushes. “I, um, I wanted to.”

The hair springs free from around my finger. “Slap me?”

Fidgeting with the edge of the blanket, Stacey sighs. Her tone is like a caress on my cheek. “Are you playing a game here? Make the girl want you only to toss her to the ground so you can get praised?”

“How can I get praised if no one knows I kissed you again?”

“You know what I mean.”

I hum. “Can’t say I do.”

The door handle jiggles. I twist my body to look behind the couch to the door as Mum pops in to say she’s making pizza. I nod, running my hand through my hair as the door closes again. The movement causes the blanket to shift.

No, it’s not the movement. It’s Stacey knocking it away to climb on top of me, settling on my lap with her thighs bracketing my hips. “If you meant it, then…” She grabs my face to look at her, at the neediness in her forest-green eyes. “Kiss me again.”

Frozen. Completely and utterly frozen, all I can do is gulp down the building lump in my throat that’s threatening to suffocate me.

I want to kiss her. Fuck, do I want to. But being caught off guard makes me uneasy. I have no time to think it through or plan how to touch her or what to say. I always want to be in control, so having her like this has knocked me off my axis.

Having her touching me without preparing myself has my blood roaring in my ears.

My heart races to an unbearable pace, my handsfistingat my sides. I want to snatch her hips and pull her closer. I want to taste her mouth and hear her whimper. I want to feel her body all over me.

But something is stopping me from moving.

Sensing my anxiety from the sudden change in the atmosphere, Stacey’s brows furrow beforerealisationhits, and she rises to her knees above me.

I’m staring at her like she has two heads while mine takes far too long to process our position. A beautiful girl is straddling me and all I can do is sit here like a wide-eyed statue.

Why the fuck do I need to be so weird? Why can’t I be normal and not panic and freeze and fuck this all up?

She lets go of my face, and some of the bad friction alleviates from my chest.

“I… Oh God. I’m such an idiot.”

Her face is red as a strawberry as she tries to get off me. Embarrassed. My hands move without me thinking, and I grab her hips and bring her back to sit in my lap.

“Don’t.” One word, my voice thick and pleading. “Don’t.”

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