Page 95 of Alive At Night

This wasn’t just a kiss; it was Juniper consuming every inch of me. My skinburned. My bodyached. My handsmoved, finding curves I’d been dying to touch all night. She felt criminally good. My lips had a mind of their own, trailing from Juni’s mouth and kissing her jaw, neck, collarbone. She arched for me, gasping when I found a particularly sensitive spot. She tugged harder on my hair like she wanted more.

I wanted more. I wantedher.I wanted to taste every inch of this woman.

The need, the want, the desire that I had pushed away and denied for so long—this kiss was unleashing it.

Holy shit, I wanted her. So. Goddamn. Much.

I pressed my lips in a line ascending her neck before catching her lips with mine again. Fuck, I could feel her smile in the way that she kissed.Of courseshe smiled when she kissed. How very Juni-like of her.

“I need you to take kissing me as seriously as I take kissing you,” I mumbled, my lips curving up to mimic hers.

“I do,” she gasped. “It’s just that you’re good at this.”

Heated, foolish pride burned in my chest. “I’m good at a lot of things, Rosie.”

She laughed, lightly and beautifully, and then I stole that laugh with my mouth, not releasing it again until we were both breathless.

“Julian,” she whimpered between barely parted lips. “Show me. Show me what you’re good at.”

Fuck.

Her voice slipped and slurred, and hearing her say my name like that brought me to my senses. I wrenched my lips off hers.

“Juni, you’re drunk,” I gasped, pushing the words out of my mouth as a reminder to myself. “You’re drunk, Juni.”

She stumbled back a step, and I took that opportunity to put a bit of space between us even though it felt like it would be the goddamn end of me.

“I’m fine, Julian,” she said through heavy breaths, still clutching her dress to her chest.

I couldn’t help but notice she didn’t try to tell me shewasn’tdrunk.

“You’re drunk, Juniper.”

“You already said that.”

“It warranted being repeated.”

And I’d keep repeating it to myself if I had to.

Juniper plopped back onto the bed. Both dress straps were falling off her shoulders, and God help me, I wanted to strip her of that black, silky thing.

Temptation. Hell, thetemptation. If Juni hadn’t made it abundantly clear that it would hurt her feelings, I would be hightailing it to a different room to stay for the night.

Juniper’s pouty, kissable lips were an utter distraction, so I forced myself to turn around and search for her pajamas instead. Thankfully, they weren’t hard to find, tossed on top of her suitcase.

“Arms up,” I muttered, bringing her pajama shirt over to her with shaky hands. There was too much adrenaline coursing through me.

Her brows furrowed. “You’re going to kiss me like that and then put my clotheson?”

Although I was equally frustrated, I didn’t say anything. Something told me that if I gave Juniper an inch of how I was feeling, she’d run a mile and ruin me forever.

“You kissed me, if you recall.”

Juni rolled her eyes. The shots of booze had made all of her movements seem increasingly dramatic—more than normal. Regardless, she lifted both of her arms above her head, and by some miracle, I slipped her shirt over her head before that dress fell completely. It bunched beneath her pajama top.

“Are you wearing a bra?” I asked, wanting to make her as comfortable as possible. I couldn’t do anything about the raging headache she’d likely wake up with, but I could do something about this. “Did you want to wear one to bed?”

“I’m not wearing one.” Her eyes swam drunkenly as she looked up at me. “But do your hands count? Because I wouldn’t mind wearingthemto bed.”

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