He was leaning on the car. She was opening the apartment door when she turned and watched him staring at her while he leaned on the car, "Are you coming in or staying out here?"

Steven hesitated before stepping towards her, "I wanted it to be you that night." He walked up to Josie, grabbed her by the back of her neck, and pulled her into a deep kiss. She didn't let him in at first, but eventually, she leaned into him, accepting the kiss. Their tongues danced with one another effortlessly. Steven's heart was beating so loud he was sure she could hear it. His free hand moved down to grip her butt and lifted her so her legs were wrapped around him. He moved them inside and kicked the door shut behind them.

"Wait." Josie separated her mouth from his, and he immediately missed her warmth. He set her down and watched her take two careful steps back. Steven watched her smooth her hands over her dress and stop on her abdomen.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Steven lifted his arm to rub the back of his neck and turned so she wouldn't see him struggling to understand what shifted between them.

"No, I am okay with what just happened. " Josie moved past him to the small bar in the corner by the dining room table, "I need a drink."

"Anything over there for me?" Steven took a more complex look at the cart, wondering if there was something harder than wine to divulge that would try to help him forget what he had just done.

Josie turned around and put two shot glasses on the counter, "Drink up." She took the shot of tequila without being phased, and Steven had to try to choke it down. "You good?"

"That was," Steven coughed, "not enough." He tapped the glass and watched her pour them another.

"So, are we going to talk about this whole thing or ignore it?" Josie was bolder than she had been a few moments before. Steven appreciated that he hadn't been kicked out right after kissing her, but he was worried about how the entire conversation would go down.

"What do you want to talk about?" Steven tried playing dumb but knew it did not work when she gave him her signature glare.

"Oh, I don't know," she poured her second shot, "we both admitted we had feelings back then, and you know, with that kiss... I want to know if it's like, we need to talk about it, or if we need to talk more about this thing." She took the next shot and stared Steven down. He could feel her nervousness roll off of her in waves.

"I always loved you."

"As your best friend, right?" She wasn't staring him in the eyes. She was looking down, fidgeting.

Steven leaned forward and lifted her chin so she could see him and his intentions clearly. "Josephine Price, I loved you for a long time in high school. I figured you were not in love with me since you moved on after prom." She tried to look away, but he held her gaze on his. "Moving away from you was to get the distance I needed. Seeing you with someone else was hard, but I heard your voice every time when you called. I needed you just as much as you needed me."

"I always need you in my life, Steven. I don't care how I have you in my life as long as I have you." Josie leaned into his touch.

"You have me." He kissed her again. He was more gentle than he was outside, but she picked up the aggression level herself. She pulled his shirt out of his pants, and he grabbed her hands to stop her.

"What? Do you not want this?" Josephine looked utterly torn on whether she should run or stay still.

"I absolutely want this. I need to know when things progress, we won't let it change who we are as best friends." Josie walked away from him and put some space between them.

"I think we can figure things out as we go, but we have never let things change no matter what we went through." She removed her hair from the updo, one bobby pin at a time. The locks fell one by one in blonde curls that framed her face and fell over her shoulders. "I don't think sleeping together and fooling around will change it. Nothing else has shifted the dynamic." She started running her fingers through it, groaning with evident appreciation.

Steven slowly took small steps towards her, "This might even make things stronger between us." His feet moved in more significant steps before he could comprehend that they were reducing the space between them to barely anything.

"Are you saying you want to sleep with me, Steven?" Josie looked at him with her hooded hazel eyes. They held so much promise of things to come.

"I am saying that I want everything, in this moment, with you." Steven pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I want you more than anyone or anything I have ever wanted in my entire life." The words were heavier than anything he had ever said to a woman before. Her eyes were locked firmly on him. They were holding him in front of her. He could not look away from those eyes he memorized as a kid, the eyes that kept bringing the light through the darkness in middle school and high school, and the ones who would pop up on camera when he needed a quick reassurance that everything would be okay.

He never let a woman as close as Josie had been to him. He never thought anyone was as worthy of knowing all the dark secrets, all of the faults, and all of the mistakes as Josie was. There was too much to share with anyone else. There was so much to build with someone else before they got to the point they were, and he was always told to make someone your best friend before being in a relationship. Why wouldn't he try to see if the best friend he ever had would want to try to move forward from where they were? Why wouldn't he be open to growing with someone who grew with him instead of trying with all of the one-night flings?

"Are you sure about that?" Josie let her hands roam down his chest, unbuttoning his shirt. She was staring him directly in the eyes, waiting for him to tell her to stop. When she got to his pants and started to unbutton them, he stopped her again.

"Are you one hundred percent sure that you do?" Josie tried to keep going, but he would not let her continue until he answered. He watched her weighing her options on how to respond to him. She was as still as he was while he held her there. He refused to look away, scared that the moment would pass and that he would never get another chance to take the opportunity with her.

"If I were not sure, Steven, I would have stopped before we started this conversation." Steven lessened the grip on her wrists, and she started slowly undoing the button on his pants.

Chapter nine

Josephine

JosephinesmiledatStevenmischievously up through her lashes and decided to slide his shirt off his shoulders instead without taking her eyes off his. When the shirt hit the floor, she stood back and took in his body with complete appreciation. She let her hands roam up his abs, chest, and shoulders and then down his arms until she took his hands in hers. She had always known they belonged just like this.

They barely made it into her room before Steven slowly slipped the straps off of her shoulders, causing the entire front of the dress to drop to her waist, exposing her naked breasts to the chilliness of her air-conditioned room. The fan above was providing an extra little bit of breeze, enough to make her nipples pebble. He reached out and lightly ran his thumbs over both before squeezing them. He was staring at her like a man starved for, and she was the only thing he needed to survive. He took the right one in his mouth, teasing her ever so slowly while his left hand massaged the other one. His right hand held her, at her lower back, to him. He was giving her no room to move. He was no longer giving her any sort of out.