Page 32 of Our Secret Moments

“Thank you,” Nora replies after what feels like an eternity of them justlookingat each other.

“Give us a spin,” I say, nodding to her. She really does pull off the brunette version of Rapunzel with her dark brown curlsand bright green contacts. She turns, but as she stumbles a little, Wes’s arm catches onto hers.

“What are you doing later?” he blurts out. She looks taken aback as she turns around and gestures at the party. “Do you wanna come over?”

“To your dorm?” Nora asks, her tone bored and slightly confused. He nods, blushing. “To do what?”

“I dunno,” he answers, shrugging. “I could eat you out. Wait. No- Not eat you out. I mean, I would take you toeat. With me. Together. Me and you… Eating… Food…”

Oh my god what is happening?

Nora laughs, throwing her head back. Wes shoots me and Elle a look to help him, but I have no clue what’s going on. He’s clearly had too much to drink, and I highly doubt Nora will remember this in the morning.

“I’ll come over,” she says.

“You will?” Wes asks, his eyes hopeful.

“As long as I get to pick the activities,” Nora warns, pointing an accusing finger in his face. He takes her outstretched finger as a sign of a promise and weirdly interlocks his index finger with hers. “AndI get to decide what we eat.”

Those two are the weirdest people I’ve ever met.

After tiring myself out dancing with Nora and Elle to Taylor Swift songs in a crowd full of sweaty twenty-somethings, I finally make my way back into the house. Somehow, it’s cooler here than it is outside. Nora and Connor always underestimate the amount of people that turn up to their parties and it ends up getting overwhelming sometimes.

As much as I love partying and dancing and doing stupid shit with my friends, it’s also exhausting. I always get this heavy feeling in my chest no matter how many times I go out where I have a sudden realisation that these kinds of moments won’t last forever. It’s pathetic and self-sabotaging but it’s also a very real possibility. If I ever lost the bond I have with these girls or our little family, I don’t think I could function as a real human ever again. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true. They are my lifeline.

That moment in the night comes a lot earlier than expected tonight. I try my best to ignore it. I’ve had a few too many drinks and I just need some water, that’s all.

I make my way into the kitchen, my head pounding from the music and the drinks when I spot Connor’s unforgettable silhouette by the sink. He’s ditched the thick sweater thing that Kristoff wears and is instead only wearing the pants and a thinner brown long sleeved top as he… washes the pots at his own party.

“What are you doing?” I ask, coming up behind him.

“What does it look like?” he retorts, looking back at me with a lazy smile before washing off a plate.

“It’s your birthday, Connor. You don’t need to worry about cleaning up. Especially not in the middle ofyourparty,” I say, looking at the neat pile of plates he’s already staked up. He takes in a deep breath before shrugging. “Is the party that bad?”

He shrugs again. “Not as fun as I thought it would be.”

“That’s because you’re inhereand everyone is outthere,” I say, laughing a little. He finally switches off the tap, drying his hands before he turns to me. Instantly, I grip onto the counter, needing to steady myself as his dark eyes bore into mine.

“What I want isn’t out there,” he says, his tone laced with an emotion I can’t place. The cold pizza I had earlier churns in my stomach as my eyes gloss over at his proximity. He steps in closer to me.

My voice sounds scratchy and breathy when I finally compose myself enough to speak. “And what is it that you want?”

He takes a very purposeful perusal of my outfit, stepping even closer to me.If that’s even possible. The heat in his eyes matches the heavy want gathering in my lower stomach as he swiftly turns us so he’s towering over me, caging me in with both of his hands on the sink as my ass backs up into the marble.

Every tension point in my body tenses before relaxing gently as I shudder. His whole demeanour changes when he looks down at me like this as I crane my neck to look up at him. His gaze is hungry and insatiable. He’s looking at me like I’m the only thing in the fucking room. Like I’m the goal he needs to reach. Like I’m the only thing he sees.

He’s looking at me like he wants me.

“You know exactly what it is that I want,” he murmurs, his mouth so close to mine I can almost taste him. My tongue darts out, running across the seam between my lips as my heartbeat grows erratic.

He gives me what I want – no, what Ineed– as he presses his weight into me.Holy fuck.I can feel every part of him like this.

Every part.

Including the part that wants this the most.

“You’re going to have to spell it out for me,” I whisper, needing to know what he wants, needing to know whatIwant before we do something very stupid. “You know I’m a sucker for words, Connor.”

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