I’m a total asshole for even uttering the word anticipation, for believing it’s a good thing. Anticipation fucking sucks.
“Come here.” I don’t give her a chance to answer or do anything. I take over, grabbing her ass and hauling her into me, her body flush with mine. She tips her head back, our gazes meet and I stare at her, fascinated with her pretty face. I notice something different every time I look at her and this moment is no exception. “Your eyelashes are red, like your hair,” I tell her, like she doesn’t know.
She tears her gaze away from mine. “Usually I have mascara on to darken them.”
“But you’re not wearing any makeup.” I touch the side of her face, the tip of her nose. Her skin is pale, the freckles like little flecks of cinnamon across her flesh and I drag my thumb across her plump bottom lip, liking how it catches right in the center.
“Half the reason why I was so mortified to run into you. No makeup. Sloppy hair,” she admits. “I’m wearing my oldest, most favorite T-shirt and ratty leggings. I’m a mess.”
“I noticed the holes.” I touch the one at the neckline of her shirt, then decide the hell with it and touch the one that’s just beneath her boob, my finger brushing against her ample chest. I am fucking dying to get a look at her tits naked. Does this make me an asshole? Probably, but I don’t care. Not at the moment. “You’re not a mess, Jade. I like you like this. You look…real.”
“Opposed to me looking fake all the other times we’ve seen each other?”
Ah, there’s my sarcastic girl. That smart mouth of hers is such a fucking turn on. There’s gotta be something wrong with me, that I like it so much. “I didn’t say that. Honestly? Seeing you like this makes my imagination run wild.”
Her brows draw together. How did I never notice they’re red too? Well, more like a deep auburn color. Very dark and perfectly arched. “How?”
I think I’m trying to seduce her with words. Not like I planned this but since we’re not going to do anything tonight, I should at least talk about it, right? What I want to do to her. With her. What I want her to do to me. With me. How I want to see her naked and flushed and moaning my name all while I’m buried deep inside her. I want to know what she looks like when she comes.
Yeah. More than anything, that’s what I’m dying to see.
“I imagine this is what you’d look like in my bed after you spent the night.” I push away the little tendrils of hair that curl around her cheeks. “No makeup, no pretense. Just you.”
Her lips part and she blinks up at me. “Kiss me. Before you say something awful and ruin it,” she whispers, her eyes falling shut when I lean in and do exactly as she asks. Her arms move so they’re wrapped around my neck and I grip her ass harder, pulling her in as close as I can get. I take the kiss deep in an instant, thrusting my tongue against hers, swallowing the moan that escapes her.
Christ, she tastes good. Sweet and seductive. She scoots closer to me, her legs clamping tight along my hips and I keep one hand on her ass, with the other I reach up and touch her cheek, tilt her face to the side to deepen the kiss further. She whimpers and I draw her lower lip between mine and suck—I know she likes it when I do that.
“You make me crazy,” I murmur against her mouth when I release her lip. “I’d fuck you right here on the kitchen counter if you’d let me.”
“Oh God,” she says on a gasp. “Say that again.”
“Say what again?” I drop kisses along her jaw, down the length of her neck, moving her heavy hair behind her shoulder so I can kiss the spot behind her ear. “You’re always accusing me of saying something to mess it up.”
“Just…repeat what you said. What you want to do to me if I’d let you.” She swallows hard, I feel the movement beneath my lips and I pause there, knowing exactly what she wants me to say.
Does this mean Jade likes dirty talk? Who fucking knew?
“I said, that if you’d let me.” I press my mouth to the spot where her pulse thumps erratically, inhaling her heady scent, humming against her skin. This is like torture. Touching her. Kissing her. Talking to her, all while not able to do exactly what I want to her. “I’d fuck you right here on this kitchen counter.”
“God, this is absolute torture,” she whispers as I continue to kiss her neck. She’s reading my mind. “I should…probably go.”
Everything within me skids to a stop at her words. “Hell no,” I practically growl, lifting my head so I can stare at her. “You’re not leaving.”
“We can’t—” She whimpers when I nibble on her earlobe. “But we can’t do anything.”
“We’re making out,” I remind her as I pull away from her fragrant neck. “Tristan’s gone tonight. He won’t get home until late. So we have the entire house to ourselves.” I wish I could fuck her on every available surface but since that’s not happening, we’ll have to make plans to do it another night.
That I’m thinking of future nights with Jade is freaking unbelievable.
“Your cousin is gone?” She sounds hopeful.
“Yeah.” I brush my thumb back and forth across her ass, tracing the band of her panties beneath her leggings. Teasing is fun right? I might come close to giving myself a heart attack and a massive case of blue balls by the end of the night but I’ll survive.
Barely.
“So it’s just us.” She trails her hand down the front of my T-shirt, her nails lightly grazing and my dick twitches. Well, it’s been twitching for a while but I want her hands on my bare skin. This clothes on business is for the birds.
“Just us.” I kiss her once, then slip both of my hands under her ass, indicating that I want to pick her up. She grabs hold of my shoulders, her shocked gaze meeting mine. “Come on.” I heft her up into my arms and turn, heading toward the living room.
“How is it that you’re able to carry me so easily?” she asks in wonder.
“You don’t weigh that much.”
She snorts. Actually snorts. It’s kind of cute. “You don’t need to lie to keep me here. I’m sort of trapped and at your mercy.”
I like that at my mercy part. She should’ve never said those words. Now my imagination is going absolutely wild, thinking of all the things I could do to Jade while she’s at my mercy.
More like I’m at her mercy, considering she’s drawn the line in the sand for tonight. Look, look, touch, touch, but don’t touch me there, kiss, kiss…that’s it.
Fucking misery.
“I’m respecting your wishes.” I sit on the edge of the couch with her straddling me and lean back slowly, enjoying the way she leans in with me. Her knees are on either side of my hips, her hands still on my shoulders, my cock nestled between her legs. An ideal position that’s going nowhere. “We’re just going to kiss. Nothing more.”
“Right.” She sounds hesitant. Almost…disappointed? “Nothing more.”
I reach for her, settling my mouth on hers, kissing her before she has a chance to think, to say something else, to remind herself that maybe she doesn’t want to be here after all. I trace the seam of her lips with my tongue and she opens easily, a moan sounding low in her throat when I circle her tongue with mine. I cup her nape, holding her still, not wanting to let her go and she starts doing this circling of the hips thing that I know is going to drive me absolutely crazy.