Jase crawled over to where she was seated and nudged his way between her knees and placed his hands on her thighs. “You need some help working out kinks, sunshine?”
“Not in the way you mean, but yes. I feel antsy. And do not respond to this, but I feel like I need to move my body.”
He placed his hands beneath her thighs then tugged her to the edge of the sofa. “I’m really good at moving bodies. It’s my core strength, you see.” With his hands around her waist, he tugged her playfully down onto his lap and then promptly flopped over, taking them both to the floor.
Cerys began to laugh. “Was that meant to be a smooth move?”
Jase’s hand dipped below her hoodie and settled on her waist as he grinned. “Nah. Just being playful. Come here.”
Gently, he flipped her onto her back, then settled between her thighs. One pair of yoga pants and a pair of joggers were not enough to hide how aroused he was by their position. “I was thinking about something upstairs.”
“You were?” Shouldn’t she feel a little less safe? Shouldn’t self-preservation come ahead of thoughts about the way his body dominated hers, how good the width of his hips felt between her thighs, how his dimples and eyes, and the bounce of his curls made her feel gooey inside?
He brushed her hair off her forehead. “I’ve never thought about the next step. When waves happen, I react. Whatever came next, came next. There was no plan. No direction. You make me feel like I want to think through what the next step might be. And I’m not talking marriage and kids and shit. I mean real, practical, everyday things. Like, I can’t just fuck you and then pretend I didn’t fuck you after. This, us, has implications.”
She wasn’t sure where he was going. But there was something about his tone—gentle, caring—that told her no matter what he said, he was in a hopeful place. “It does.”
“I want the implications, Cerys. For the first time in my life, I look forward to there being repercussions for my actions. I want to kiss you and know that tomorrow, I get to kiss you again. Until you’re ready to do something more than kiss. I want the steps to have meaning. I don’t want to blast through them all in one night and then have nothing to look forward to but an awkward goodbye the next morning. Do you know what I mean?”
His eyes searched hers as his brow furrowed. She ran her thumb across his lower lip and his eyes fluttered shut as he breathed. “I do. You know it’s me, though, here underneath you?”
His eyes flashed open. “Never been more aware of anything in my life. I’ve been on the receiving end of being with someone who forgot who I was. I wouldn’t be here unless I was certain.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Fine,” he admitted gruffly. “If I didn’t care about you and I just wanted a shag, I’d totally be here, and we’d already be fucking. But a piece of me has opened up since I got here. A piece of me I wasn’t sure existed. And I know it’s because of you.”
“That would also make a very fine song,” she said, sliding her hands around his neck, into his hair.
“If you let me kiss you, I’m sure the song will be even better when I write it.”
Cerys smiled. “Then kiss me,” she said, throwing caution to the wind. He was opening up to her, perhaps more than she had opened up to him. But now wasn’t the time to worry about such things when his head lowered to hers, and when his lips brushed hers, gently, at first. As if testing the waters, waiting for her to push him away. But she didn’t. She threaded her hands into his hair as the fire crackled in the background. His hands slipped beneath her bum, and holy shit, his erection seemed to grow between them, touching her in the perfect place to satisfy the ache in her clit.
His tongue slipped between her lips, wet and warm, a steady exploration, which she met in kind.
“Fuck, Cerys,” Jase groaned, the pressure of his grip increasing, the fire in his touch igniting her. His kisses became more aggressive. Nipping at her bottom lip, sucking it into his mouth as he slowly ground into her.
“Jase,” she gasped, an orgasm was within reach when he suddenly pulled away and lifted back onto his knees.
“I haven’t come in my pants since I was fourteen, but you nearly had me, sunshine.” Jase ran a hand through his hair.
Cerys reached for his hand, and he brought hers to his lips. “I wasn’t objecting.”
“Neither was I. But I’m determined to take this slow. To prove to you that this is different. To prove to you that I can respect your boundaries and—”
“I wasn’t putting up any boundaries.”
“Yeah. I felt that. In fairness, you probably should with me. Take it slow with me, Cerys. I need to warn you that the next time I really fall in love with someone for all the right reasons, it’ll be you, if you’ll let me.”
She placed her hand on his chest. “I don’t know what to say, but your honesty is breathtaking.”
“Will you let me?”
Cerys bit down on her lip. “Yes, Jason Palmer, I’ll let you.”
8
Jase woke up with a gasp, hard as a rock, and confused as shit by his dream.
He slid his hand down to his dick and gripped it firmly. Yeah. Right on the edge of coming in Jimmy Bexter’s guest room. And fuck, yeah, it felt so good to stroke from root to tip, so close to letting go, that Jimmy Bexter could be standing at the bottom of the bed critiquing his performance and telling him he needed wanking lessons and Jase wouldn’t give a fuck.
Because it was Cerys on his mind. And the clusterfuck was, she wasn’t even doing something hot, like looking up at him while lying naked in his bed or walking ahead of him in some sexy lingerie. She was dressed in jeans and one of the knotted T-shirts she liked to wear while stood at the sink in his nan’s house, the two of them chatting as they peeled potatoes.
And she still looked fucking sexier than a model, especially when she turned to smile at him.
Yeah, it was the smile.
The way it reached those blue eyes of hers with more depth than the Mediterranean Sea.
He squeezed his dick harder, focusing on the midsection to the head, letting his thumb rub over the firm ridge.
In his daydream, Cerys placed the potatoes down.
“Fucking potatoes,” he huffed, shaking his head. Could his world really get any weirder?
She placed her hand on his chest and Jase felt the heat of it as fiercely as though she were sitting right next to him on the bed.
But then, it would be her hand on your dick and not yours.
Her body pressed up against his in the kitchen. He could feel the softness of her breasts, and the brush of her denim across his erection.
Fuck, and now you’ve got a boner right in front of your dream-version Nan.
Cerys’s hand slid around his waist, stroking the skin just about the waistband of his jeans. It tickled, but God, felt so fucking good.
“Hey, babe,” she said, the soft roll of her accent fluttering through him. “I missed you.”
Jesus Christ. He was going to come just from the way she looked at him. Like he was the man of her dreams.
His balls began to tighten, a shiver ran down his spine. Fuck, he was so close.
In his daydream, Cerys lifted onto the balls of her feet and kissed him softly. And it was the wet warmth of her imaginary lips pressed to his that made him come in shuddering gasps.