I tapped my index finger against my lower lip. “True.”
He nodded, like he was adding pieces of evidence to prove some hypothesis. “So here’s my theory: If you walk through your presentation until you know it cold, you’ll crush it.”
“I did practice before, though.”
“But did you? Did you really memorize it?”
Had I? I’d practiced reading notecards, mostly in my head with my lips moving silently.
“Holy shit. Can it be that simple?”
He grinned like he’d solved a difficult puzzle, and in a way he had. “Come on. I’ll walk you back.”
While he locked the front door, I leaned against the glossy, over-painted wall. The silver moonlight made him look preternatural. He could have been a sexy vampire, and I would’ve happily let him bite me.
“God, you’re beautiful,” I said.
He moved closer, eclipsing the night sky behind him, darkness drenching him now. I closed my eyes, conjuring his face in my mind. I could picture the hint of a smile he always wore.
I wanted to hook my fingers around his collar and drag him to my lair. Instead he’d probably walk me home and kiss me good night. After all, we’d had a rough twenty-four hours.
My eyes flew open at the realization. “Hey, did we just have our first fight?”
“When did we fight?” His breath tickled my cheek.
“Last night. Did we just make up?”
“I would love if all fights were that easy.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Is that what you want?”
I touched his cheek, needing him to hear the revelations I’d had, how much I’d come to appreciate him. “I know you want to wait, but my body feels like I’ve known you for years. Does that make sense? I’m drawn to you like . . .” I looked into his dark eyes to make sure I wasn’t freaking him out. “You feel right.”
His lips met mine, and all the stress in my shoulders and legs flowed out of me. I thought my knees might collapse from the sheer pleasure of knowing this kiss was for me alone. How I’d missed him. His finger gingerly tickled my neck as his weight shifted, as his lips parted. He told me everything he never had to say with the most sensual kiss I’d ever experienced in my life.
I sucked on his lower lip, and his moan nearly undid me.
Eros took control. I knew he wanted me as badly as I needed him. I tugged at the hem of his shirt and worked my hands under the fabric, loving the feel of goose bumps as my fingers traced his back.
“Alfie, take me home tonight. Please.” I held my breath, waiting for him to tell me no, waiting for him to put an end to this before it could go too far.
He backed up, and I feared he was going to turn toward my house and another lonely night, but he held out a hand. “Come with me.”
I followed him as he led me to his apartment, and then to the loft where his bed glowed like a newly discovered shrine. He lifted my wrist to his lips and trailed kisses up my forearm, sending thundering aftershocks through my core. When he peeled the edge of my sleeve back, baring my shoulder, my goose bumps had goose bumps from my elbow clear up to my hairline.
I was in uncharted waters with him, which was what we’d discussed before. I didn’t want to kill the mood, but I needed to know. “Alfie, do you want to talk about this?”
“Do you trust me?” he asked. I nodded. “Can I trust you?”
It felt like a bigger question when he turned it on me. Yes, I trusted him not to hurt me. I trusted he wanted something that would last beyond tonight.
Could he trust me?
I could promise him I wouldn’t hurt him, not on purpose. I couldn’t promise forever, but I could promise I wanted to. I could promise him more than a hookup.
He dropped his hands to his sides. “What do you want, Sierra? I’m all yours.”
I let my eyes fall down the length of him. “I want you.”
He grasped the hem of my shirt and lifted it up. I reached for the buttons on his as he unsnapped my bra. I’d barely traced the trail of hair leading into his pants before he laid me down on his bed. I groaned when his lips brushed my nipple, and my hips lifted in search of relief from pulsating need, craving his touch. He unfastened my jeans, fingers toying with the lace on my panties, driving me to desperation.
I shoved his shoulder to force him onto his back, stripping off his shirt in the process. I ran my fingers down his abs, mesmerized by the way his muscles contracted. He’d been hiding a world of beauty from me.
I might have lingered on every place his skin vibrated when I tickled him, but his pants were straining, and my patience ran out. He sighed an airy ahhhh when I popped his fly and slid my hands over the top of his boxer briefs. The sound of his bliss nearly devastated me.
His cock grew even harder as I stroked him, and I throbbed at the thought of his need satisfying my own. I kissed him while I worked him free so I could feel the smooth length of him.
“Do you have a condom?” I rasped.
He swallowed. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
He rolled over and stretched his arm to a side table, jostling the furniture so hard it knocked his family’s picture over. He abandoned that attempt and crawled over to open the drawer. I took advantage of his position to peel his jeans down his hips. He laughed but let me finish the job. On his knees, on his bed, stark naked in the moonlight, he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “You.” I exhaled. “You are amazing.”
That smile. It was going to kill me. He held the condom packet up, like a treasure, and I snatched it from him. He worked my pants off while I extracted the rubber, and then he ran fingers up my inner thigh and against my pleasure zone.
Unf.
Such a dilemma. I was slick from wanting him inside me, but I never wanted him to stop touching me, either. He kissed my neck, then whispered, “Feel good?”
I whimpered in response. He shifted, and his lips passed over my breasts, then tickled my stomach. I giggled and clenched.
He lifted his head. “Ticklish?”
“A little.”
“How about here?” He kissed my hip, then crawled between my knees. “Or here?” He kissed my thigh.
“No. Not ticklish there.”
His finger circled once before he bent forward and ran his tongue straight down from the one point of desire to another.
“That feels so damn good.”
“Mmm,” was all he said. He sucked on me as his finger slid inside, pushing me to a place beyond pleasure. My breathing grew ragged. I was lost in another dimension. My body had become a drug factory, and I was high on endorphins. Without warning, the intensity overwhelmed me, and waves of relief and happiness washed over me.
For a moment, I touched the doors of heaven.
Then I plummeted, and my body shuddered.
Either Alfie was a sex wizard or else our emotional connection amplified my senses.
Alfie read my body’s signals and kissed me once, then rested his head on my stomach. “You are delicious.”
My arms had turned into noodles. I laid a hand on his shoulder, desultory, satisfied but still wanting. “Come here.”
He inched back up me, and I worried he might be chivalrous and call it a night. But then he took the condom from me and rolled it on with one hand. The moment that sucker was on, I hooked a leg around his butt and pulled him to me like a tractor beam.