“Oh, well, what are you seeing? You can come sit with Jeff and me.”
“That’s okay,” he says quickly. “I think I’m going to call it a night.”
“All right,” she says, stepping forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Have a good night.”
“You too,” Ev says. Val turns and goes back to her boyfriend, and Ev visibly deflates. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I assure him, even though there’s still a heavy feeling in my chest. I reach for his hand reflexively, and he jerks away, sending me an apologetic grimace. “Do you still want to see the movie?”
He glances back at Val and her boyfriend and then back at me. “Yeah, I don’t want to ruin our second date.” His voice is tight and dripping with discomfort.
“Tell you what, why don’t we go back to my place instead. This date is far from ruined. It just needs a change of venue.”
“Really? You don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind,” I assure him.
He glances at them one last time before nodding toward the door and following me out. As we make our way through the parking lot, he walks close enough to me that our hands brush every so often, tempting me to reach for his. But I resist the urge. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to duck into the closet for anyone, and I don’t blame Ev for the yucky feeling it left me with, but I need a second to get myself back together.
I take a deep breath, reminding myself as we walk in silence that he deserves as much time as he needs to come out and that my momentary discomfort is a very small price to pay.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he says again once we’re in the car. He sounds utterly devastated, and this time I do reach over and take his hand, threading our fingers together and giving his hand a squeeze.
“That sucked,” I agree. I’m not about to sugar coat it. “But I get it. I like you, Ev, I really do. And if being with you right now means that we have to keep things quiet, I can live with that.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” he argues, and I smile a little, leaning over and kissing his shoulder to let him know I appreciate his worry for me. “I’m not going to make you hide forever. I’m not going to hide forever,” he says resolutely.
My heart flutters, and my chest grows even heavier at the unspoken implication that anything about this is forever. That thought threatens to ruin my mood faster than the run-in with Val.
“Come on, let’s go back to my place,” I say, putting a suggestive purr behind my words.
“You still want to?” he asks skeptically.
“I really want to,” I assure him.
Chapter 18
Everett
I can’t believe two dates in a row have been crashed by Val. Not that it’s her fault, but it’s starting to feel like the universe is screwing with me.
I glance over at Watson to make sure he doesn’t seem upset by the whole ordeal, and he grins back at me, shooting me a wink. My skin heats and tingles. Maybe missing the movie isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened.
Val aside, I can’t imagine a better date than the one we’ve had tonight so far. From the heated kiss when he answered the door to the banter and conversation over dinner. People always talk about how difficult dating is, but it feels so easy with Watson. It feels too easy if I’m being honest. Am I doing all of this right? Are we moving too fast? Or not fast enough? Are all of these intense feelings because he’s the first man I’ve dated or are they because he’s Wats?
These questions are still swimming in my mind when we reach his apartment building.
“Uh-oh, you changed your mind about coming in, haven’t you?” he asks.
“What? Are you kidding?” I park and unbuckle my seatbelt, twisting in my seat to face him.
“You got all serious and quiet. I thought maybe you started re-thinking things.”
“I was thinking about a lot of stuff, but something tells me you might have just the cure for that.” I waggle my eyebrows suggestively, and he snorts a laugh.
“Do I ever,” he agrees. “Come on.” He unbuckles, the click of the seatbelt echoing in the car, and gets out.
Nerves and excitement fill my stomach, making my hands shake as I reach for the door handle to get out and follow him inside. Actually, it’s not just my hands. My whole body is shaking, my heart pounding so hard I can hardly hear anything else over the thundering sound in my ears. And I’m not sure my knees will hold up long enough to get me up the flight of stairs to his apartment.
I can’t tear my eyes off the sway of Watson’s ass as we make our way up the stairs, my cock getting harder with every step, every flex of his ass right in front of my face. I want to sink my teeth into it. I want to leave love bites and whisker burn all over his body; I want to touch every inch of him, memorize every freckle and line on his entire body.
We pause in front of his door so he can unlock it, and I notice his hands are shaking too.
“Are you nervous?” I ask, stepping close, pressing my front to his back so the curve of his ass is snug against my steel erection.
“It’s your first time. It’s a lot of pressure.”
I make a huffing noise of amusement as I nuzzle against his ear. “At this point, you could stand naked and let me stare at you while I jerk myself off, and it would still be the best sex of my life.”
“Mmm, now there’s an idea,” he says, finally getting the door open.
We both kick off our shoes in a hurry, Watson turning toward me as soon as the door swings shut behind us. I’m not sure who moves first, but in an instant, we’re nothing but lips and tongues and groping hands, stumbling down the hallway to his bedroom.
I fumble with the buttons on his shirt while he unzips my pants. As soon as I have his shirt open, I run my hands over his soft, slightly round belly, his peppering of coarse hair tickling my palm. We hit the bed, and Watson topples backward. I’m right behind him, covering his body with mine and burying my face in the crook of his neck. I take a deep breath and my stomach flutters violently. Watson is all fucking man, and god damn I can’t believe how long it took me to get here.
“You’re so damn sexy,” I tell him as I make my way back to his mouth. He grabs the hem of my shirt, dragging it up and forcing me to break the kiss so he can get it over my head.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” he teases, raking his eyes over my bare chest. Watson puts a hand on my belly, dragging his fingers along the crease between my abs. “God, that’s just stupid,” he groans. “But I am going to have to lick something off of you at some point so those abs don’t go to waste.”
I chuckle. “I can live with that.”
When he reaches my pants, he catches them and underwear and pushes them both down together, leaving me completely exposed, my cock swinging hard and heavy between my legs as I stare down at him.
“Holy hell,” he mutters, closing his eyes and biting his lip. “Okay, hold on one second.”
“What’s wrong?” I sit back, my mind racing as I try to think of how I could’ve fucked this up already.
“Nothing, I just should’ve waited a second to get you naked, because it’s really hard to think with your cock like right there,” he explains, his eyes still closed.