“Everyone knows what?”
“The things you say in the dark don’t count,” she whispers.
“I’d argue that those are the things that count the most. The things we say when the rest of the world falls away, when it’s just two people being honest. That’s gotta matter more than anything.”
“But then the sun comes up and nothing changes.”
“Okay, but what if we took advantage of that?”
“Are you suggesting . . .”
“You know exactly what I’m suggesting. One night, we let the walls down. You and me.”
“One night of . . . what could have been.”
“Is that . . . Are you . . . I need to hear the words, Bianca. Do you want this? Want me?”
“I want you. I want us . . .” She lets out a slow breath. “I want to fuck you.”
He lets out a groan from the back of his throat and dips his head, pressing his lips to hers in what would be a chaste kiss if his hands didn’t immediately latch onto her hips, pulling her against him so she can feel exactly how much he wants her.
This is what she’s been missing. She knew finally giving in would feel good and yeah, she can admit now that there was no way they weren’t going to end up here.
She’d lied to everyone, but most of all, she’d lied to herself.
The idea of him getting on a plane at the end of the summer without her knowing what it would be like to be with him, what it would be like to have his hands on her, his mouth everywhere, his body moving inside of her . . . it’s laughable.
Of course this is where everything was leading the whole time.
“You taste so good,” he murmurs against her neck, exploring gently until he finds that spot, the spot he texted her about, right where that one stupid curl always escapes. She arches against him, her arms circling his neck, one hand falling to the back of his head to hold him there. Then he runs his teeth against her skin and her hips jolt up against his.
“Xavier,” she murmurs as he soothes the bite with a slow, smooth swipe of his tongue.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Why aren’t you inside me yet?”
He lets out a husky chuckle which sends a wave of warmth over her skin. “Patience never was your thing, huh?”
“Five years, I think I’ve been patient enough.”
“That long, huh?”
“I told you, literally the first time I saw you, I knew I was in so much trouble.”
“You never said anything.”
“What good would it have done?”
She can think of a lot of good things that would have happened if he’d said something, but she’s just as guilty of staying silent as he is. So much wasted time. Years when they could have been doingthis.
His hands slide down from her shoulders to her elbows, drawing her closer, his lips rising up over the curve of her jaw and then her cheek to her temple before he leans in close, just breathing her in.
He opens his mouth to answer, but she doesn’t want to know what he’d say, so she pushes up onto her toes, closes the last little bit of distance between them.
Xavier kisses like he does everything else. Completely and fully, with a single-minded intensity that she feels all the way down to her toes. When she pulls away, gasping for breath, it’s to the feeling of his hands at her waist, one rising up over her rib cage, under her breast, the other down over the curve of her ass.
“I forgot,” he groans. “Somehow I already forgot.”
