His lips touched mine, slowly at first, before the growing ache thrummed and pushed us forward.
Kissing him with a desperation I couldn’t explain, I pulled and tugged and yanked at every spare inch of his skin, desperate to feel more.
More.
More.
More!
The moment his fingers grazed my shoulder, a prickling sensation spread all over my skin.
Grabbing his hand, I tried to move it lower, but he kept returning to my waist.
Didn’t he understand what I wanted?
How badly Ineededto feel his body on mine?
When I grabbed his hand and pressed it to my chest once more, Hugh groaned into my mouth, and it was the best noise I’d ever heard in my life.
“Liz,” he moaned into my mouth, moving his hand from my chest to my hip. “We should slow down.”
“No.” Too lost in my feelings, I continued to pull and tug his back, needing to feel him all over. Needing his touch to force out the bad ones. “I want you.”
“No, Liz.” Breaking our kiss, he pulled back to look at me, breathing uneven. “We can’t do things like that yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re not ready.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I choked out a pained sob. “I wish I could get you to understand.”
“Then tell me,” he urged. “I’m here, Liz. I’m always listening.”
I knew he was, and that broke my heart a little bit more because I didn’t want him to see and run.
To turn away from me.
To think I was dirty and tainted.
Because I was supposed to be his.
Ibelongedto him, but a part of me had been stolen.
And I needed him to put it back for me.
PART 17
Fresh Starts
ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK
Hugh
AUGUST 7, 2002
“JESUSCHRIST!” ISTRANGLED OUT WHENISTROLLED INTOLIZ’S ROOM ON THE MORNing of my sister’s thirteenth birthday. “I am so fucking sorry for not knocking.” Because not only was my girlfriend standing in front of her full-length mirror but she was fullynaked. Likefullynaked. “I thought you’d be in bed.” In fact, I had been so sure of it that I had arrived an hour earlier than agreed for the sole purpose of peeling her off the mattress. “But you’re up…and naked.”
“Wow, nothing gets past you, does it?” Liz teased, completely unfazed while I was freaking the fuck out. “Relax,” she laughed, glancing over her shoulder at me. “It’s not like you haven’t seen my body before.”
