Текст книги "More Than Her"

Автор книги: Jay McLean

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TEN

-Past-

The date.

Start of summer, pre college

Logan: 7 days to go.

Amanda: Really, asshole? A countdown?

Logan: 6 days to go. I bet you can't wait to see me.

Amanda: I'm already regretting this.

Logan: 5 days to go. OMG! What am I going to wear?

Amanda: I thought I told you not to contact me for a week.

Logan: 4 days to go. Seriously though, what do you want to do?

Amanda: Not go on a date with you?

Logan: 3 days to go. I'm getting pretty fucking excited to see you.

Amanda: Shut up.

Logan: 2 days to go. Just thought I would remind you, in case you had forgotten.

Amanda: Who is this?

Logan: 1 day to go. I'll call you tomorrow.

Amanda: I'll be busy.

Logan: I'm calling you in 5 minutes. You better answer. You promised my 'nephew' a date with me.

Amanda: Fine!

Even though she asked me not to, I texted her every day, several times a day, for the week leading up to our date. She replied with smartass answers every time. If ever there was a sign that we would connect as well as we did, that should have been it.

"Hello?" she answered on the first ring. It had just hit eight in the morning, and even though it was summer, my body had gotten used to getting up at six for a morning run and training. I skipped the run. I had no training. I sat with my phone in my hand until it seemed like a decent hour to call.

"Hey, pretty girl," I replied. I tried to hide the nerves that had taken over from just hearing her voice. "What time should I pick you up?"

"Oh." She sounded surprised. "I thought you were just messing with me. I didn't know you were serious about taking me out."

I had no idea how she got to that conclusion. "Nope." I faked airiness in my tone. "Completely serious. So?"

"Um."

I waited.

And waited.

Finally, "I have to work. But I finish at five—if you want to pick me from there? But honestly, you don't have to. I mean—"

"Five? I'll be there."

Silence.

"Amanda?"

"Yeh?"

"I'm really looking forward to seeing you again." Truth.

***

I showed up to her work fifteen minutes late, just to prove that I hadn't been sitting around waiting to leave.

She sat on a bench looking down at her phone. She probably assumed I wouldn't show.

Valid.

She stood up and walked towards my car. She'd changed out of her work uniform and into tight fitting jeans and even tighter tank. Fuck. Her body was out of this fucking world.

"Quit the eye fuck, Matthews," she said, taking a seat and pulling on the belt.

She had fire. "You know what I like about you?"

"My tits?"

My eyes rose from her tits. "Huh?"

She laughed once. "Jesus, this isn't awkward at all."

I laughed with her, pulled away from the curb, and started driving to the restaurant.

I eyed her sideways. "Well, let's not do that. Make it awkward, I mean."

"Yeah? How are we not going to do that?"

I glanced at her quickly, smirking. "Well, I could pull the car over right now and we could just make out, so we don't have to worry about it later. Maybe you can let me cop a feel. Get to first base, you know?"

She laughed out loud.

I was thankful she found it funny, because that really could have gone either way.

"Okay, Romeo."

I laughed at her. Wait. "Huh? What do you mean 'okay'?"

"Pull over, let's get this awkwardness out of the way. I think you're right. I mean, what if you're a shit kisser? At least we'll know now, right? So let's go." She rubbed her hands together and rolled her shoulders.

I glanced over at her, trying to work out whether she was kidding.

She laughed. “Pull over already."

So I did.

Before the car had come to a stop, she was taking off her seatbelt and turning to face me.

I switched the car off and did the same.

And we sat there, staring at each other.

She licked her lips. My eyes focused on it. My palms began to sweat and for some reason, I was actually nervous. I put my hand to the side of her face, my fingers laced through her hair. I bought her face closer to mine and closed my eyes. I heard her breath catch. Our lips touched slightly, right before she...laughed.

Fucking laughed.

I swear at this point I thought she might actually be crazy. Legit, crazy. But then she looked at me with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard, and I couldn't help but do it, too. So there we were, laughing like idiots. Then I felt her hand on my leg and her mouth was mine and before I knew it we're kissing.

And not the first kiss type kissing, but kissing.

My hand went back up to the side of her face. I pushed my fingers through her hair to brought her closer to me.

She moaned.

I deepened the kiss.

Her hands reached up to hold my arms.

And we kissed.

She leaned in closer, one hand going to my hair, tugging.

I opened my mouth to lick her lips.

Then our tongues collided.

And so did the world around us.

My arm went around her to bring her closer. I didn't want to stop. Not yet.

She pulled back abruptly, her eyes wide. "Shit," she muttered.

"Wow," I breathed out. Apparently I'd grown a vagina.

She settled back into her seat, put on her belt, and then looked over at me.

I never once took my eyes off her.

She smiled. "You can take me to dinner now," she said.

So I did.

***

We ended up at a steak house a few blocks from her work. "This place has the best banana splits known to man." She walked ahead of me towards the restaurant doors. I watched her ass.

I opened the door for her and we walked in with my hand on the small of her back.

We got seated in a corner booth. I sat on one side. She sat on the other.

"So," I started. "You're the first girl I've ever taken out on a date."

She threw her head back in laughter.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh shit!" Her features straightened. "You're serious?"

I nodded.

"How awkward for you." She didn't even try to hide her smirk.

"It is." I fake pouted. "And you're being mean. You should be holding my hand and comforting me."

"Aw," she cooed, treating me like a baby.

"I mean it," I told her.

She scooted closer to me. "Better?"

"Nope." I moved so I was right next to her. "This is better." I put my arm on the seat behind her head.

She smiled up at me.

And something in me switched.

That was the moment she became more.

More than just hot, or sexy, or any of the other things I'd call her if I was surrounded by other like-minded assholes. My dad—he would call it timeless, or classic. The type of beauty that no matter what time, age or era, would always still be beautiful. She was beautiful.

"How come I've never seen you before? At parties or whatever?"

She shrugged. "Not really the party type girl."

"Figures," I said. "I'd for sure remember you."

She bit her lip.

I kissed it.

She kissed back, only for a moment, before laughing into my mouth.

"You just kiss people whenever you want, huh?"

I chuckled. "No, just you, Amanda. I can't fucking help myself around you." Truth.

She started blushing. Then subtly moved closer to me. Her hand landed on my leg.

I moved my arm and placed it over her shoulders, and then lifted her chin with my finger. I licked my lips. She did the same. Her eyes drifted shut. I leaned down. "Ahem." Stupid throat clearing douche hole waiter. "Hey, Amanda," he said flatly.

She pulled away from me, and faced the waiter, her eyes wide. "Hey, Greg."

The kid didn't say shit. Just glared at me. "Problem?" I asked him.

"I'll be back," she said from next to me. Then stood up and pulled Glarey McGlare Dick away from the table.

They walked over to the bar area and spoke heatedly to each other. His arm kept pointing at me. I got up on his third point. She raised her hand to stop me. I waited. Then she spoke calmly to him, and after a few moments, she visibly relaxed and got on her toes to hug him.

She resumed her position next to me, but not as close. I waited for her to speak. To tell me what the fuck just happened. But she never did. Instead, she just opened the menu in front of her, smiled at me, and said, "You wanna just get a little of everything and share it?"

"Sure." I stopped caring about what happened the second she smiled.

***

We ordered and ate almost silently. I made a mental note to take her somewhere else next time. Somewhere we could actually talk. Maybe I was getting too far ahead of myself. Maybe I just really wanted there to be a next time.

She was right. That place did have the best banana splits known to man, and the biggest ones too. We ended up having to share, which was a great excuse to be closer to her.

"So I need to ask you something," I told her while we waited for the check.

She moved in closer again, her hand rested on my leg. Without even thinking, I took it in mine and linked our fingers. And then froze. I wondered for a moment if it was like that with everyone, the nerves and sweaty palms of first kisses, or the seemingly natural progression of first dates.

"Logan?" She pulled me away from my thoughts.

"Huh?" I looked down at our linked hands.

She squeezed it once. "You were going to ask me something?"

My eyes lifted to meet hers. What was I going to say? Oh yeah. "That day when I tried to get your number, and you didn't give it to me. You got all weird when I told you my name. What's that about?"

She laughed. "I don't know. I've kind of heard about you." My eyebrows rose, wanting her to continue. "You know my friend Alexis?"

"Oh yeah. I like Alexis." A smug smile took over my face. "She's good at giving out numbers."

She continued to laugh. "I know you like her, Logan. Well, you did. Once. One night– year or so ago. You guys kind of fooled around, and then you never called her. Although, in your defense, you straight out told her you wouldn't, so she wasn't too surprised."

My mouth dropped.

She laughed at my reaction.

***

We walked out of the restaurant hand in hand. Once we were in my car, I turned to her. She was already facing me. "So." I said.

"So." She smiled.

"I kind of don't want to take you home," I told her.

"Then don't." She shrugged.

"How about—I mean, do you want to maybe come back to my place for a bit? We can just hang out, promise, we don't have to do anything. I just kind of don't−"

"Okay," she cut in.

I had the car on the road and heading to my house faster than a fat kid eats cake.

I pulled into the driveway and we met in front of the car. She smiled up at me. "Thanks for dinner, by the way." She took both my hands in hers, then got on her toes and kissed me. Then she pulled back, looking unsure about what she just did.

So I did the only thing I knew to reassure her that it was fine. It was more than fucking fine. I put one hand on her waist and the other behind her head and I kissed her.

And I don't know how long we stood there; softly kissing, but I wanted more. Much more.

Somehow, she ended up on the hood of my car with me between her legs. My hand had somehow made its way under her shirt and just under her bra. "Oh my god," she moaned into my mouth.

I pulled back slightly. "I know I am, but my name's Logan."

She shook her head, chuckling. “Come here, asshole," she said, bringing me back down to her.

Then I heard the sound of a throat clearing.

We immediately stopped, and both looked up.

Dad.

He stood at the front door, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. I stood to full height, straightened my clothes and tried to hide my boner.

Amanda made a squealing sound and hid behind my body. "Oh my god," I heard her mumble. She fisted the back of my shirt with her hands and planted her face into my back.

I put my hands in my front pockets and looked down.

"Logan." Dad nodded once in greeting. "Don't mind me. I was just on my way out."

I nodded back, looking up, but not making eye contact.

"I take it you'll be in the pool house tonight?" he asked.

"Yep."

He got in his car and drove away. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and turned to face Amanda.

Her face was bright red. "That was so fucking embarrassing." Her mouth on my chest muffled her words. I chuckled and held her head close, kissing her on the forehead.

And for some reason, it felt okay to do this—to be this—with her.

***

"So," I said, hands in pockets. We'd just entered the pool house. She walked around, taking everything in. I walked behind her, staring at her ass.

"So," she mimicked, spinning to face me.

I quickly darted my eyes away from her ass.

"Busted."

I shrugged. "I can't help that your ass deserves to be admired."

She laughed quietly and shook her head. She took two steps forward, and put her arms around my neck. Then her mouth was on mine and we were kissing again. I didn't mind. Not one fucking bit. I loved the fact that she was the one to make the moves.

I moved us to the sofa, never once breaking the kiss. I sat down and positioned us so she was straddling me. We started grinding on each other. Her hips moved, while our mouths and tongues played. Every now and then she'd moan and I'd get so fucking turned on, she must have known it, because under my jeans I was hard as a fucking rock.

Then she pulled away. "Sorry," she said, biting her lip. "I'm not that girl, Logan."

I eyed her curiously. "What do you mean? What girl?"

"I mean, I'm not going just going to sleep with you—"

I opened my mouth to interrupt but she talked over me. "I don't mean to be a tease. I'm sorry."

"Don't say that about yourself. You're not a tease. At all. And just so you know; I don't think you could ever be that girl. Not to me." I felt it again—that nervous tension. My heart pounded against my chest. "Look, I really like you. Honestly. And I mean—I'd be stupid to not want to sleep with you. But—maybe after I take you out a few more times?"

Her eyes widened. A slow smile crept to her lips. "Okay," is all she said.

***

She shuffled off me and lay down on the sofa so her feet were over my legs. "I'm so exhausted." She covered her eyes with her arm. "I've worked a thousand hours this week."

Before I realized what I was doing, I'd pulled her shoes off her feet, and started rubbing them. Her moans made me look up at her face. Our eyes locked. She licked her lips.

My dick twitched.

"Why do you work so much?" I tried to change my focus.

"Need the money for college." She shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal. "Come here," she whispered, scooting to the corner of the sofa so I could lie down next to her. I ended up on my back, with her half on top of me.

Her face was so close I could feel her breath on my cheek. She kissed it quickly before pulling away.

“Tell me something," she said.

I chuckled. "What do you mean?"

"Tell me something that means something—something important to you."

I thought about it for a long time. One hand played with her hair, the other on her waist. My thumb rubbed her stomach under her top. "If I tell you something, you have to promise not to ask about it."

She reared back slightly, and then looked me in the eyes. "Promise."

"When I was younger, something happened to me, and for a while I didn't talk. Like, at all. To no one. I had a hard time sleeping and couldn't really grasp the idea of night and day, so my dad—he told me that instead of living life by time and dates, to live them by moments. And instead of trying to remember how old I was or what day it was, try to remember how I felt during those moments. So that's what I do when I experience things."

She was watching me, waiting for me to go on, unsure if I was done. So I continued, "Okay, say I asked you about the first time you learnt to ride a bike. The first thing you would tell me is how old you were, right?"

She nodded her head slowly, her finger moving the hair away from my forehead.

"Well, if you asked me the same question, I'd say...I felt happy, or like I was flying, and I remember smiling huge, and laughing. For the first time in a long time, I felt free."

Her eyes stayed focused on mine; burning with an intensity I hadn't seen before. Then her hand reached up to cup my jaw. "I think that maybe, you—Logan Matthews—are someone I'd really, really like to get to know."

I leaned up and kissed her again. Only this time, it was slower. This kiss—it was different. I wasn't just kissing her because I want in her pants. I was kissing her because I wanted her.

And that's what we did.

For minutes that felt like seconds, we kissed. And I let myself have something I'd never wanted to feel before. I wanted her to want me—not just physically—all of me.

When we finally pulled apart, she rested her forehead on mine. "Can you take your shirt off?"

"What?" I was still in a daze so there was no way I heard her right.

She came to a stand in front of the sofa. I sat up.

"Take off your shirt," she repeated, not a trace of humor in her tone.

"What?" I said again.

She pouted. "Please?"

"No." I shook my head laughing. I tried to stand but she pushed me down with her hands on my chest and straddled me again.

"Please?" she repeated. Then enforced a megawatt pout.

I couldn't fucking say no to her. I started to lift it, but her hands covered mine. "I want to do it," she said quietly. Then her hands lifted my shirt over my stomach, my chest, and then my head. "Sweet. Baby. Fucking. Jesus," she breathed out.

I smirked.

Her finger ran down my chest, onto my stomach where her fingers ran along the dips of my muscles. She bit her lip again, and then pulled out her phone.

"What—" I started, but the sound of the camera cut me off.

I tried to take the phone out of her hands but she held it away. "What are you doing?" I kept reaching for it but she was too fast.

"Alexis told me you had this killer body, I'm just sending her a text to tell her I agree."

"Are you sending a picture to her?"

"Yep," she announced, unashamedly.

Her phone pinged. She looked at the phone and laughed.

"What is funny? Give it to me." I tried to reach for it again. She slapped my hand away.

"Fine." I huffed out. "I don't wear a shirt, you take your jeans off."

She smiled. "Actually, I was going to ask if I could change into one of your sweats. You know," she paused for a beat. "I just want to get comfortable."

I didn't even think twice. I picked her up by her ass and carried her over to the bed, where I lazily threw her down. She squealed with laughter as she landed. I pulled out a pair of sweatpants from my dresser but held it behind me. "Strip," I told her.

Her eyes went huge.

I raised my eyebrows.

"No," she deadpanned.

I waited.

"Fine," she ground out.

I leaned back on my heels, anticipating a show.

She kicked of her shoes and laid flat on the bed. Then she unbuttoned her jeans. My eyes stayed focused on her hands.

She cleared her throat. I looked up at her face. Then I heard the zipper start. My eyes automatically went down to her hands. "Stop," I said.

She did.

My eyes travelled from her hands on her jeans, up her body, until our eyes locked. "I want to do it." I repeated her words.

I threw the sweats on the floor and moved so I was between her legs. I leaned over her, bracing my weight with one arm. And then I kissed her. Slowly. My mouth moved to her jaw, her neck, and her chest. I lifted her shirt and kissed her flat stomach. And then lower and lower. I felt her tense. Then squirm as my mouth went lower again. I curled my fingers around the band of her jeans and slowly lowered it. She lifted her hips to assist me. I pulled them down past her hips, past her ass and past her panties. Her fucking black lace panties. I heard her breath catch. I glanced up at her face—she was biting her lip, her eyes shut tight. I stood to full height. "Okay," I said. "You can do the rest." I quickly turned and adjusted myself, picking up the sweatpants as I did. If I was there a second longer I would've ripped off her panties and tasted her. No. Fucking. Doubt.

"Here." I turned around and held them out to her. She was pulling her jeans off her feet. It was the first time I saw her legs. Her fucking legs. I think my eyes actually caught on fire.

"Perv," she joked.

I didn't say shit. I was too busy staring at her fucking legs.

She pulled on the sweats and walked over to the kitchen, rolling the band over her waist a few times. "I’m hungry," she announced.

I stared at her ass.

She started opening and closing the cupboards searching for something. She opened the pantry and her eyes went wide. "Holy Moly Batman, you got like, everything in here." She started picking up random things, looking at them quickly, then putting them back. "How do you have all this stuff?"

"My dad has a housekeeper come in twice a week to stock up," I told her, moving behind her and placing my hands on her waist. I kissed her bare shoulder; she tilted her head to the side. I started kissing her neck. "Ooh," she murmured, pulling out a packet of gummy bears.

I jumped to sit on the counter and watched as she opened the freezer, took out some ice cream, spooned it into a bowl, and then pulled the red gummy bears from packet and placed them in the ice cream.

"That's fucking disgusting."

She shrugged and picked up the bowl, then turned to face me. She froze, looking right at my chest, as if she'd forgotten that I didn't have a shirt on.

"What?" I smirked, inconspicuously popping my muscles.

Her gaze left my chest and lifted to my eyes, she bit her lip, her eyes half hooded. "I really want to get this ice cream and smear it all over your body, and then lick it off, really fucking slowly."

A strangled sound travelled out of my mouth before I could stop it.

This girl kept fucking surprising me—in a good way.

She sat down on the sofa and I sat next to her. "So only the red ones, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah." She finished chewing before she continued. "The others taste weird." Her nose scrunched.

Fuck, she was cute.

I jerked my head towards her bowl. "Okay, let me try it." My mouth opened, waiting.

Instead of giving it to me, she got a spoonful and put it in her mouth. Then her mouth was on mine and it was hot and cold at the same time. She pushed a gummy bear into my mouth with her tongue.

Ho. Lee. Fuck.

I swallowed. Then brought her mouth back to mine and kissed her. I couldn't stop fucking kissing her.

***

She stood up and started walking around the room. I watched her, waiting for my dick to calm itself down before I got up. She stood in front of the cd rack and started fingering the cases.

"Wow, you kind of listen to a bit of everything, huh?" She walked over to the iPad sitting on top of the floor speakers, turned the screen on and started tapping it. "You have all your music on iTunes as well?"

I got up and stood behind her. "Yeah, I buy most of the stuff on iTunes, but some of my favorites I buy on cd's too. I kind of like to have something physical to hold, you know?"

She nodded. "I'm the same way, but with books. Everything's digital now, but sometimes I'll buy a paperback if I love the book. I love the smell of them, too. Like the first time you open them up, and they're fresh and new. Or old books," she kept talking, animated, and I found myself smiling with her. "Old books are better—and when they're all together, oh my God, like used book stores—I love them the most. You don't find many anymore, because you know, the whole e-reader thing. But I love finding them at random places." She paused to take a breath. "Whoa, I just rambled about books. Now you know every nerdy aspect of me. I bet you can't wait to take me out again." She rolled her eyes and looked down to the floor.

I laughed. "It's cool. You're passionate. There's nothing wrong with that. Wait till you meet my friend Lucy. You guys would get along so well. She's always reading at the-"

"You want me to meet your friends?" she asked, there was confusion in her voice, but hopefulness too.

"Why wouldn't I?"

She shrugged and took a seat in front of the cd rack and started reading out album names loudly, occasionally pulling one out. I sat on the floor next to her and waited. "You really do like everything. There's hip-hop, pop, reggae, country?" Her head whipped to mine.

I shrugged, "I'm eclectic."

"You have every John Mayer album and single ever released." She pulled one out and looked on the back.

I bought her to me so she was straddling me again. She didn't refuse, but her eyes never left the CD. "So what's the deal with John Mayer?"

I started kissing her neck. I couldn't help it. Her head tilted to the side, giving me better access. "Hey, don't knock John Mayer. He's practically a God," I said, pulling back to face her. "Your Body Is A Wonderland is a fucking anthem. Do you know how many times I've gotten lai-" I caught myself quickly, "...ooked at...while that song's played?"

She laughed, pulling back from my mouth. "How many times have you been 'layooked' at?" She giggled some more. "I don't think 'layook' is word."

"It is so a word. Google it."

She pushed me until I fell flat on my back. Then her hand was in my pocket. My body jerked when her hand brushed against my dick. "What are you doing?"

She smirked, holding my phone in her hand. "Googling your imaginary word." She slid her finger across the screen and started typing, "So, unless I'm spelling it wrong, layook is not a word."

She raised her eyebrows at me.

I grabbed the phone from her hand and threw it across the room. "Yeah, you spelt it wrong." I sat up and started kissing her neck again, moving lower to her chest. I heard her moan quietly. My fingers on her waist dug into her skin the closer I got to her tits. She grabbed my head in both her hands and made me face her.

"How do I always end up in this position," she said, her arms around my neck.

I kissed her a couple times. "I like this position. In fact, consider this permanent."

She laughed into my mouth before pushing me back down onto my back.

"So." Her fingers started roaming my chest, and lower to my abs, her eyes following. "I'm not going to ask—about what happened when you were younger—but you said that you didn't speak for a while—what changed?" Her eyes moved up to meet mine.

I looked at her, trying to decide how much of myself I want to give her.

"What do you mean?" I asked, giving myself time.

"Well, what helped you to talk again? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm sorry. It's probably extremely personal. Never mind—"

"If I tell you, then you have to tell me something about you. Deal?"

She nodded.

"Okay," I sat up slightly, leaning on my elbows. "My dad made up this game, to help me. It's called two truths for fifteen."

"How do you play?"

"It's so stupid, you're going to laugh."

"No I won't. Swear it." She pouted.

"It's just—" I laughed at how stupid it was going to sound. "We asked each other a question and had to tell the truth, and we talked about it for fifteen minutes. See? Stupid."

"It's not stupid. It's really sweet. Your dad seems like a nice guy."

"He is. He's the best." Truth. "Your turn."

She eyed the ceiling a moment, before answering. "You know how I hate blood?" I jerked my head in a nod. "It kind of really sucks, because I want to be a midwife." She paused and waited. "You can laugh now."

"Why? It's not funny. That sucks. Why midwife though?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I love the idea of bringing life into the world. Being one of the first to hold a miracle, you know? Babies—that's what they are. Miracles. I guess I like kids, too. Always have. So I'll just settle for childcare. Hopefully that won't involve too much blood." She chuckled to herself.

"It's called Hemophobia, you know? The fear of blood."

Her eyes went wide. "I know that. But how do you?"

I shrugged. I wasn't about to tell her I googled it the night I met her at Jake's house. "They say it's normally caused by trauma in childhood, or adolescence. Did something happen?"

She looked away. "Nope. Not that I know of," she said quickly. "So, that's me. I'm pretty boring."

"No, you most definitely are not boring."

She rolled her eyes, "You're just saying that because you want to get layooked."

I laughed. Hard.

She laughed with me, leaning into me hard enough that we both end up laying down, her on top of me.

I brushed the hair away from her face "I like you, Amanda. You're something else."

She leaned down and kissed me. Slowly. Softly. Then she pulled back, covered her mouth, and let out the biggest yawn known to man.

I had to laugh. "Am I boring you?"

She shook her head, still yawning. It ended with a grunt. "No, Logan. I'm so sorry. I'm just so tired. I normally have a quick nap after work, but I didn't and I guess—"

I cut in, "It's fine."

She sat up, and stretched.

I sat up, too. Then we just looked at each other. We both knew it was time, but I sure as hell didn't want it to be over.

She smiled sadly at me. "I guess you should probably take me home."

I broke our gaze and looked down. "Yeah, I guess." I ran the back of my fingers on her palm and the inside of her wrist.

"Yeah, I guess," she said quietly. I lifted my eyes to hers; she was looking down at our hands. "Or—I mean, I just need a power nap, and I'm good to go. Fifteen minutes," she said. Her eyes came back to mine, she looked unsure of herself.

I couldn't help the grin that took over. Maybe—just maybe—she felt the same for me as I felt for her.

I picked her up and walked over to the bed, lifted the covers and lowered her onto it. I kissed her on her forehead. "Goodnight, pretty girl."

"Where are you going?" She pulled on my hand.

I shrugged.

She scooted over.

I didn't even hesitate.

Then we just lay there, side by side, on our backs.

I felt the bed move and turned my head. She was on her side, her eyes half closed. "Just a quick powernap," she assured. I don't know whether she was speaking to herself or me.

"Okay," I said.

Then she scooted closer. I turned to my side and did the same. Her eyes opened fully, then locked on mine.

"Logan," she whispered.

I swallowed.

She moved closer.

I did the same.

A buzzing intensity ran through my body. We were so close.

Then I kissed her.

Our mouths moved. Our chests heaved. But nothing else.

No hands. No sounds. Nothing.

Nothing around us.

Not a single fucking thing. In that moment—it was just her.

Then she moved closer, her entire body flushed mine.

Our breathing got heavy.

She picked up my arm and positioned it over her waist. I pulled her closer to me. And without me realizing, her hips had started moving. Thrusting. Like she needed some form of relief. I wanted to give it to her. I had to give it to her. My hand went to her stomach. Lower. And lower. Until it was just above her pants. My fingers dipped under the band. Her hand stopped me. She pulled it out but placed in between her legs, over her pants. I could feel the warmth. I started touching her. She kissed me deeper. Harder. Her breathing got heavier, more erratic. I needed to give it to her. She moaned into my mouth. Then moved to lie on her back. Her knees raised. Her legs spread. Her fingers curled in my hair. I never stopped touching her. Then her hips started moving again. Pushing into my hand. All I could do was cup her and hope that it was enough. "I want to touch you," I whispered against her lips.