“Hey.” I lifted her chin. “You can talk to me.”
“I’m just …” She sighed, her smile fading as she struggled. “I’ve seen the women you chase, Josh. I’m not like that. I …” She trailed off, wincing with humiliation.
It took a moment to wipe the confusion from my face while I tried to process her words. I laughed once. “Thank Christ. That’s what I like about you, Avery.” Caressing her jawline with my thumb, I watched as the rosy color of her cheeks deepened.
“I probably haven’t done … a lot of things,” she said.
I shook my head, failing to stifle a laugh. Her expression turned from worried to pissed off. She pulled away from me, and I was learning quickly that I hated that.
“You’re laughing at me?” she snapped.
“No. Jesus, Avery. Is that what you’re worried about? A lot of this is new to me too, y’know. I’d rather be your first. And if I can’t be your first in something …” I gritted my teeth, willing myself to grow a pair.
“What?”
Her anger fizzled, but the worry in her eyes had returned. I would have to choose my words carefully. If I seemed like the old Josh, she was going to bolt. If I told her the truth, she was going to bolt too.
“No,” I said with a sigh. “I’m trying to tell you that I … I’m just going to fucking say it. I care about you, okay? And that is new to me and fucking terrifying. And I’m not really sure what to do if you don’t feel the same way.”
Her lips parted and she sucked in a tiny breath. After an eternity, she finally spoke. “I do. Feel the same, I mean.”
“Yeah?” I asked, relief making my shoulders sink.
She nodded. “It scares me too. But something about us is different. I want this. I want you.”
My eyebrows pulled together and I exhaled. My mouth crashed into hers, as if she were the only source of oxygen in a burning building. I wanted to be consumed by the inferno now raging between us.
The fabric of her dress fell away, and I scanned every soft curve of her skin. The only sound in the room was our breaths; the only movement was the reflection in her eyes as she watched me reach for her. I lifted her effortlessly, wrapping her legs around my waist. She kept her mouth on mine as I walked across the living room to the bedroom doorway. Reluctantly, I lowered her to the ground, until she was standing on her toes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Something new for me.”
“Which is?”
“A bedroom.”
Avery bit her lip and giggled as I slowly slipped a hand behind her, fumbling with the small clasp of her bra before it snapped free and slid down to her waist. She broke her hold on me just long enough to toss the lace to the floor before pressing her body tight against mine.
My dick was painfully hard against the rough fabric of my jeans, but I didn’t want to rush things with Avery. Her hands slid tentatively over the ridges of my abdomen, and they involuntarily flexed under her touch.
“Josh,” she whispered against my lips as her fingers slipped under the waistband of my jeans. I quickly undid the button and zipper before shoving the denim to the ground and kicking them off my feet.
Giggling into my mouth, Avery gripped my shoulders. I lowered her back onto her bed, our bodies tangling in the mass of fluffy comforter beneath us.
There was no urgency between us. I wanted to savor every taste of her skin, from the valley above her collarbone to the soft curve of her breast.
I kissed my way down her stomach as it dipped and raised with her ragged breaths, her long, elegant fingers lost in my hair, guiding me lower.
Pressing my lips to the pale pink lace adorned by a small matching bow on the front of her panties, I felt her body tense. My rough, calloused fingers tugged at the edge of the fabric, sliding it down over her hips and the widening of her thighs. I dragged them down to her painted toes and tossed them into the darkness. I considered kissing the apex of her thighs, but I climbed my way back up her body, desperate to feel her beneath me.
Even though Avery was significantly shorter than I was, her legs seemed impossibly long as they crossed behind my backside to hold me tighter against her. Her soft lips, still sticky from gloss, settled on a patch of skin just below my ear. I grew harder as I rocked my hips, moving my length along her inner thighs.
She breathed in and then let out a sexy, soft moan.
I tensed. “You keep that up, this will be over before we even start,” I joked, and she rewarded me with one of her soft giggles, a whisper’s breath blowing against my ear.
Pressing my cheek against hers, I closed my eyes. I needed a moment to calm myself before I lost control and flipped her ass over to take her in one of the many dirty ways I’d dreamed about since we’d spoken at JayWok. Avery deserved better than that. With her, I wanted more than just a quick, dirty fuck. I wanted to look into her eyes. For the first time, it was just as important to see the expression on her face when I slid inside her as the sensation itself.
“Don’t move,” I said, more begging than warning. I crawled from her body and fumbled with the button of my jeans at the side of the bed.
I said a silent prayer, followed by a thank-you when a small foil packet fell from my pocket into my hand. It bothered me that it had been placed in my wallet with the intention of being used on any random girl I took home. Now, I couldn’t imagine this moment with anyone but Avery. I couldn’t have predicted us being there, in Avery’s bedroom, but it didn’t stop the guilt from consuming me. Even watching me behave like the kind of douchebag she hated, Avery Jacobs was somehow lying beneath me, completely naked and impatiently waiting for me to make love to her. Everything had somehow fallen into place, even though I knew the truth: my life had been a series of bad luck. It was just a matter of time before Avery walked away.