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I nod.Please.

He tugs me forward, fits my lips against his. He kisses me with strong, insistent strokes that send my thoughts scattering like wisps of smoke.

And when his tongue moves against my lower lip, I open for him.

He groans. His tongue is hot inside my mouth, and he’s the only thing I can feel, the only thing I can think of. It’s gone in the next instant, a teasing touch, replaced by his lips capturing my bottom one.

He’s firm against me, wide chest and hard hips, and there’s something there, something against my stomach, and is that… is he…?

I never knew curiosity could be this aching, painful feeling.

His hand runs in a rough caress over my hip, down to the curve of my butt. He’s touching me like he’s wanted this forever; like I’ve finally given him permission and he’s not going to waste a single second of it.

I’m not planning on wasting it either. Not now that I’mfinallyhere, when I’m finally feeling this hot, twisted feeling inside of wanting to get closer and closer still. Not when it’shimtouching me like this. Like I’m the best thing he’s ever held in his arms.

His hand skims my ribs and brushes over my left breast. His thumb slides across my hard nipple, through the fabric of my clothes.

A live wire goes off inside me.

My hands turn into claws against his neck.Wow.I break off from his mouth to take a shaky breath.

West is breathing just as hard. Like I’ve finally knocked him off-kilter, made his controlled teacher role crash and burn. “Are you okay?”

I arch into him again. “Yeah. It’s just that no one’s ever touched me there.”

“What?”

“It’s fine,” I say, rising up on my tiptoes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to?—”

“Don’t apologize.” West’s hands drop from my body. “You should never apologize to me. But Nora…”

I shake my head again, like this is all just one large misunderstanding. He can’t know. “West?—”

“Tell me you haven’t hidden this.”

“Hidden what?”

“Your inexperience with men.” He looks at me like I’ve destroyed him. Like he’s coming apart at the seams. “You told me you’d had sex before. You told me… and now… that wasn’t true. Was it? You’ve never let anyone that close.”

My face is hot. I can taste my own fear. “West, it’s fine. It’s all good. We don’t?—”

“It’snotfine.” His expression is slack. “You’re a virgin.”

The word lands in the space between us like a curse. It feels ugly. Something I’ve been working against for years. Not something I want to be, not something I crave or value. It feels like a testament to my own failure with men, with relationships, with love.

A testament to my own fear.

“This doesn’t change anything,” I say.

“Fuck.” His eyes close for a second, and there’s color along the tops of his cheekbones. His hair is mussed from my hands, and he’s so handsome it hurts. “How could you have lied about this?”

“It doesn’t change anything.” Embarrassment makes my eyes water. The wordliefeels ugly too, tossed out between us. Tears at the truce we’ve built and the trust that’s been developing so slowly, so quietly, that I didn’t notice it until right this moment.

He’s Rafe’s friend.

And somehow he’s also become mine.

West’s face twists with horror. “It changeseverything. If you’re a virgin…” He shakes his head. “Fuck.Fuck.”