Page 81 of My Sweetest Agony

He dips his head closer until his warm breath floats over me along with something vaguely citrus that clings to his skin. “You need to learn to take a compliment. Especially when I’m the one giving them to you because I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

Something clenches around my chest, tightening around my heart with his words and the absolute sincerity in them. He meant every single one.

“I know.”

A tiny grin plays at his lips, filled with so much promise. “Good. Now”—he inclines his head toward the house—“would you like to go back into the party, or stay out here for a while?”

It’s such a loaded question with his hands on me, with my body buzzing the way it is. But he’s giving me a choice. And we both know what could happen if I answer yes to the latter.

I wasn’t completely sure where things were going with Drew before tonight.

All our dates have been incredible, the instant connection between us growing stronger with every hour we spend together, but this side of him is awakening something in me.

A burning, throbbing need for this man to take things to the next level, to get impossibly close to him even out here.

Walking back into that party would break this spell he’s cast over me.

It would sever this exquisite, pulsating hold Drew has on my body and heart.

And I don’t want to risk never finding it again.

Not when I see now where it could lead.

I shake my head gently, his grip on my chin keeping my eyes locked with his every second. “Definitely not ready to go in yet.”

His grin widens, a breath of relief rushing from deep in his chest, like he was afraid I would bolt instead of staying hypnotized by him. “Me. Fucking. Either.” He dips his head closer until his lips are a mere hairsbreadth from mine. “I just can’t get over how fucking beautiful you look tonight.”

I shiver slightly, though it isn’t from the light breeze shifting the willow limbs around us. This moment feels frozen in time. As if we’re in our own little world, completely separated from the one outside this bench, this shared breath.

The heat radiating from his body draws me closer, and he dips his head fully and captures my mouth in a soul-searing kiss that steals any other thoughts and my ability to think about anything but it and him.

A moan vibrates in my chest, and his tongue skims across the seam of my lips, demanding entry. I open for him willingly, shifting more toward him on the bench as his free hand comes to rest on my exposed thigh below the hem of my dress.

Sizzling need races through my blood from where our skin touches and centers straight at my core.

Throbbing.

Pulsating.

Burning.

I try to clench my legs together against that embarrassingly persistent ache, but he pulls away from the kiss and glances down to where his hand rests.

Oh, God, he felt that…

And now I want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.

But a low groan rumbles in his throat, his fingers flexing into my flesh. “You are walking temptation, Ivy.” He uses his hold on my chin to tilt my head slightly, examining me in a way that makes me feel utterly exposed. “Do you know that? What a walking sin you are?”

Fuck.

My thighs tighten before I can stop them, his fingers responding by digging deeper into my heated flesh.

I shake my head, struggling to find the breath to fill my lungs as he holds my gaze. “No.”

His hand skims farther up my thigh, light callouses on his fingertips running along my skin and raising goosebumps in their wake. “I would love nothing more than to drop to my knees and make you come on my tongue right here, right now, so I can finally taste you…”

I shudder at his words, my clit throbbing even harder, my pussy embarrassingly wet without him even touching me.