Page 65 of Want Me
I freed one of my hands and traced my fingertips down the furrow of his ass to the place where we joined. A mess of sticky wetness coated my skin and drew a soft sigh from him. “Hnnnnnnnnnnnnn…” I groaned. “That’s my official answer. How about you? Was it…”
“Sex with you is easily the best I’ve had. Ever.”
“Bet I was up against some stiff competition.” A guy as sexually savvy as Eric? I figured he could probably fill a book of smut with pages upon pages of shit that would make my jaw drop, but he raised up a little bit, smoothing away a few strands of hair stuck to my forehead as he said, “There’s no competition, and there hasn’t been since the beginning.”
Damn if that wasn’t a nice ego stroke.
The sweat layering my arms and the back of my neck cooled. Our breathing slowed and still neither of us moved. It might have been fifteen minutes, it might have been a half hour.
“You’re quiet,” Eric said after a while, folding his arms over my chest and resting his chin on them. I wound an arm behind my neck so I could see him.
I’d been lying there staring at the crown of his head, running my fingers through the dark strands and thinking about what-ifs. What if I’d said no the first time? What if I’d let him walk out of my room that night? What if I’d kissed him sooner? Would I have scared myself off? Each time we got together, it was like one more layer of myself peeled back, and now I lay here feeling…not raw, and not even vulnerable or exposed—though I was all of those things with him, and more than willing to be stripped to my core by him now—but mostly I felt like all the bullshit had been whittled away and I was just me. A closer match to the thoughts that’d always been inside my head.
And then I cycled back around to that first what-if again. If I’d never given Eric a chance, I’d have sold myself short on all of this, on the bone-deep ache for him, the intense connection I felt with him, the…fuck.
My breath hitched as my gaze locked on his. “I love you,” I blurted out, unpolished and impulsive as ever, and then gritted my teeth. “I didn’t mean it to come out like that. I was hoping for something a little smoother and maybe like…not in the back seat of a Jeep with my soft dick still half inside you.”
Eric dipped his head, silent laughter vibrating over my chest, but it was gone when he looked up again, leaving only the steady gleam in his eyes. “I don’t know. It’s kinda perfect really. Very…us.”
“Don’t feel like you have to…” I started, before he moved his hand over my mouth. I darted my tongue out to taste him, and he lowered his head to mine, whispering, “Shut up, Nate.” He replaced his fingers with his lips in a slow kiss that was like pressing a finger to the permanent bruise I had for him. Always tender, always aching, always wanting. Masochistic in a sense. I guess I could add that to the list of things he’d uncovered in me.
“Of course I love you,” he said quietly, the humor fading from his eyes and replaced with resolute intensity. “Can hardly fucking see straight if you’re in the same goddamn room. I could’ve told you before—almost did a couple of times—but I didn’t want it to be some kind of pressure on you.”
All the air that felt like it’d been compressed into a ball inside my chest released in sublime relief at hearing him say it back to me. I understood why he’d held back, though. “Probably a good call.”
He murmured a sound of agreement against my chest, then flicked his finger lightly at my chin.
“I have to tell you something, though.”
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at his rogue grin.
“Those apartments I was looking at earlier…that was for a class project.”
“Oh.” God, now I felt dumb. Eric tipped my chin to meet his eyes again, warm with humor.
“But now that you’ve put it out there, I’d really love that. Living with you. Having our own place.”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck yeah. I mean, I was planning on staying here for the summer, and if you were, too, we could just do it then, or next fall for senior year we could—”
“Yeah, I wanna stick around,” I was quick to jump in as the idea took flight in me and my mind started racing into the future. Why get a summer job back home when I’d rather spend my off time with Eric anyway? Our own place, no roommates, Eric all to myself? Hell yeah.
“Good.” The corner of his lips tugged upward, and he started to ease upright before I flung an arm around him and dragged him back down.
“Don’t even think about leaving yet, or else prepare to drive home with me back here like a corpse. Because I still can’t fucking move. I’ll probably be dead for at least twenty-four hours. Maybe a couple of days.”
Eric made a face. “I’m not into necrophilia.”
“No? I thought you had no limits,” I teased.
“Very few with you,” he admitted soberly, nuzzling my jaw. “And I’m pretty sure we’ve only just started testing them with each other.”
“Jesus.” I groaned, something about those words sending a quiet thrill up my spine. “I wish we could move right now.”
Eric barked out a laugh as he sat up and started fishing around the floorboards for his clothes.
“If we moved right now, I wouldn’t have a reason to make sure you keep the volume down.”