Drew let out a groan, and I flicked his lower lip with my tongue. Before I had time to panic, he had me flipped onto my back and was deepening the kiss with a hunger I’d never experienced before in my life.
Ever.
It was almost hard to breathe. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down until his body was lying flat across mine. He kept a hand pressed against the ground to keep from crushing me, but it did nothing to hide his arousal or the fact that I could feel him rock-hard between my legs.
His eyes were hooded as he abruptly pulled back.
I gulped. “What’s wrong?”
He just shook his head, a lazy smile spreading across his perfect face. “The song’s over. I ended the kiss before you did, so I wouldn’t have to be the guy who begs for more when he didn’t even deserve what he got in the first place.”
My mouth was still buzzing with Drew Amhurst aftershocks, and all I kept thinking was, if my mouth feels this way, imagine what the rest of me would feel like if I let him get close. “You shouldn’t say sweet things.”
“I mean them, though,” he said simply. “If I think something, if it’s true…” His eyes flashed with pain — at least, that was what it seemed like before he smiled. “Lies only hurt the person telling them, because, in the end, the truth always wins out, right?” He swallowed. “I’m a firm believer that words have power, and when you use those words for evil… well, you aren’t just hurting those you’re tossing those words at. You’re poisoning yourself in the process.”
I didn’t know what to say to that; I opened my mouth and then shut it.
“What?” His grin was adorable and sexy, all wrapped up in one. Of course, it was.
I shook my head. “I just—” I was suddenly nervous. “That was really wise what you just said.”
“I want to take that as a compliment, except does that mean up until this moment, you thought I was a dumb-ass?” He leaned in until his mouth was about an inch from mine, until I yearned with such force to touch him again that my body started to shake. “Hmmm?”
“Huh?” I rasped. “What?”
“Just tell me I’m smart, and all is forgiven.”
“You’re brilliant,” I whispered, “and a dumbass, all wrapped up in one—”
He started tickling my sides, making my knees jerk under him.
He moved just in time, then glared. “First, I’m a dumb ass. Now, you’re trying to kill the only thing I have going for me?”
Heat licked at my neck and face. “Really? That’s all you have going for you?”
His grin was menacing. “Say it.”
“Say what?”
“What’s the only thing I have going for me?”
“No!”
“Do it…” he taunted, his eyes glittering in the dim firelight. “Do it, do it. Say a dirty word.”
“I take back the wise comment!” I protested as he pinned my hands above my head and then lowered his rock-hard body over mine. His arrogant grin really wasn’t helping the situation. “Drew!” I bucked under him.
“Ah, so you can touch it, but you can’t say it?”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Say it, do it. Do it now.”
“Are you five?” I squirmed beneath him.
“Bronteeeeee.” He moaned my name and then literally collapsed his full godlike weight on top of me, only to come back up and wink. “Come on; you gotta give me something. Plus, this is one of those moments!”
“What are you talking about?” I screeched.
“A moment where you get your groove back!” He laughed. “And this is me helping.” He very slowly grabbed my right hand while keeping my left pinned, brought it to his chest, and then dropped it lower until I was clutching the front of his shirt for dear life.
I gulped and, on my own, moved my hand lower to the front of his jeans.
He exhaled a curse as more than curiosity pounded through me. It was something headier, tempting; my entire body buzzed with awareness as I finally ran a single finger down his length through his jeans.
Drew let out a low growl and then grabbed my wrist. “I said, say not touch.”
I tried pulling away, but he kept my hand between us. His eyes locked onto mine. “You know, originally, I was going to spout some shit to embarrass you, say I was talking about my heart when I was really leading with my cock the entire time, and you just had to touch and make me forget all about teasing, make me remember that the only thing I want to taste right now is you. And sadly, the only person I can’t have right now is you.”
I choked on my next breath. “It’s not a good idea.”
“It’s the best idea I’ve ever had, and one day I had an idea to help two turtles cross the road.” He laughed. “They lived, by the way.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was wondering while my hand was inches from your dick, whether the turtles lived.”
His eyes widened, and then he threw his head back and laughed so hard that he moved away from me and let go of both of my hands.
I sat up on my elbows and couldn’t help but smile. “I like your laugh.”
“And my dick,” he said, still laughing.
“And turtles,” I added with a giggle.
“Those little bastards were so slow, I aged ten years watching them try to migrate one foot, so really it was a selfish saving.”
“Still counts,” I teased.
“Hell yes, it counts.” He grabbed my hand again. “I like this side of you better than the protective little shell you like to keep stapled around your body.”
“Wow, sounds sexy.” I looked away.
“It is — you are,” he corrected. “I just like it when you’re freer.”
“Not all of us get that opportunity.” Did I have to sound so broken? So bitter? I hated myself in that moment. I hated that I’d let myself become that way, a shell of my former person.
A shell of the girl
