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“Them?”
“My mam’s there, too,” he explained, reaching for the back of his T-shirt. “Like a pair of hungry lionesses, they were.” He whipped the fabric over his head in one swift move. “Grilling me over hot coals for gossip.”
“Gossip?” I croaked out, mouth running dry when I took in the sight of his bare chest. God, he was so beautiful.
“Yeah.” Shifting into a sitting position, he reached for his runners and pulled them off one by one. “Did you hear anything about a winter ball?”
“The Tommen Winter Ball?” I asked, following his lead by cattishly removing my T-shirt.
“That’s the one.” Off went his socks. “Apparently, it’s happening next month, and I need to make sure that I put an order for a fresh-flower corsage and ‘not one of those fake ones,’” he mimicked with a roll of his eyes. “Like I didn’t already know to do that.”
“I’m wearing yellow,” I told him with a dreamy sigh as I clutched my hands to my chest. “And not a mustard or a pineapple yellow. Ew, and definitely not an ochre yellow. Think Andie Anderson’s dress in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days kind of yellow.”
“Good to know.” Reaching into the waistband of his sweatpants, he pushed them down his narrow hips. “I’ll be sure to tell the florist not to give me any fruit or condiments.”
My breath hitched in my throat at the sight of him.
He was so…big and broad and muscular.
Sucking in a steadying breath, I pushed my pajama shorts down and knelt on the duvet in my underwear. “I’m nervous.”
“Yeah, me too,” he agreed, tucking a foil wrapper into the waistband of his gray boxers before reaching up to push his hair back. “Who knew there was so many different shades of yellow.”
“No, not about the color of my corsage, Gerard.” I gestured to where he was kneeling in his boxers and then to myself. “I’m nervous about this.”
“This doesn’t have to happen,” Gerard replied in a gentle tone. “It’s okay if you want to wait.” Closing the space between us, he placed his hands on my shoulders and smiled. “We don’t have to do anything until you’re ready.”
“But I am ready,” I reaffirmed, eyes locked on his. “I’m just…scared.”
“Me, too,” he admitted quietly.
My brows rose. “Really?”
“Really,” he replied with a small nod. “What are you scared of?”
“Of it hurting.”
“Same.”
“You are?” Frowning, I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, shivering when the heat emanating from his skin penetrated mine. “But it doesn’t hurt boys, right?”
Something flashed in his gray eyes then, a rare glimpse of vulnerability that was quickly replaced with his usual warmth. “I love you,” he said, hands moving to settle on my waist. “I’ll do whatever you want, okay? Just set the pace here, Claire-Bear, and I will follow you anywhere, okay?” He rested his forehead against mine and expelled a shaky breath. “But I meant what I said about waiting. If you want to just cuddle, then that’s what we’ll do…”
“No.” I shook my head and pulled his big body flush against me. “I want you to be inside me.”
“Fuck.” Another pained breath escaped him. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life,” I hurried to say, needing him to not put the brakes on this because I was tired of stalling. I’d been sitting in the passenger seat of a stagnant car for sixteen years, and Gerard, who was in the driver’s seat, had finally found the throttle. It was everything. He was everything. “I want this, Gerard.” And then, with trembling hands, I reached behind my back and unhooked my bra before casting it aside. “I want you.”
“I love you.” He tipped my chin up, gray eyes searching every inch of my face before locking on my eyes. “I always have.”
And then he kissed me.
A full-body shiver racked through my body as his lips destroyed me for every other boy to come.
Please don’t let there be more to come.
I just want him, God.
