I gulped, thoroughly enjoying where this was heading. “So do I, little siren.”
“Dark fantasies?” she questioned quietly.
I nodded, leaning in until my lips brushed her ear. “So many dark fantasies—and every single one of them involves you.”
She turned toward me, leaning in and nipping my lip with her teeth. She wouldn’t let go and the sting of the bite was painful, but sexy as hell at the same time. It made all of the blood in my body race southbound. Fuck, she was igniting a flame inside of me.
I reached up and grabbed the back of her head, pulling her into me. I kissed her so deeply, I lost all air in my body. Our hands collided with one another’s body and created a map to all of the lost time we had experienced, to all of the time we had left with one another.
Lennon reached down to my jeans, ready to remove them from my body. I shook my head. “Lennon, I’d like to take you out.”
She stopped reaching for my pants and looked up at me, a curious spark of mischief in her eyes. “Take me out?”
I laughed. “Yes—on a fucking date, Lennon. Then I’ll bring you back here and we can make all the love you want in this apartment. But I want to take you out first.”
“I don’t want to go out on a date…” she started, then hesitated.
She flashed a shy smile. “I don’t have anything to wear for a date.”
“Baby, wear what you have on now. You’re perfect,” I said softly. “I’m only going to rip it off later, anyway—after you tell me all those dark little fantasies you possess.”
Lennon rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”
I gave her a slow, almost sinister glare. “Oh, I’ll tell you all of mine—after I take you to Forsythia to eat.” Pulling her closer, I crooned, “And once you’ve eaten, it’ll be my turn to eat, little siren.”
A bright pink flush filled her cheekbones as she eyed me warily. “Forsythia sounds fancy. Very date-like. Not really my thing, you know.”
I pushed myself up off the floor, drawing in a deep breath as I turned her around and nudged her toward the door.
She stopped abruptly and whipped back around. “Whoa! No, I need to get changed and whatever, okay? I can’t look like a total hoodrat.”
I reached down and gave her an encouraging spank. “Get that ass moving then. I want to get back here sooner rather than later.”
She glanced back over her shoulder, slow and seductive, eyes heavy with promise as she bit her lip. “We could just stay here, sir.”
I groaned, dragging my hands through my short hair, locking down everything she was attempting to unravel. “Don’t tempt me.”
She laughed and skipped off toward her bedroom to get ready—toward a night that would end up setting the tone for our relationship. Somewhere in that moment, I knew I’d finally placed a crack in the walls she kept so rigidly built around herself. I was finally starting to show her the love that she so desperately deserved, and in return, I began to feel what living was supposed to feel like.
I was fucking living.
Lennon
Istudied myself in the mirror, smoothing my hands over the front of my dress, my gaze fixed on the fabric as if it might offer me answers.
Was this my first date?
I swallowed hard, clearing my throat as nerves crept in uninvited. Why did I even care? He wasn’t going to stick around or anything. He would get tired of me, get sick of my shit. He would leave, just like everyone else who had ever made me believe they loved me.
Except, he didn’t love me. He never could. There was nothing here worth loving.
I lifted my eyes to the mirror again and felt something unfamiliar stir in my chest. Something fragile. Something strange.
What if he did?
I shook my head, forcing the thoughts away. It was impossible. No one ever had. No one ever would.
A memory surfaced, unbidden. My father dancing with my mother in the kitchen when I was little. I didn’t have many memories of him, but the ones I held onto were precious. Mundane moments that meant nothing then, and everything now.
