“I want you, Joe.” I utter the words raw and breathless, closing my eyes.
“Look at me.” He demands, his grip tightening on my skin.
I open my eyes to his deep blue gaze, when he carefully says,
“Your first time is serious. I want to take my time, make sure you’re ready.”
“But I am—” I assure him, refusing to turn away from this.
“I’m six years older than you, Sara. I have to make sure.”
I nod. He cares about me and the foreignness of it strikes me in the face, and he must recognize it.
“Sara, you’re every bit the woman I want now and tomorrow. Nothing is stopping me from how I feel about you.” I can barely nod in understanding as he trails soft kisses on my neck.
My breath catches as if speaking will shatter everything. Pressing a soft kiss to his lips, my hand drifts up to cup his face and slides down his neck to his stomach, and heat coils inside me. I should pull back and stop this. I really should but my hand drifts further inch by inch, a prayer in motion and when I reach the edge of his erection, I tense from longing.
He pauses, catches my wrist lightly, and I blink up at him, my pulse pounding in my ears.
“I will not let this happen like this,” he says, smoothing a stray strand of hair from my face. “You don’t get to give me something you can’t take back.”
I barely whisper, “But I want to.”
He presses his forehead to mine. Silence blooms between us, thick and alive.
“I care too much about you to rush this,” he admits, voice low. “If I have you, Sara, I won’t let you go. It’s not just sex for me.”
“What are you so worried about, Joe? Because six years is not much of a difference.”
“I just wanted you to graduate first, or… get my shit together. I just…” He pushes his hair back and lets out a heavy breath as if he’s torn with what he keeps holding back from me.
“Give me this, Joe. Give meyou. I need you…” I whisper, my voice shaking.
So that part of you always stays with me.
His eyes shift. “Fuck.”
He scoops me up in his arms effortlessly and crosses the yard, carrying me to his bedroom. I clutch his sweatshirt and lie back on the sheets as he sets me on his mattress and leans down kissing me hard. He lifts the hem of my shirt against my ribs with urgency, kissing me everywhere. When he inhales my skin, nibbling at it and tasting me, I tremble beneath him.
“I need you too, baby. Fuck,” he murmurs, and it feels as if I’ve waited my whole life for this gentle, precious touch.
“Please…” I beg as he leans between my legs, and when his hand moves against me through fabric, I gasp. Just pressure. Just enough. My breath hitches, my hips tilt, and my other hand snakes up to his chest. I want his shirt off. I want everything standing between us to disappear. I can feel the reckless pulse under my palm, and I swear I’ll lose myself completely.
He leans up and kisses me deeply, the taste of him intoxicating, and I press closer, heat building between us, slow and inevitable. My legs tighten around his hips, my back arches to meet each of his careful movements, and I gasp as his mouth finds my jaw and neck.
“There’s a part of me that lives again since I met you,” he whispers, forehead against mine. His erection presses insistently against me.
I press my palm to his cheek. “Don’t say that unless you mean it.” My voice is shaky, though my heart races.
“I mean it, Sara.”
I kiss him harder, bolder. My hand slips under his waistband, tugging him closer, pulling at his desire. I feel desperate for release and even more so when he takes his shirt off. I salivate at how utterly beautiful he is.
“Ahem.” Joe and I both snap around at Liam standing in the bedroom doorway, clearing his throat, instantly shattering the illusion that it’s just the two of us. I look up at the ceiling, fighting the urge to scream.
“Am I interrupting anything?” he asks with the simplicity found in hypocrites.
Joe lifts himself off me, his expression fuming but contained. “What’s up, Liam?”
