Page 80 of Darkest Obsession

“Naked?!” Clover squeals.

When she sees the mischievous smirk on my face, she beats me thoroughly with her cellphone until I beg her to stop through peals of laughter. She puts her hands on her hips and her face nearly matches the deep red color she dyes her dreadlocks.

“Let’s go, Thomas,” she snaps. “And don’t try me again. I told our dorm head I would be in a half hour after check-in, so we won’t get in trouble or anything. Well, unless you get us caught.”

I shrug and offer Clover a suspicious wink.

“Off to Sylvia’s we go…”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sylvia

Clover: I’m outside your room. Where are you?

I know I should respond to her text right away, but what the hell can I say? I flip my phone over as he pushes hair out of my face.

“Everything okay?” He murmurs.

We sit next to each other on the bed and he rests his hand on my thigh. He’s always so gentle with me. I don’t feel a hint of fear about what we’re going to do tonight. My stomach’s in knots, for sure. I promised myself that I wouldn’t go this far with anyone unless I was sure they were the one. The one.

“Yeah,” I whisper. “It’s fine.”

He knows when I’m lying about everything being okay. He knows me better than any guy.

“Sylvia, look at me.”

I nervously gaze into his eyes. They’re so freaking blue. You didn’t see many guys with blue eyes like that in our neighborhood in New Orleans and if you did, they definitely weren’t gazing into yours like this.

“Yes?”

“If you’re not ready, we don’t have to,” he says as his fingers spread over my thighs. He holds me so gently, it’s like he thinks I’m going to break. He holds me like I’m a little girl. Not anymore… Not after tonight.

“I’m ready,” I tell him with as much assurance as I can muster. I love him. I promised myself that I’d wait for someone I love and I know I’m thoroughly in love with this boy who thinks he’s a monster. He isn’t. He made some mistakes, but that doesn’t make him cruel.

“What about after?” He murmurs, leaning forward and kissing my cheek. “Is this still a secret?”

“You’re going to be here next semester,” I remind him. “That’s going to be a huge problem if this is… public.”

“I love you,” he whispers. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Come here.”

I immediately lean forward for the perfect kiss I know is coming. I can’t wait to see him with his clothes off, even if I’m too shy to blurt that out right away. I’ve seen him shirtless before and we’ve touched each other, but he’s always been careful with me, taking each step slow and easy before tonight.

Our lips first touch for the night drives me wild. I already want to hop over onto his lap and straddle him as I rake my fingers through his weirdly silky hair. Just touching it and I feel like it will fall off between my fingers, so my arms stiffen awkwardly at my sides as he kisses me and I freeze, too afraid to let myself go too much.

It’s my first time, I don’t know what he’s going to think about me. He’s so much more experienced. I pull away from our kiss and he touches my face gently.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know if I’ll be any good.”

He chuckles. “Darling,” he draws the word out with his posh accent. “You only need to be yourself. I want to be with you, Sylvia Richards. No one else.”

“Okay,” I say shyly and nod. I have so much confidence in life and on the dance floor but in a dark room with a guy I like, I turn into an awkward, stammering mess.