Page 69 of The Sweetness of Life

Handing over her wine glass, I scan her from head to toe as she walks over to the window and looks out at the night sky. She’s shorter without the shoes on, her hair is slightly messy from running her hand through it, and she looks like a fantasy come true in that dress.

“Why do you wear dresses all the time?” I ask, stepping up behind her. This one looks like a men’s dress shirt, and I let my mind believe it’s one of mine.

“Why not?” She glances over her shoulder at me and smiles.

My fingers slip under the edge and graze up the outsides of her thighs. Goose bumps trail across her skin. I love that she continually reacts this way to me.

“Don’t act like you don’t love them. I know you do—I’ve caught you staring more than once.”

“Not denying that. I really do,” I say, sweeping her hair back off her shoulder and then taking the wine glass from her hand. I set both of the glasses down and wrap my arms around her so I can run my nose up the column of her neck. Her head tilts to the side, and she lets out a sigh as my lips pepper kisses over her skin, tasting, sucking, memorizing. Dragging my teeth along her jaw, I turn her chin and sink into the warmth of her mouth.

What is it about kissing her that makes me delirious?

Twisting in my arms, she steps closer, and I tangle one hand in her hair and rest the other on her lower back, pulling so there’s no room between us. Fervor burns through my veins. She’s a perfect fit against me, and I devour her mouth as if it’s the last time I’ll ever get to taste it. Shelby matches my intensity, and her fingers become restless as she finds the top button on my shirt.

I pull back—not to stop her, because heaven knows I don’t want to stop. It’s the urge to see her eyes full of the heat I know—the heat I hope will be there.

I’m not disappointed. Her eyes are slightly glazed and wild, and her chest is rising up against the fabric of her dress. I ache to see her flawless skin. Pushing her back against the wall, I’m enthralled by the way the moonlight makes her glow.

When I slip my finger around the top button of her dress, she doesn’t stop me. I pop it open then slowly trail one finger down to the next. She shivers even though her skin is warm, and I love that I know she tastes like vanilla and honey. One by one, the buttons open until I reach the bottom, revealing a sliver of her skin peeking out straight down the middle. Softly, my hand flattens across her chest and slides down the middle, between her breasts, over her stomach, and grazes the top edge of her panties before sliding over her hipbone and up the bumps of her spine. When I reach the clasp of her bra, I snap it open and am reminded why I love that she wears strapless bras, too.

With her standing before me like a goddess of the night, her lips swollen, her hair wild and sexy, any willpower I had left against her is eviscerated. No one has ever left me feeling like this. I’m always the one in control. I have always set the pace, giving and taking exactly the way I want to. Yet, here with her, I feel completely out of my element. It isn’t that my confidence is gone—it’s that she makes me want to drop to my knees and beg.

“Zach.” Hearing my name whispered from her lips causes my chest to constrict and everything south of my waist to tighten.

My eyes find hers; they’re dark and sultry and my heart rate picks up. “Yeah?”

“More.” She breathes the word out with an assertiveness that has me slipping my hands inside the dress. They slide up her stomach and palm her breasts. Her head tips back and hits the wall as she arches her back, pushing into me and letting out a low moan. Moving my hands outward, I slide her dress off her shoulders and then dip my head back to her skin.

My tongue runs over the swell of her breasts and finally, when she lets out an impatient noise, I latch on while massaging the other. I could taste her from head to toe every day for the rest of my life and it would never be enough. I feel her hands on my shirt as she resumes unbuttoning it, and my fingers dip under the edge of lace resting on her hipbone.

Cold air hits my skin as she drags my shirt off, and I slip my hands around the backs of her thighs and lift her against me. When her legs wrap around my hips, I almost stumble from how good she feels surrounding me. Her warm hands glide across my shoulders and sink into my hair as I pin her against the wall and crash my mouth against hers.

“Stay with me tonight,” she mumbles against my lips, and I chuckle.

“I wasn’t planning on leaving.” I press my hips against her and tighten my grip on her ass so she knows exactly how I want this night to go.

“Good.” She lets out a soft groan.

Damn this girl.

Without breaking the kiss, I turn and carry her to the bedroom then drop her on the bed. She lands and looks a little wild with bright eyes, her hair messed up, and her lips swollen and damp from our kisses. I watch her as I toe off my shoes and remove the rest of my clothes before crawling onto the bed after her. She scoots away from me with a come-and-get-me smile. When I wrap my fingers under the piece of lace that’s hiding what I most desperately want, she stops playing games and lets me pull the fabric down her legs.

Never in my life have I seen anything as perfect as she is. I knew she had an awesome body, and for almost two weeks, I’ve imagined what she would look like bare, but nothing prepared me for this.

“You’re so beautiful.” I run my palm up her leg, needing to touch her. The muscles in her stomach tighten and her fingers curl into the sheets, but she never breaks eye contact with me.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she teases. “Come here.” She pulls on my arm.

Instead of moving up her body, I move down, wanting to take my time exploring every dip, every curve, everywhere.

Hours pass as Shelby and I forget about who we are, what we’re doing, when she’s leaving, and what this might mean. We lose ourselves in the feel of each other, and I block the emotions that make me feel as if I’m losing myself to her. I focus on how, with each exhalation, her breath rushes out, and my name is whispered past her lips and against my skin. It’s the sexiest sound I’ve ever heard.

Banana Pudding

A MUTED LIGHT dips into the room as the sun slowly makes its appearance. It’s early, too early to be awake after the night we had, but I don’t mind.

Stretching my leg out, it slides down beside his, and I feel him stir. I didn’t mean to wake him; I just want to be touching him.