Page 154 of Before You Fell

I gaze down at her and the grin that comes is filthy because I need something to stand behind. “That’s your fault.”

“My fault?”

“Yeah, I had a perfect ego before you got your hands on me.”

“You still have it.”

“Barely. It’s wounded.”

“Poor thing.”

“Don’t mock the ego, baby. It’s the only thing keeping me from crawling into this bed and embarrassing both of us.”

Her eyes flare at the word “baby.”

I bend down over her, placing one hand by her hip, so she is compelled to tilt her head up to me.

“I’ve been thinking about your hands on me since the first time you told me my bridge was shit.”

“It was shit and we were eighteen.”

“Yeah,” I say. “But you were fucking hot when you said that.”

“Phoenix.”

“What?” I lower my mouth to the center of her chest, my lips barely touching her skin. “I’m telling you the truth now. Apparently, that’s my new annoying hobby.”

“Since when?”

“Since you.” I press my mouth there, open and hot between her tits, and sense her breath catch. “Since I realized that lying to myself about you was costing us more than I could afford.”

I kiss her ribs. The soft skin above her stomach. I work my way down, as if I have nowhere else to be. My hands slide to her hips, thumbs tracing slow circles against her skin.

She trembles beneath me.

I take a breath and remind myself that slow is the whole fucking point tonight. She deserves someone who takes his time with her for once, instead of taking what he wants and calling it connection.

I press my mouth just above the waistband of her underwear and her stomach contracts under my lips.

“Phoenix.” My name in her mouth like that should be illegal.

“Still here, Wills,” I murmur against her skin. “Not going anywhere.”

Her lips part when I hook my fingers into the waistband of her black panties and slowly slide them down. Intentionally slow because I’m an asshole and want her to experience every fucking second of it.

And then I stop halfway down her thighs. Because fuck me, the sight of her bare pussy has short-circuited every functioning part of my brain and my mouth is already moving before I have made a conscious decision about anything.

Pink, wet, and already swollen for me. Soaked through her underwear before I even got them off her. The sight of it makes my cock throb so hard I have to breathe through my teeth.

I press my mouth there.

Just once. Open and hot, like I’m tasting something I have been thinking about since the last time I had her and spent every day since pretending I hadn’t.

She gasps so hard that her whole body lifts off the bed.

“Phoenix—”

“I know.” My voice comes out completely wrecked. “Fuck, Wills.”