Page 354 of Romeo

“Like you’re impressed with yourself.”

“I didn’t do shit. I was asleep.”

“That has never stopped you from taking credit for something before.”

His laugh filled the small bedroom, low and warm, and something in my chest loosened at the sound. There was no urgency behind any of this. Nobody was coming through the door. No one needed us. For the first time since I could remember, I wasn’t measuring the morning against whatever had to happen next.

The teasing disappeared almost immediately.

His hand slid along my side beneath the sheet, slow enough that I could feel every place his fingers passed. Jasper kissed me, and I moved closer without thinking, my leg sliding between his as the warmth in my body shifted into something heavier.

Even after the last few days, the way he kissed me still felt like a discovery.

Billy had kissed me because kissing was what came before everything else.

Jasper kissed me like it mattered on its own.

He could spend forever doing nothing but that, apparently content to learn every reaction he could pull from me before moving on. The patience used to make me nervous. Now it made me greedy.

I curled my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him closer.

He smiled against my mouth.

“There she is.”

I bit his lower lip

Jasper lifted his head. “Did you just fuckin’ bite me?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s my girl.”

I laughed softly, but the sound disappeared when he kissed me again, deeper this time, his tongue sliding against mine in a way that made my toes curl. His hand moved from my side to my hip, then lower, fingers tracing patterns on my thigh that made me shift restlessly against him.

“Jasper,” I whispered against his mouth.

“Tell me what you want, Cher.”

The question should have embarrassed me. A month ago, it would have. But I was learning that Jasper asked because he genuinely wanted to know, not because he was testing me or trying to make me uncomfortable.

“Touch me,” I said quietly.

His eyes darkened. “Where?”

I took his hand and guided it between my legs, and the smile that curved his mouth was absolutely wicked.

“Already so wet for me,” he murmured, his fingers sliding through the evidence of my arousal. “All from suckin’ my cock?”

His crude words made heat flood my face, but I couldn’t deny the truth of them. I had been turned on from the moment I’d decided to surprise him; and feeling him come apart beneath my mouth had only intensified the ache between my legs.

“Yes,” I admitted.

“Fuck, I love you.”

He kissed me again while his fingers explored, finding the places that made me gasp and returning to them with deliberate attention. I could feel myself getting wetter, my hips moving against his hand without conscious thought.

“That’s it,” he encouraged. “Show me what you like.”