AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lollygag.”
She fanned her face. “I’m not sure I can take anymore.”
“Brouhaha.”
Tali’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. “Jude! No more.”
I pulled her into my lap, hugging her while she kept laughing. “Glad I could entertain you.” And I was. Tali was focused and serious a lot, but when she let go, it was gorgeous. Her eyes sparkled and cheeks pinkened, and her laugh was so throaty and full-bodied, it was almost erotic.
She stopped, wiped the tears from her eyes, and cupped the sides of my face. “I love you.”
My breath hitched, grin falling from my face. Fuck, I hadn’t expected that from her.
She pressed a kiss to my parted lips. “It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything back. I just wanted you to know I’m in love with you, Jude.”
Still speechless, my arms tightened around her, and I pressed my face into her hair. She smelled like home. Not like the cold castle I’d grown up in, but a place I’d always imagined. Warm, with a touch of spiciness. Sort of like pie, but nothing so everyday. She was a unique home, only for me.
She hugged me back, breathing softly against my neck.
“Tali,” I rasped out. “If you don’t think I’m completely, madly in love with you, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
She pulled back to lock gazes. Her brown eyes were alight with amusement. “I suspected.”
“I was trying not to scare you off. I never thought you’d beat me to the punch, pretty girl.”
“You’re not going to scare me off. I already know you’re crazy, and I like it.”
I tapped her lips. “You love it.”
She nipped my fingers, letting out a growl. “I do. I love you.”
I let out a growl of my own. “Goddamndo I need to get inside you. Tell me you’re coming over later.”
She shook her head. “I’m not.”
Jesus Christ, she made me feel like a desperate man, and I couldn’t even hide it.
“Tali, please. We don’t even have to have sex, I just want to hold you and—”
She tapped my lips. “I’m not coming over later because I’m coming over now. I’m done with classes, and if you’re not inside me within an hour, I might burn everything down.”
Filled with jagged edges of relief, I smacked her backside. “Get your pretty ass off my lap so I can take you home and you can put it on my dick.”
She turned beet red. “This is why I love you.”
“Did I discombobulate you?”
She pulled her knit hat over her head. “I’m going to discombobulate your dick.”
“I don’t know what that means, but I can’t fucking wait to experience it.”
* * *
My knuckles achedas I turned the knob to my house. It was well after midnight, but of course no one was asleep. The air was thick with smoke, pulling me inside.
Jin walked by, slapping me on the shoulder. “Hey, man, you look rough. Take a hit.”
I took the offered joint, inhaling until my lungs burned. Ben was on the couch with a girl, one I hadn’t seen around before. Jeremy and Seven were in the middle of a heated battle ofHalo. A couple of our neighbors were cheering them on. Most with drinks or joints in hand. A bong lay on its side on the cigarette-burned coffee table.
