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“I take it that you and Anna haven’t gotten to this stage yet.”
Heat rushed into his face, but he didn’t let go of her, nor did she push him away. Frozen on a dangerous precipice, he shook his head.
“No, last night was our first hug, and, well, you all saw.”
Tess sighed. “I know. Anna’s… trying, I believe. I get that it can be… frustrating with how old-fashioned she is.”
It wasn’t a censure of him, at least not yet. If anything, it seemed like she was trying to excuse his handsy behavior. Liam considered carefully how he should respond. He could already see an opportunity in front of him, where he agreed with Tess and acted as if his current behavior was due to sexual frustration. He wondered if it would earn him a few more minutes of holding her like this.
But he couldn’t do it. He had enough deceptions in play, and he didn’t want to add that kind of lie to the pile.
“I’m not frustrated with her. I know she has her reasons. This isn’t about her.”
“Are you sure?” Tess whispered. “Itfeelslike it might be. I understand that boys—thatmenyour age have a lot of pent-up desires. You might say I know more about these kinds of things than most people do. I’ve written and graded hundreds of papers on sexual culture, libido, relationships.”
Again, Liam took every ounce of time she gave him to consider his response. Things had already gone much further than he’d ever imagined they would.
“I promise, Tess, I’m not mad or frustrated with Anna, or how things are going between us.” That was true. “I… yeah, I do have some desires that I’d say are pretty pent-up, though.” Also true.
“It’s very understandable,” Tess whispered, still letting him keep his hands where they sat on her butt. “She’s very beautiful.”
For this, Liam didn’t take even a second to consider his response. “It’s not just her that’s beautiful.”
With it up for grabs, Tess seized the delaying time he hadn’t used. If he could have done so safely, he’d have pulled back ever so slightly, at least enough for him to see the emotions coalescing in her expression. However, he didn’t dare make the first move away from their current embrace, terrified that it would shatter the dreamlike experience he was basking in.
“Your compliments are very appreciated, but I shouldn’t be the focus of your eye right now.”
Then why did you come out wearing those leggings?
The thought resounded within his mind, bringing along a clarity that rapidly expanded. Whyhadshe dressed in the exact manner he’d complimented her about yesterday? And why had she reminded him of it, even fished for a compliment, once they’d gotten alone?
This time around, Liam didn’t need Avril’s guidance to understand why. How long had it been since she’d experienced this kind of intimacy? Years? At least that, he recalled. She’d been the one who’d described to him how she’d lived in a loveless, passionless marriage for so long.
“It’s hard not to,” he whispered, turning his lips a few inches closer to her ear, and she tensed ever so slightly. Subtly, but not unseen. “You really look phenomenal in those leggings.”
“I’m… glad you like them so much,” Tess said, voice mildly hoarse. “They’re very comfortable to wear.”
“I hope you’ll wear them more often.” His fingers ached to drop a little lower, which would grant them a full sense of just how genuinely amazing an ass Tess possessed.
“I’ve already told you I will. They’ll be good to jog in once it warms up a little more. You could always join me, especially when you return from college in the summer.”
“Absolutely,” he whispered. “I’ll be there with you every single time you want to go on one.”
A faint but significant shiver coursed through Tess. With her breasts pressed so tightly against him, he began to feel a heartbeat that was not his own. One that beat nearly as rapidly as his did.
“I run a lot, so I don’t know if you want to commit to that until you’ve seen how often.”
“I know Idowant to,” he said, lust overflowing within him like a full cup sitting under a gushing faucet. “Even if I’m completely exhausted and soaked in sweat afterward, I won’t ever regret spending that time with you.”
“I-it does get hot out in the summers,” Tess whispered, her fingers trembling slightly against his back. “I usually run in leggings or shorts and a sports bra.”
He might have only received a couple of lessons on how to flirt from Avril, but he immediately recognized what kind of response he was supposed to give. It stared him right in the face, beckoning him forth with a seductive smile. All he needed to do was not be afraid. Not let his anxiety or trepidation hold him back. Not be meek.
It wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped it would be. Internally, he still fretted, still worried, and still wondered if he could get away with saying something like what he’d told Avril while she was straddling his lap yesterday. His anxiety gripped him, even as he did his best to cast it off… to become a more confident and proactive version of himself.
It stopped him from going as far as he thought he might have been able to go, and he hated himself for it.
Still, for at least this one sentence, he could turn the temperature up a few degrees hotter than some milquetoast compliment about her beauty, which would never risk chastisement.
