Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 135522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Perhaps appreciating all of my excessive thoughtfulness isn’t his priority at the moment.
Orange candies and dragon plushies can wait.
I drop the single bag of overnight toiletries and clothing as I am backed up against the bed, then drop my ass onto it. Seriously, this mattress feels like a cloud—with cool and crisp sheets, springy yet firm, embracing my butt like a set of pillowy hands.
Then Noah pushes me back, and the mattress receives the rest of my body as he crawls atop me, his lips never leaving mine.
I knew from all the flirtation in the restaurant that Noah had all sorts of thoughts tumbling around in his head. He kept tapping my feet under the table, then smiling not-so-innocently at me. He found any excuse he could to touch my hands. And when I fed him dessert, he took his sweet-ass time with each and every perfect little bite of decadence, despite his own initial embarrassment of being looked at.
Sometimes, it feels like the whole world is watching.
Sometimes, it feels like no one is, and it’s just us, hiding away in our private oasis.
Noah wastes no time in peeling off my shirt. I have a suspicion it may be what he was envisioning doing to me the whole time at the restaurant, from the look in his eyes. I’m happy to return the favor, opening his shirt one button at a time, then peeling it back to reveal his bare chest. His nipples are irresistible to me. I sit up and taste them at once, like my favorite candy, as he clings to my body. I feel his nipples pebble under my tongue.
He takes hold of my face suddenly and pulls my face to his. “I want us to make love tonight.”
I can’t stop touching him. “Tonight?”
“Yes.” He dives in for my ear where he gives the lobe a playful nip. “Please,” he breathes into my ear, a soft and whimpering plea.
How can I possibly hope to resist Noah when he’s practically grinding on my lap, his bare chest exposed to me, and his teeth on my earlobe?
I knew this was a possibility tonight. I didn’t want to presume, but I wanted to leave the door open for him to decide whether we would have a night of kicking back and laughter and sour candies, or loss of breath, wet lips, and twisted bed sheets.
I came prepared for both.
“Noah …” I take hold of him by the waist and lift him into my arms, surprising him. Then I lay him down on the bed and sit next to him, my hand on his face. “If you’re ready, only if you’re truly ready and it’s what you want …”
“It’s what I want, and I’m ready.” Then he reconsiders. “Well, I don’t know if I’m ready. I have no idea if I’ll ever know whether I’m ready, or what that even means. What does it mean exactly? To be ready? Ready for what? My body wants it. My mind, too. I can’t stop thinking about it, the last several times we’ve been intimate. I feel like there’s no one on this planet I’d rather experience it with than you, and what better time than right now? I mean, a meteor could crash into the Gulf tomorrow, and then where would we be? We’d be buried in salt water and silt. And I don’t think I’d be much ready for anything in that condition. If we even survive. Would we survive? I’d hate to not survive and never have given away my virginity. So I think it’s a fair assessment that I am ready—even if I’m not. Because if I’m not now, then I may never be, considering the meteor that could crash in the Gulf, regardless of its statistical probability, which in all fairness is quite low, and even still we—”
My finger gently presses to his lips.
His eyes snap to mine.
“I love your mind, Noah. I love listening to you work out all your questions in life like a math equation, or a piece of troubling code you’re trying to solve. But now I’m going to need to use your own words on you.” I lean forward, kiss him, then draw back just an inch to look into his eyes. “I need you to not be subtle. To not be ambiguous. To not be vague.” I lift my eyebrows. “Are you sure you’re ready tonight … for us … for you and me … to finally make love? Yes … or no?”
He appears amazed by my words somehow.
He appears content, safe, and thrilled to be where he is.
Then his face wrinkles up. “If you were paying attention, that was exactly what I was expressing with no subtlety at all. I want it to happen tonight. I want to give you my virginity. I am ready.” His face softens. “Y’know … on account of the possible meteor.”