Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
I was checking my suit when he asked, “You good?”
“Yeah, why?” I turned to see James. His iPhone was lit up in his hand as a tune filled the air.
It only took me a moment to realize it was the song that had been on in the ballroom, the one I’d wanted to dance with him to. He set the phone on the plastic container he’d been sitting on, and approached me. “Mr. Forsythe, I think you owe me a dance.”
I giggled, yes, fucking giggled like a dumbass kid, and I didn’t even care, because with the moonlight in his eyes and that cocky smile across his face, he had me under his spell.
He moved close, running the single rose along my jaw, to my chin, his expression turning serious. Keeping it at the base of my chin, he took a kiss before pulling away and weaving the stem in the buttonhole of my lapel. Then he took my hands.
“Who’s going to lead?” I asked.
“Are you kidding? Did you see the moves I was working on Kendra? Watch and learn.”
He took charge, guiding me through the dance.
“Oh fuck. Duh.” He stopped, went to the lantern, and turned it off. “Now it’s perfect.”
Perfect? Although there was plenty of moonlight to cast light across both of us, I couldn’t understand the expression on his face.
“Look up,” he told me, and I obeyed, seeing the starlit sky.
“Now it really is just like prom.”
“Only better,” I noted. “Since it’s real.”
Fuck, was that a tear in my eye?
He took my hands once again, moving to the music.
Being so close to him, with the moonlight and stars captured in his eyes, I felt as though I was transported into them.
“Why are you crying?” he whispered.
“I’m not crying,” I said, so sure of myself until he kissed my cheek and I felt the warmth of what had clearly been a falling tear.
“Fuck me.”
“We can get to that later,” he teased, which made me laugh again. “Is everything okay?”
He stopped our dance, and I said, “Yeah, yeah, let’s just keep going.”
He obeyed, but my tears kept coming. He still looked so worried about me, and I was starting to become a little concerned by how much emotion overtook me.
“Kyle?” he asked, his voice the faintest of whispers.
“I just…didn’t know I could feel this happy.”
His smile returned, and I noticed his watery eyes, which made me feel a little less self-conscious about mine.
“Neither did I.”
I reveled in the power of this intense emotion moving through me, so much vulnerability and fear colliding with a surprising amount of strength. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever felt before.
“I love you, James,” pushed effortlessly from my lips.
“I love you too, Kyle.”
His words felt like they pulsed right through my very being.
I’d thought meeting James had brought me to life, but really, it was like nothing until that moment had truly been real. Like this was all that was worth living for, and I hadn’t truly known, couldn’t have known, until I’d experienced it for myself.
He reeled me in effortlessly, our lips locking as we embraced that perfect moment.
Savoring it, in the back of my mind knowing it wouldn’t last forever, but appreciating that what was a brief moment seemed to stretch on and on in my mind, like my consciousness was trying to fill infinity with a single emotion.
“I want you, James.” I tugged at his shirt. “Get out of this.”
“Just to be clear, we’re not getting your rental dirty,” he said, pulling away. “Here, take it off.”
I handed him my blazer before kicking my shoes off and removing my pants, which I passed to him as I removed the shirt. He carried them over together, draping them across the box he’d brought out there.
I slipped off my socks, tucking them in my shoes at my side.
My trunk boxers clung tight to my thighs as I shivered with a gust of wind. “Ooh, cooler night than I was expecting,” I said, feeling my nipples.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you warm.” James approached me, looking over my moonlit body. I forced my arms away from my torso, wanting him to be able to take me all in.
He couldn’t have realized, but just the way he was looking at me made me hot, kept me warm as he’d claimed he would.
But he didn’t jump me like he sometimes would when I was undressed before him.
“God, you’re a beautiful man, Kyle.”
He moved in and kissed my neck, a soft, careful kiss. I shivered as he kissed down to my chest, his hands resting against my hips.
“I don’t know how exactly we’re planning to make this work.”
“Just gotta get creative.” He pulled back and started unbuttoning his shirt.
I watched as he removed it and laid it across the ground. “You’re gonna ruin that,” I warned.
“Could stand to lose a few button-downs.”