now. My mouth wants to cover hers. My body wants nothing more than to wrap itself around her like a blanket.
She hedges in and folds her arms around my waist.
“Baya,” I whisper with an unspoken agony I hope to never relive. It’s coming—all those feelings I had so long ago. I swore I’d never go there again. I need to stave them off—deny them. It’s the only way I know to keep my heart safe—hell, keep Baya’s heart safe.
“Is something wrong? Is it me?” Her eyes round out in horror as if maybe I’m repulsed by her.
“No.” My hands float up to her waist, and I brush over her hips with my fingers. Baya is soft, her hair smooth as silk. I lean in and inhale her scent while touching down over the top of her head with my cheek. God she smells nice—like vanilla and cinnamon and suddenly I’m very fucking hungry for vanilla and cinnamon. “You’re perfect, I promise.” A little too much.
“Is it Cole?” she whispers. She knows I’m stalling and demands to know why.
Cole is the easy out. I should take it and run with it all the way back to Whitney Briggs. A part of me wants to evict Jeanie from her dorm just to keep Baya a safe distance from me for the rest of the night—hell, the rest of the year. But I’m right there, I’m about to cave and when I do I’ll take everything she’s willing to give me.
“No, it’s not Cole.” I shake my head in defeat. The last thing I want to do is lie to her.
Tears well up in her eyes and she blinks them back. Crap. Now I’m humiliating her. That’s the last thing on the planet I want to do.
“Bryson”—her voice breaks—“do you think maybe we could share just one kiss?” The desperation, the outright pleading in her voice kills me on a primal level and my body starts to shake because I want that kiss just as bad as she does. Probably more.
My adrenaline picks up until my heart feels like a bomb is about to detonate in my chest. What the hell. It’s just a kiss. Although a part of me knows it will be anything but just a kiss with Baya.
I cradle her cheeks in the palms of my hands and draw to her to me, slow and measured. I give a gentle smile as her eyes close, her lips part waiting for mine to greet her. I want to freeze this moment. This is innocent and pure—untainted from my past in a way that I wish the rest of my life could be.
“Baya,” her name strains from my lips as threadbare as the wind as I bring my mouth to hers. I offer a barely-there pass, soft as down feathers before landing hard over her mouth like I want to, like I’ve wanted to ever since that afternoon she first arrived. I swipe my tongue over hers and a groan rips from my gut as if it’s waited all my life to come out. A burst of passion releases from me like I have never known. I’ve waited years for a kiss just like this one—an entire lifetime. I had never had a kiss that mattered so much—that I’ve craved so badly before and now I know why—Baya wasn’t there to give it.
Steph tries to surface but I hold down the past and refuse to let it cork to the top. This is my moment with Baya and once she learns the truth about me, we may never have another.
She runs her hands up my T-shirt and warms herself over my skin. I pull her in tight, and she jumps up on my waist, wrapping her legs around me as if I were a life raft—her lips never leaving mine. We indulge in the pull and push of ecstasy like I have never experienced before—the hard-on blooming in my jeans can attest to that. A series of soft groans emit from her and it takes everything in me not to ride my hands up her shirt—not to take her greedily in the back of my truck, if she wanted me to, and something tells me she more than wants to.
Baya reaches down and plays with the button on my jeans, and I catch her hand in flight.
“No,” I whisper, dotting her lips with a kiss.
“Yes,” she pants trailing her molten hot lips to my ear then pausing.
“No way,” I insist, soft as a
She hedges in and folds her arms around my waist.
“Baya,” I whisper with an unspoken agony I hope to never relive. It’s coming—all those feelings I had so long ago. I swore I’d never go there again. I need to stave them off—deny them. It’s the only way I know to keep my heart safe—hell, keep Baya’s heart safe.
“Is something wrong? Is it me?” Her eyes round out in horror as if maybe I’m repulsed by her.
“No.” My hands float up to her waist, and I brush over her hips with my fingers. Baya is soft, her hair smooth as silk. I lean in and inhale her scent while touching down over the top of her head with my cheek. God she smells nice—like vanilla and cinnamon and suddenly I’m very fucking hungry for vanilla and cinnamon. “You’re perfect, I promise.” A little too much.
“Is it Cole?” she whispers. She knows I’m stalling and demands to know why.
Cole is the easy out. I should take it and run with it all the way back to Whitney Briggs. A part of me wants to evict Jeanie from her dorm just to keep Baya a safe distance from me for the rest of the night—hell, the rest of the year. But I’m right there, I’m about to cave and when I do I’ll take everything she’s willing to give me.
“No, it’s not Cole.” I shake my head in defeat. The last thing I want to do is lie to her.
Tears well up in her eyes and she blinks them back. Crap. Now I’m humiliating her. That’s the last thing on the planet I want to do.
“Bryson”—her voice breaks—“do you think maybe we could share just one kiss?” The desperation, the outright pleading in her voice kills me on a primal level and my body starts to shake because I want that kiss just as bad as she does. Probably more.
My adrenaline picks up until my heart feels like a bomb is about to detonate in my chest. What the hell. It’s just a kiss. Although a part of me knows it will be anything but just a kiss with Baya.
I cradle her cheeks in the palms of my hands and draw to her to me, slow and measured. I give a gentle smile as her eyes close, her lips part waiting for mine to greet her. I want to freeze this moment. This is innocent and pure—untainted from my past in a way that I wish the rest of my life could be.
“Baya,” her name strains from my lips as threadbare as the wind as I bring my mouth to hers. I offer a barely-there pass, soft as down feathers before landing hard over her mouth like I want to, like I’ve wanted to ever since that afternoon she first arrived. I swipe my tongue over hers and a groan rips from my gut as if it’s waited all my life to come out. A burst of passion releases from me like I have never known. I’ve waited years for a kiss just like this one—an entire lifetime. I had never had a kiss that mattered so much—that I’ve craved so badly before and now I know why—Baya wasn’t there to give it.
Steph tries to surface but I hold down the past and refuse to let it cork to the top. This is my moment with Baya and once she learns the truth about me, we may never have another.
She runs her hands up my T-shirt and warms herself over my skin. I pull her in tight, and she jumps up on my waist, wrapping her legs around me as if I were a life raft—her lips never leaving mine. We indulge in the pull and push of ecstasy like I have never experienced before—the hard-on blooming in my jeans can attest to that. A series of soft groans emit from her and it takes everything in me not to ride my hands up her shirt—not to take her greedily in the back of my truck, if she wanted me to, and something tells me she more than wants to.
Baya reaches down and plays with the button on my jeans, and I catch her hand in flight.
“No,” I whisper, dotting her lips with a kiss.
“Yes,” she pants trailing her molten hot lips to my ear then pausing.
“No way,” I insist, soft as a
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