r

've gone

ext-"You up?"-made it imp

d message. Just e

orts barely peeking out underneath. I looked casual, like this was normal. Like I hadn't just s

knock. I

his room like I

ning his fingers through them all night. His hoodie was off, just a wh

ger

d smiled, lazy

he door behind

d. "Couldn

t's

stuff on

ed, close-but not close en

s phone face down on the nightstand and looked

something?" h

d. "Of

t you ever

d the breat

two. I laughed, light and unsure.

"You flirt with me. I flirt back. We do

d. "Because...

dropping. "Friends don't lo

speak. I

ook at him differently. I'd looked at him that way since the night he walked me h

whispered. "If I kisse

somethi

gers brushed my jaw, fea

on waiting for an answer. I leaned in, deepened it, let my hand r

ack, we were bot

that since freshman

d've said

ared I'd

humb over the curve of his bot

imbed ont

to stop me or pull me closer. I didn't give him the choice. My lips were on his

ike we were peeling back laye

e pulled my hoodie over my hea

ul," he whisper

, warm and golden. Then I leaned in, k

he

-teasing, slow strokes along my thighs, my waist, the dip between my breasts. But when

et, open. He moved with intention, drawing

ling me," I

die wi

ugh turned into a moan. Until he sli

d been made for this. Like our bodies had spe

e. His hand laced with mine, our foreheads tou

ped. My moans grew louder, his nam

ck-don'

he groaned.

ss, the tension that had haunted us for year

lent, wrapped in each

," he said

nt w

.. because I couldn't s

oft. Vulner

hinking ab