Page 77 of Hounded
Dressed and ready to depart, Indy grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the exit. His fingers catching in mine was the most natural thing. I clung to them and squeezed as he led me out of Sully’s apartment and down the stairs at a rapid clip. We reemerged into the gallery, where the exhibition carried on in full swing.
Joss was still swarmed by his groupies, and Sully loitered at the edge of the crowd. When the stairwell door closed behind Indy and me, she perked. Indy made a beeline toward the exit, and I didn’t miss Sully’s parting wave and wide, knowing smile.
She would be insufferable now.
27
Loren
We drove across townwith the truck windows down and the radio blaring. Indy squirmed in the passenger seat, twisting his hands in his lap when I knew he would rather be rubbing them over mine.
We didn’t talk, both lost in our thoughts and consumed with anxiety that followed us from the parking lot to the Airstream’s front door.
Once inside, I shouldered out of my sweater and tossed it onto the couch. I felt like I was burning. Hot and sweating like I hadn’t done this hundreds of times before, like I didn’t want it…
I didn’t know what I wanted.
Indy stepped in front of me and touched my arm almost timidly. Blinking, I met his gaze, and my heart regained its rhythm.
“We don’t have to do anything,” he said. “We can just hang out. Maybe cuddle?” He aimed a meaningful look at the couch a few feet away.
I stood, stalled, until Indy tipped his head and said, “I’m gonna need you to use your words because all thisback and forth is giving me whiplash. I like the chase and all, but playing hard to get is only fun if you wanna get caught.”
My mouth went dry as I stared down at him.
“So, do you?” he asked.
My brows pinched.
“Do you want me to catch you?” he whispered. “Or should I let you go?”
It was profound, and so potentially final that I couldn’t keep the words from leaking out.
“Please don’t let me go.”
His features relaxed, and something sparkled in his eyes. “Can I kiss you?”
I dipped my head in a nod.
He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I bent to let him press his lips to mine. It was one of a thousand kisses spread over decades, but my first with this version of him. His first, too, and he withdrew from it pink-cheeked and grinning.
“I knew you’d taste good,” he murmured.
His hand traveled higher and curved around the nape of my neck so his fingers could tangle in my hair. We stood like that for a few seconds, closer than we’d been in this lifetime.
I searched his face, traced his full, soft lips, and almost got lost in his glittering eyes. I had memorized the pattern of his freckles and knew the exact spot on his throat where his pulse fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings. I had savored his skin while kissing every inch of him, and all of it was utterly divine.
Indy seemed to echo my thoughts when he said, “You’re really pretty. Like boy pretty.” His brow furrowed until he came up with the word. “Handsome.”
A tentative smile pulled at my cheeks. “I’m okay with pretty.”
He leaned in, and his scent washed over me, thickly sweet. When he kissed me this time, I let my hands move the way they wanted to. One palm pressed into the small of his back, and the other cradled his head. His mouth crushed against mine, hungry and deep. His tongue slipped past my teeth, and a moan escaped me, full of longing.
Indy looped his arms around my neck, then hopped up to wrap his legs around my waist. His advance drove me back a few staggering steps, and we landed on the couch with him straddling my lap. Our lips parted for nothing but breath while his knees pressed into my sides, and he pinned himself against me.
My cock stiffened inside my slacks.
Indy’s wrap skirt blanketed our legs as he scooted in close. When he pulled back from another ravenous kiss, his perch atop my thighs put him at eye level with me. He studied my face with determination I’d seen before. He was trying to remember.
