Page 132 of Blush Crush

True to form, he doesn't miss a beat, gathering it up and working it back inside me. "I'm going to be hard as a rock knowing you're leaking my cum all throughout dinner."

I giggle, shaking my head. "You're a little twisted sometimes, you know that?"

He plants a soft kiss to my lips, cupping my jaw. "You like it though, don't you, baby?"

Nodding, I lick into his mouth, a naughty little flick of my tongue. "Yes."

"Stop," he groans, sounding pained as he puts noticeable distance between us. "I'm already half-hard again. And we definitely don't have time for another round."

I can't help the pleased smile that takes over my face. "Fine." I laugh. "Maybe later, though."

He turns his back to me, mumbling under his breath something about me being the death of him.

We get redressed in a hurry, already running behind if we don't want to be late.

On the drive over, Cole is a little too quiet for my comfort so I give his hand a squeeze. "Doing okay? You haven't said a word since we left."

He sucks in a breath before laughing dryly. "I'm fucking nervous."

"Why?" I smile. "You already know everyone."

His knees bounce as he drags a hand through his hair, the other hand white-knuckling the steering wheel. "Yeah, but that was different. Before, I was just your fake boyfriend. Now I'm your real boyfriend and I want your parents to like me and I don't want your brothers to hate me and I just don't want to disappoint you." His eyes swivel to mine, a rare vulnerability coming through.

My heart squeezes, my smile dropping in an instant. "My dad already gave you his approval, my mom loves you, she's probablybeen talking to your mom all day about you coming to dinner. Everything is going to be okay. You could never disappoint me."

He intertwines our fingers, bringing our joined hands up to his mouth to kiss my knuckles, causing butterflies to flutter in my tummy. I can't help but fall a little more for him every time he's tender with me.

"I'm sorry for freaking out, doll. All of this is new for me and I don't want to fuck this up. It's too important—you're too important."

It's moments like these when I can hardly believe I ever thought so little of this man. If he weren't driving, I'd crawl into his lap and wrap myself around him, just to feel our hearts beat against each other.

Sometimes I can't believe it's real—that we're real. I don't know what it is that makes me different from the women in his past, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. Scared he'll wake up one day and realize he isn't cut out for a relationship after all, that he'll end things with me the way he always has before, and I'll become just another name in his history.

I wish my mind wouldn't go there, but I can't help it. Everything is still so new. It's exciting now, but one day the excitement will fade. The sex won't be as frequent—I assume—and maybe that's when he'll finally get bored of me.

I worry about that day, because no matter what I do, the thought lingers in the back of my mind, refusing to budge.

Cole squeezes my hand again, grounding me, like he can somehow feel the direction my thoughts have drifted. "Ah, fuck. Now you're nervous too, huh? I'm sorry, baby."

"No," I reassure him. "Dinner will be great and they're going to love you even more."

He casts me a look of disbelief but stays silent.

My gaze wanders out the window, admiring the bare rolling hills still in the February cold, but the sun has been brighttoday, and even as it drops behind the ridge it leaves everything drenched in a golden hue.

I've never been this happy before—and maybe that's the problem. I don't know how to trust something this good. There's a looming dread beneath it, a sense that it can't last, that something is already on its way to tear it all down. So I let myself have this, even as I brace for the fall, hoping when it comes it won't break me completely.

CHAPTER 38

Cole

GEEKING OUT

"So this is still a thing, huh?" Shane points at me and his sister, his lips curling in disgust. "Bruh's ancient, Ari."

The Ledger family is spread out across the living room when we walk in, every pair of eyes turning to us the second we step inside.

"Shane," Ethan cuts in, his voice low and unimpressed. "Cole and I are the same age."