Page 79 of The Sweetest Return

“It is.”

I caught her around the waist and lifted her, making her laugh turn into a gasp as her legs wrapped around me.

“Dre!”

“What?”

“You’re going to drop me.”

“Never.”

The word came out before I thought about it.

Something moved through her expression. Small, but I caught it before I carried her the rest of the way into my room.

Once I put her down, the joking eased. She touched the hem of her sweater, then stopped, and I could almost see her thinking too far ahead.

I took both of her hands. “You still want this?”

“Yes.”

“You ain’t gotta do it because we made it back here.”

“I know.” Her gaze stayed on mine. “I want you, Dre. I’m nervous, but I want you.”

I kissed her knuckles. “Then I got you.”

That was all she needed from me, so I slowed everything down.

I didn’t take her clothes off like I was rushing toward the part that made me feel good. I took my time because I wanted the night to belong to her too. Her sweater first, lifted carefully over her head before I kissed her mouth again. Then the side of her neck. Then the soft place behind her ear that made her fingers tighten in my shirt.

“You smell good,” she whispered.

“So do you.”

“You always say that.”

“Because it’s always true.”

She smiled against my mouth, and I felt a little more of her nerves loosen.

I unbuttoned her jeans slowly, watching her face the whole time. Her body was telling me things her mouth might not know how to say yet. The way her breath caught when my fingers brushed her stomach. The way her lashes dipped when I slid the denim down her hips. The way she shifted her weight, then stopped herself like she didn’t know whether she was supposed to help me or let me take care of it.

“You can breathe, baby.”

“I am breathing.”

“Barely.”

She rolled her eyes, but she took a deeper breath.

I smiled and kissed the center of her stomach. “That’s better.”

“Bossy.”

“Tonight? Yeah.”

She studied me for a moment before nodding. “Okay.”