Page 63 of Love You Like This

I’m about to pull her shirt over her head when I hear Stone calling my name. A minute later Hazel calls out for Jade. With matching groans we pull away from each other, though she stays in my lap. Her hands drop from my shoulders as we sit there, chests heaving and staring into each other’s eyes.

“What are we doing?” she whispers.

“What we were always meant to.”

She closes her eyes, and I feel the emotional distance she tries to put between us. I grab her hand as she starts to climb off my lap and press it right over my heart. She’s not getting off that easy.

“Feel that?” I ask her.

She looks down at her hand. “Yes,” she answers quietly.

“It’s all yours.”

Pain flashes in her eyes, and she stands on wobbly knees and extracts her hand from my grip. “I’ll go out first. You can follow me after a minute.”

“Or we can go out together.”

“I work for you. This isn’t a proper thing for us to be doing.”

I stand up and adjust myself. “Fuck propriety.”

She watches me without saying anything. Then she walks out, pulling the door closed behind her. I don’t care how hard she tries to push me away. Her kisses and her body don’t lie. Her fingers in my hair don’t lie. She still wants me, just as much as I do her.

Twenty-Four

JADE

Fifteen years earlier

We have two nights left until Stephen gets home. I cinch the robe around my waist and look in the mirror one last time before I go hunt down Xander. Nerves dance in my belly as I study my reflection. What if he pushes me away?

More than likely that won’t happen. We’ve been making out all over the house, doing everything but having sex. It’s obvious that he wants me, and we’ve even talked about this. He keeps everything vague though, as if it isn’t something that he falls asleep thinking about like I do.

Taking a deep breath I turn from the mirror and walk into the hall. Music beckons me down the corridor because where I hear it, I know I’ll find him. As I walk into the room dedicated to all the instruments he plays, I find him sitting at the piano.

I hang back, leaning against the door frame so I can listen without disturbing him. I recognize the song right before he starts singing the lyrics quietly. His voice has a rasp to it that brings instant goosebumps to my skin. He’s so incredibly talented, I can’t imagine any music program not accepting him. Not that I want to be far from him.

As he sings about September coming soon and pining for the moon, I walk into the room. He looks over but doesn’t stop playing and singing. I sit down on the bench beside him. He sings the end of the song while looking into my eyes.

“R.E.M.?” I ask.

“Yeah. ‘Nightswimming’ is one of my favorite songs.”

“Feels apt.”

He lifts his hand and cups my cheek. I lean toward him as he pulls my lips to his. The kiss starts slow and sweet, with him drawing my lips apart with the brush of his piercing against my lips. As it deepens his hand drops from my face down to my neck. He pulls me onto his lap with his other arm.

My robe parts at the shift in position. He sucks in a breath when he looks down and realizes I’m naked beneath the silky material. I lean back onto the piano letting him look his fill and ignoring the awful sound the keys make beneath me.

The hand that was on my neck runs down my chest, charting a course through the valley of my breasts and down to my navel. His eyes find mine as he grabs a side of the bow tied at my waist. I nod for him to continue.

He unwraps me slowly. It’s as if I’m some sort of treasured gift he gets to open after years of asking. Both sides of my robe slide off my body, hanging beneath me from my arms. His hands wrap around my rib cage and move upwards achingly slow.

He leans down and takes one of my piqued nipples into his mouth while his hand cups the other. I arch into the heat of his mouth. The slight sting of the little love bite he gives me sends wet heat pooling between my thighs. One of the things we’ve discovered is that I love a little bit of pain with my pleasure. Not a lot, just enough to ground me in the moment.

He moves his attention from one nipple to the other, moving the barbell of his piercing in little circles. I scrape my nails over his scalp, loving how soft his hair is between my fingers. His free hand dips down to the apex of my thighs. He presses his thumb against my clit, circling it with the perfect amount of pressure.

I drop my head back at the bliss of being touched and kissed by him. The movement causes more of the keys to depress and make obnoxiously loud noises. We both pause and then laugh. He pulls me up against his chest.