Page 55 of Chasing the Dream

“Here.” He took a throw blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Better?”

“Much. Thanks.”

Then they picked up their glasses and took long sips, almost like they were drinking alcohol and gaining courage for whatever came next.

“Why were you having trouble sleeping?” she ventured.

“Do you want the truth?”

“Of course.”

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you lying in bed on the other side of my bedroom wall. I wondered what you were wearing, what you were thinking, if you were dreaming…”

She shifted, and the blanket slipped off her shoulders. He started to tuck it around her again, but she pushed his hands away and let it fall. She was wearing a thin cotton pajama set, and her nipples were straining against the material, aching for his touch. His gaze went right there, and he swallowed hard.

“Now you know what I’m wearing. Do you want to know what I was thinking about?”

“Yes.”

She reached out and placed her palm on his bare chest, right over his heart. She inhaled deeply, gathering courage from the pounding in his chest.

“I was thinking about you, about this, about us.”

He glanced down at her hand, and she skimmed it up and cupped his face, rasping her fingers over the stubble on his chin.

“Morgan…”

“I want you, Gabe.”

“I want you too.”

“Kiss me.”

He glanced behind her at the hall that led to his parents’ bedroom. “We probably shouldn’t do this here.”

“Where then?”

“My room.”

She nodded and immediately stood up the blanket discarded in a heap. She wasn’t cold anymore, just aroused and anxious to be with him. She held out her hand, and he took it. They left the glasses on the table because this was her fantasy and she didn’t want to take the time to return them to the kitchen.

They climbed the stairs, stepping softly, and then slipped into his bedroom.

“Don’t move,” he said. Then he went into the bathroom and flipped the lock on the door that led into Maria’s bedroom.

He came back and stood before her, and they gazed at each other for a few beats. Then she took a step back, tucked her fingers under the hem of her shirt, and pulled it up and off, letting it flutter to the floor.

His blue eyes sparkled as they roamed over her bare breasts, paused on the hard peaks of her nipples, and drifted down the rest of her body. Smiling softly, she reached for his hands and brought them to her breasts, sighing when he cupped them in his warm palms.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” he said gruffly as he plucked her nipples with his fingers. Then he dipped his head down and kissed her lips, softly and reverently at first, until a wave of heat rolled over them, and then his tongue plunged into her mouth.

His hands left her breasts to slide around her waist, and he pulled her tightly against him. His erection pressed into her abdomen, and she moaned against his lips.

Soon they were a jumble of hands, mouths, and limbs, jostling to get closer, desperate to be as one. He continued kissing her, moving down her body, from her mouth to her throat to her breasts and then further down until he reached the waistband of her pajama bottoms.

He dropped to his knees and looked up at her, his gorgeous blue eyes questioning. She nodded, and he slipped his fingers into her bottoms and slowly eased them down, taking her underwear with them.

She might have felt exposed standing there completely naked while he was still somewhat dressed, but oddly enough, she didn’t. This was her teenage crush, the boy she’d known a long time and the man she wanted to know better. She wasn’t afraid nor shy when he gently nudged her legs apart and dipped his head between them.