His hand slides slowly up from my waist. When he cups my breast, I lose track of what’s happening. I stop kissing him back and he pulls away, searching my face.
‘Don’t stop,’ I plead.
He makes a soft huff and returns to me. His thumb rubs over my nipple, finding its stiff peak through the fabric of my dress and bra. I arch up into his touch and slide my hands down his body until I feel the denim of his jeans. My tug must be enough of an order because he acquiesces, sliding his thigh between my legs, groaning when he rubs against my hip.
That’s a new sound, one that reverberates to my core. I push my hips up once more, curious if I can get the sound from him again. I do and he lifts himself off me, reaching down to move my leg out of the way so he can settle fully between my thighs.
I have to break from his lips, a gasp escaping at the jolt that shoots up my spine. The lack of my mouth isn’t an obstacle for Dally. He kisses his way down my neck to my collarbone. He doesn’t pull down the top of my dress. Instead, his tongue traces slowly along the edge of the fabric.
I shudder and my hips jar against him. This time he returns the movement, a sinuous rock of his pelvis that makes me whimper and wrap my legs up around his, ankles hooking behind his calves to use them for leverage. I claw at his back, hating his shirt.
‘Take it off,’ I order.
He’s too busy kissing me to hear. I tremble, undoing what buttons I can and he finally understands what I want. He gets up from the bed and finishes what I started. My mouth goes dry when he drops the shirt to the floor. He stays there as I join him, letting me run my hand over his pecs, down the flat ridges of his abs, curving to grip along his hipbone where the muscle cuts into a sharp V.
‘God, I hate you.’ I like the way his muscles tense when I skim my fingers over them. ‘How has it taken me this long to jump your bones?’
He shrugs. ‘We see what we want to see, Cat.’
‘Thank God for erotic dreams,’ I mumble.
He makes a noise of amusement and reaches for the top button of his jeans. I stop him before he pops it open and guide his hand to where the dress’s zipper starts.
‘My turn.’
He smiles and steps closer, trapping me in the circle of his arms as he starts to unzip my dress. He takes his time, jaw tightening as the pull descends. I watch his face, the hard lines gentled as he traces my back. He’s memorising me.
My throat constricts and my eyes prickle. This is the only night we have together. I’m graduating. He’s leaving.
I have to remember every second of this.
The candlelit darkness of the room is suffocating. I don’t want soft shadows. I want light. I need glaring, bright light. I need to see every detail of his body, of his face, of his eyes when he sees me naked for the first time.
His fingers freeze above the curve of my ass, running back and forth soothingly. ‘Cat?’
‘Turn on the lights,’ I choke out. ‘Please.’
He doesn’t question me, just flips on the switch. He lets my dress drop to the floor, leaving me standing in my underwear. The lust I wanted to see is there in his eyes. But it doesn’t sharpen his features like I expect. It’s buried under an expression I’ve seen so many times over the years, one I’m recognising for the first time.
Tenderness.
His eyes flick up to mine. His smile is a little crooked and his voice husky. ‘I knew you’d be gorgeous, brown eyes.’
Hearing those words fall from his lips makes the world stop. Just like it stopped two years ago when I opened the front door and saw him standing there, returned home after an unexpectedly painful month away caring for his uncle in Arizona. It was the same smile, the same unwavering gaze, even the same tone. Missed you, brown eyes.
I stumble back a step, my legs hitting the edge of the bed.
We see what we want.
I can’t go through with this. Not after this revelation.
Dally’s in love with me.
***
I didn’t expect Cat to chicken out. She isn’t like that. When she gets an idea in her head, she fights and claws her way to achieving it. But judging by the widening of her eyes and the rush of blood to her face, I have somehow fucked this up. I just don’t know how.
And shouldn’t I be grateful this isn’t going to happen?