He stares at me until I start squirming.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “Do you feel differently about me than you did before?” My heart thuds.
“I like you more than I did five seconds ago,” he says, his cheeks coloring.
“Are you blushing?”
“Maybe.”
“Because you like me,” I tease. “You want to kiss me,” I sing out, like the old kids’ song. But then I realize he can’t hear the tune and might not get it.
“I do want to kiss you,” he says. “But we went too far too fast, right?”
I shake my head. “I was just emotional. It was a big thing for me.”
“Why did you get up and leave?”
“Because you were getting all freaked out by my crying.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
“No, the only thing that freaked me out was when you got up. I wanted to hold you through it.”
“Don’t most men get freaked out by crying?”
He laughs. “No, because I wanted to cry too. It has never been like that for me.” He wraps his palm around two fingers and makes a fist. “Being inside you felt like where I was supposed to be.” He leans over and kisses me, his lips soft and tender. “All the time I spend with you is the best I ever had. Naked. With clothes on. It doesn’t matter. I want it all.”
“So, what do we do now?” I wiggle my toes.
“You want to play strip poker?” he asks. He waggles his brows at me.
“All I’m wearing is a t-shirt.”
He lifts the edge of the shirt. “No panties?”
I laugh and tug the shirt lower. “No.”
He brushes my hands away. “Let me see,” he says.
“No!” I cry out, but I’m laughing and he knows it.
“Telling me you’re on my couch with no panties is like giving a little kid a Christmas present and then only letting him play with the wrapping paper.”
He lifts me so that I’m straddling his thighs, my legs spread wide. I brace myself with my hands on his shoulders.
He goes still and I let my weight sink down on him.
“So, the crying earlier, you weren’t regretting what we did?” he asks.
“No. I don’t regret it.”
“And you didn’t really think we went too fast?”
“I thought we went too fast for an emotional connection, maybe? I don’t know.”
“My emotions are connected.”