Love You Better (Better Love 1)

My heart is beating so fast.

He drags his eyes to mine and every green and gold fleck in his irises are set ablaze. My breath catches in my chest, and without breaking eye contact, he raises his hand to my ear and brushes his fingertips over my dangling faux-diamond earring.

I feel the touch all the way to the pointed heels of my stilettos, and I curl my toes and breathe out the first thing that comes to my mind.

“They’re fake.”

“Hhmm?” Kelley hums in question, lightly grazing the pad of his finger along the back of my ear. I gasp and snap my eyes open, meeting his heated stare punctuated by a tiny smile.

“I said, they’re fa—”

I halt my words, a wave of memory washes over me and my eyes flare. Kelley’s pleased smile takes over his face.

“They’re fake?” he finishes playfully. “Costume jewelry?”

I can’t help the giggle that escapes my lips, and I nod.

This is so surreal.

Still smiling, Kelley brings his other hand up to my face and threads his fingers in my hair, so I’m cradled in his palms. His feet are straddling mine now, our chests just barely touching, and I wonder when he got so close, and how can I get him closer.

I lower my eyes and watch as I slide my hands slowly up his chest, around to his shoulders, and down his arms until I’m gripping his biceps, marveling at the way my fingers impress upon the soft fabric of his shirt and the solid feel of him beneath. When I lift my gaze back to his, his eyes are filled with mirth and heat and promise, and I shiver with anticipation.

“Ivy,” he rasps.

“Kelley,” I whisper back.

He rests his forehead on mine and flutters his eyes shut, and before he can say anything else, I raise up on my toes and press my mouth to his.

For a moment, I’m suspended in time, weightless and breathless, floating somewhere between seventeen-year-old me and now. I sink into him without a second thought, warmth and comfort and tingles washing over my body. His lips are so soft. I open my mouth a little and run my tongue along his plump bottom lip, and he groans, tightening his grip in my hair. It shoots straight from my mouth to my core, and I’m aching for him.

In a freaking storage room in the back of Keggers.

Next to bathroom cleaner and paper towels.

Jeebus. So dang floaty.

Kelley opens his mouth and when his tongue brushes over mine, I can’t help the whimper that escapes. I fist his cursed Henley and press my knuckles into his hard chest. The feeling that takes hold of me is one of ecstasy and awe, like I’d been waiting for this moment for years, only I didn’t know it until just now. Like a dream I’d had often, but could never remember, was coming to life.

When the desire to let him bend me over the box of toilet paper cr

osses my mind, my heart races faster, stealing my breath completely, and I can’t tell if it’s panic or arousal. In an effort to get a handle on my body, I slow the kiss, smoothing my hands down his torso and resting them on his hips, and he follows my lead.

Resting our foreheads together once more, the kissing stops, but his lips don’t leave mine. When I feel him smile against my mouth, I return it and let loose a giggle.

The panicky feeling in my gut is gone. All that’s left are intoxicated butterflies.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” Kelley whispers against my lips.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he exhales. “You look stunning. Watching you dance and laugh. Seeing you carefree with our friends. That’s when you’re the most beautiful. I’m stuck in your orbit, Ivy Rivenbark.”

Oooof. This man.

His words circle my body, caressing every part of me, and I kiss him once more. Soft, sweet, and sexy. Like us in this moment.

“I know you’re going to overthink this later. I know you’re going to want to take a step back and analyze it until you think you have everything planned and figured out,” he states, and I’m smacked upside the head with just how well he knows me.