Changing direction, I walked over and squatted down on the floor in front of her.
“Hey, baby.” The smile she gave me every time I called her that was worth every eye roll and gag my brothers made when they heard it. Some of them were hypocrites, the other one would find out when he finally got the woman he wanted. “Sorry, I had to get some paperwork finished and I was talking to the guys. Have you had a good night?”
The blush that filled her cheeks when I asked that question intrigued me, but then I looked down and saw what she was wearing and almost groaned.
On her second night, she’d come out of the bathroom in a pair of shorts and these thigh high sock things, almost making me inhale my tongue. When I’d asked her if she wanted me to get her a pair of sweats to sleep in – desperate for her to say yes – she’d told me that she struggled to sleep in bulky clothing and wore these during the winter. The night before had apparently been a fluke and was more than likely down to the painkillers and stress of what had happened. This meant I slept next to a wet dream and fell asleep every night hoping I didn’t embarrass myself in my sleep.
How could socks be that hot?
Looking down at the roughly four inches of bare flesh between the top of the socks and the bottom of her shorts, I mumbled, “I’m in the deepest, darkest depths of hell.”
Unable to help myself, I lowered my forehead onto her thigh and took deep breaths trying to clear my mind. Unfortunately, with where I was, all I succeeded in doing was breathing in her scent with my face inches away from her pussy, which just made it all much worse. Then, just to add to my struggles, her small fingers started to run through the hair on the back of my head, scratching gently with her nails.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I lifted my head up and focused on her face, seeing her confused expression at whatever she saw on mine. Catching her hand, I brought it up to my mouth and pressed a kiss on the palm of it. The line between doing what I figured was the right thing at this moment and doing what I wanted was as thin as a strand of human hair, but my control snapped when I saw her look down at my mouth.
“Lottie, you’ve got to know that I have feelings for you,” I began, pausing when I saw how shocked she looked. Seriously? “You didn’t know that?”
When she shook her head, it raised a new question for me. Was she that naïve, or was she not as clued into me as I was to her?
Reaching up, I gently cupped the side of her face, avoiding her neck completely. “I do. I’ve loved the heck out of the time we’ve spent together, and I know that this isn’t exactly great timing to tell you all of this, but I want more with you.”
As soon as the words were out, I almost winced. I want more with you? That’s the best you could do, Townsend?
“I wouldn’t ever force you to do anything, and it won’t change anything if you don’t feel the same way about me, but I need you to know where I’m at.”
Her face softened to an expression I hadn’t seen before as she raised her hand to skim the tips of her fingers over my beard. Please don’t let that expression be pity!
On one hand I wanted her to be able to speak so she could tell me she felt the same way, on the other hand I was glad she couldn’t in case she didn’t. But the longer we went with just her gently touching my face, the more I started to panic that she was thinking how to let me down in a way that wouldn’t ruin our friendship.
Needing to say something, I added, “I wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt you, you know that. And…”
Whatever else I was going to say was cut off when she leaned down and kissed me, her hand moving off my face and around the back of my neck like she was trying to stop me from pulling away from her. Letting her lead, I leaned in closer to her, waiting to see what she did next, and shuddering slightly when the tip of her tongue skimmed across my lower lip. Our mouths opened at the same time, and then her tongue was skimming across mine, and I could feel her breath hitting my cheek as she let out little gasps.
Unable to help myself, I trailed my hands up her thighs and wrapped them around her sides to pull her into me, ignoring the pain starting to set in from being on my knees on the ground for so long. That pain faded into the ether when her legs lifted up to wrap around me, holding me tightly against her.