“Were the homes terrible?” His brows dipped in concern.
“Not all of them. Some were in it for the money, some for the free labor and some just took advantage of the situation.” And that was all he’d get from me about a time best left forgotten.
“You mean they tried to take advantage of you?” His jaw clenched and his knuckles were white as he gripped the half empty glass of water.
“Xander, stop. What is this about, really?” There was no way he was trying to recapture first love, that was just ridiculous. Wasn’t it?
The look in his eyes, the heat and desire that burned in their depths was unmistakable as he watched a bead of sweat disappear into my sports bra. The way he watched my tits jiggle as we ran side by side was still on my mind.
“Sex? Is that what you want, Xander?”
He walked around the counter that separated us, slowly like a predator stalking his prey, not stopping until we were toe to toe. His warm breath fanned the hairs that come loose from my ponytail and cooled my overheated skin still slicked with sweat.
“Sex is part of it, Mara, yeah. I won’t lie about that. You were a knockout back then, but today, with all those curves and that plump smartass mouth of yours, yeah I can’t wait to bury myself deep in your heat and make you cry out with pleasure. I’ve always wanted you, and apparently, I always will. But I already told you, I want us to get to know each other again. You just refuse to hear me.”
“Maybe I just don’t believe you.” I pushed at his chest and realized, a moment too late, my mistake. Not only was he hard and hot and sweaty, but he was also fast and his hand circled my wrist before I could pull it back.
“Maybe you just don’t want to believe it, Mara. Because if you believe it, even a little, then that might pave the way for you to forgive me for something I had no hand in doing to you.” Xander grinned as he twirled a lock of my hair around his finger and gave it a gentle tug that shot straight to my gut. “But you do believe it, just enough to be damned annoyed by it, and that’s why I’m here.”
He was right, dammit. I did believe him. Only a little, but still. “Cocky.”
“You like that about me.”
I shook my head. “I used to like that about you, until I realized it was no more than just a teenage façade, to cover up insecurity. You were always confident in who you were, privileged and cocky about it.” I had mistakenly thought he was just like me, tough to avoid getting hurt. Instead he was cocky because life had taught him that he could be, that the road he wanted to take would just be paved for him.
“Bullshit. You used to like my cockiness, and you still do.” His big hands gripped my shoulders and pulled me close until our bodies were flush, stuck together by the heat and moisture of our earlier exertion. Then his mouth crashed down on mine, hard and demanding, firm and insistent. Hungry, like he was powerless to do anything but kiss me in that moment. It was a heady, intoxicating feeling, one that a girl could get used to, could dream out, fantasize about under the right circumstances.
My body pressed against his, eager to get closer as my hands roamed every plane and valley of his upper torso, hungrily caressing the hard expanse of his back, the ridged edges of his abs, the hard bumps of his chest. His was not the body of a boy becoming a man, he was all man, hot and hard. Sexy.
Xander ground his cock against me, the flimsy fabric of our running clothes giving me a long, hard reminder of what it had been like between us before we really knew what we were doing. His hands gripped my waist and lifted me in the air, encouraging me to wrap my legs around him, a move that brought the hard length of his cock rubbing against my already sensitized, slick center. The kiss was hot as hell, damn near combustible and it would take nothing but a few flicks of the wrist for us to be naked, reliving our glory days.
Thankfully, Xander pulled back first with a hazy smile. “I want you, Mara. All of you.” He tilted my chin up to make sure my eyes were on him, as if I could look away, and pressed a hard kiss to my lips. “If you want, I’ll make you come right here, right now. I’d love to hear those sounds of pleasure again after all these years. But make no mistake about it, I’ll be back tomorrow because I want to know about you. About your life. Your dreams. Your hopes. Even your hates.” His gaze was dark and serious, making it hard to come up with a smart ass comment.