My breath caught in my chest, and I whispered the only words I could think of.
"Please don't." I moved away, catching me more by surprise than him.
"I'm sorry." He gave me a weak smile and lifted his hands. "I'll keep my hands to myself. I just thought..."
"You thought right. I don't want to start anything in the middle of your mother's living room that we can't finish." I touched his chest softly. "I want you too badly for that."
His eyes widened and he nodded. "I know the feeling all too well."
"Tate. Val. Come eat!" his mother yelled far more loudly than she needed to.
"Spend the night with me tonight." He reached out and brushed his thumb over my lips. "Please."
"I don't know." I licked at my lips and moved past him. "I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I barely know you."
His mother smiled at me and sat down at the table. "I hope you're okay with leftovers. We had fried chicken last night and meatloaf the night before."
I smiled at her. "I love both of them. Tate and I have sandwiches from earlier, too."
"I'll get them." He poked his head into the kitchen before walking back out.
"You know that he thinks a lot of you already, right?" His mother reached out and touched my hand.
"Really? He's been a little back and forth about the two of us." I realized how easy it was to talk with her. It was nice. "He's too good for me, anyway. I'm serious when I say that my life is a nightmare that no one should have to deal with."
"Maybe you just haven't me the right man." She squeezed my hand and pulled her back as Tate walked back in the room and sat down next to me.
"Mom, are you trying to marry me off already?" He winked at me, and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Always. If this girl had a handful of magic beans, off you'd go." She smiled and started to talk about her day at the hospital like nothing had happened that evening.
I enjoyed the conversation and story after story about Tate when he was a kid. I laughed until my sides hurt, and hated it when she had to get up to get some sleep.
"Well, you kids have fun and behave. No breaking anyone's heart tonight. You're both too precious for that." She opened her arms, and I gave her a long hug after Tate did. I think it surprised her a little, but after all she'd been through, I figured I could continue to extend kindness toward her.
The hug was more for her than me – or so I told myself.
*
"You're too much. You know that?" Tate reached for my hand as we walked toward the sorority house. His bike was parked in student parking just outside the large building and would be covered in snow within an hour if we left it there.
"Me? Just because I saved your ass tonight?" I turned and slid my hands up his chest and clasped them around his neck.
"It's way more than that." He leaned down and brushed his lips by mine. "Did you think about my offer?"
"To spend the night with you?" I pursed my lips to hold back the yes I wanted to scream. We weren't dating and had yet to really do much more than play with each other's emotions. Having known him for no more than a week, I wasn’t ready to commit to anything, though my body screamed for the opposite.
"Yes." He brushed his nose by my jaw and pressed his lips to my ear. "I'd give just about anything to hold you all night. I want to whisper 'thank you' for being so good to my mom and me tonight along every inch of your body, Val. I need to."
I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath as I pressed myself tightly to him. I stifled a groan at the thickness of his erection pressed against my stomach. How good it would have felt to go up to my room and strip down for him.
"I want to so bad, but I can't." I opened my eyes and found a look of understanding instead of the one of condemnation that I expected.
"Then let's sneak into your room and just talk for an hour or so. I don't want to let you go just yet. Don't deny me." He leaned down and nipped at my lips, causing electricity to shoot out from deep inside of me.
"We won't just talk, and you know it." I ran my hands along the sides of his face. "Will we?"
"I promise we will." He kissed me softly before stepping back. "Even if you want something more. I'll play the mature one tonight."