“Fuck, Kail.”
He rocks his hips against my palm, but at the same time, I can see the warring doubts in his mind. The last time we did this, it didn’t end well.
“Don’t.” I shake my head and kiss his jaw. “We can go back to hating each other tomorrow.”
His forehead dips into mine, and he nods silently. But when I reach for the zipper of his jeans, he halts me.
“Patience, little pineapple.”
I’m pouting when he eases back onto his heels, but then his fingers come to rest on the waistband of my skirt. I didn’t bother changing after school, so I’m still in my uniform. Landon looks like he’s been thinking about this moment for a long time as his eyes take a leisurely path from my thigh down to my ankles.
His fingers straighten the fabric of the skirt, only to skitter just under the hem and drag it up, inch by inch. When he exposes my black cotton panties, heat trickles down my chest. They probably aren’t sexy, but they’re comfortable.
“I just wear these—”
“Shh.” His tongue darts out and licks his lips. “I’m concentrating here, Kail.”
“Alright,” I whisper.
A soft noise rumbles from his throat as he drags his palms down my thighs to the tops of the white socks just beneath my knees.
“You kept them, dirty little perv.”
I shrug, and he offers me the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen. I’m still blinded by it when he unbuckles my Mary Janes and tosses them aside. Next, come the socks. He drags them down and stares at them for one more pause before he flips them onto the shoes. When he unzips the skirt and tugs the hem of my polo out of the waistband, I have to lift my hips so he can pull it off. We repeat the same dance with my panties and, ultimately, the polo shirt and bra.
I’m completely naked.
I’ve never felt so exposed, but for the first time, I’m not hiding. I need to see him look at me. I need to see the lies in his eyes. The disgust. Doubts. Second thoughts. But the only thing I see is a dark, hungry monster who looks ready to devour me whole.
His eyes collide with mine, and he reaches down to his zipper. Now it’s my turn to watch. He drags it down with excruciating slowness, and then stands up to kick off his jeans in that sexy way only guys can pull off. And then… my monster is naked too. So… gloriously naked.
“Why do you ever put clothes on?” I gape at him.
Landon shakes his head, his lips tilting at the corners. “I could ask you the same thing.”
He reaches down to grab something, and then, after what feels like a century, he lowers his body between my legs. It’s different when we’re this close because now we’re naked, and I can feel every inch of his hard, strong body against my softness. When I lightly graze his biceps with my nails, his abs ripple against me. Who knew I could make him shiver too?
“God, I’ve waited so long for this.” He whispers the words against my neck as he resumes his favorite kissing sport in my most sensitive spots.
It feels like a confession. A secret. How many more will he give me?
His erection juts into my belly, spearing the delicate flesh there as he rolls his hips. There’s the slightest undercurrent of tension in his back, and I could be wrong, but when he looks at me, he seems… nervous.
“Condom?” I ask.
He holds up his fingers to show me that’s what he grabbed from his jeans. Thank goodness because I really didn’t want to tell him there’s a jumbo-sized box in my nightstand.
Landon rips open the foil and rolls on the condom while I watch. He’s concentrating so hard I can’t tell what he’s thinking. When I reach up and touch his face, it brings him back from wherever he was. He leans into me, kissing me again as he wedges his hips deep between my thighs.
He looks at me uncertainly. I smooth my fingers over his pinched brows, and his eyes flutter shut. I never noticed how much my touch seems to affect him. It’s like he’s never felt affection before. But surely, the girls he’s been with must have touched him.
A knot of emotion forms at the base of my throat, so I bury my face in his neck to hide it. I don’t want him to see me upset right now because he wouldn’t understand it’s not because of him. It’s for him. Landon has never been loved. I realize that now. He’s been admired, worshipped, wanted by many… but he’s never been loved. Not the way I could love him. Not the way I’m scared I already might.
When I slide my palm between us and curl my fingers around his cock, he buries his face in my hair and groans. I guide him to my entrance and reach up to stroke his hair with my free hand. He’s inhaling me. Taking hits of me as his lips move to my throat. I arch into him and wrap both of my arms around his waist, digging my fingers into his back.