“What?” she said softly.
“You know what,” I said just as quietly.
She shook her head and a little smile covered her lips. The shadows filled the interior of the vehicle, but I could tell she was blushing.
“I don’t know,” she said and still ran her fingers through her hair.
“Do you know how fucking beautiful you are?” I knew she was blushing harder.
We were both quiet for a long moment, and I swore I could hear her heart beating. All I wanted to do was reach out and pull her in close, to show her with my body, my hands and my lips how much she meant to me.
But I didn’t want to rush her, push her in the wrong direction. If all she wanted to do was talk, if all she wanted to do was sit here in silence, then that would be perfectly fine with me because I was with her.
The silence stretched on between us, but the truth was we didn’t have to say anything. If all I did was stare at her for the rest of the night, I would be a very happy man.
“I got accepted into NYU, Kace,” she said softly and my heart jackknifed in my chest.
I knew she’d get accepted, no questions asked. All I could do was nod. My throat was tight, my mouth dry. God, hearing her say it hurt, knowing she was going to leave like a hot poker to my gut. “I knew you’d get in. You’re so smart.”
The silence continued to stretch.
“It’s so far away,” she said softly.
All I could do was nod.
“But right now, I just want to worry about us, about the here and now. Can we do that, Kace?” She sounded so nervous, so worried that I’d tell her no.
Did she not know that I’d do anything for her, give her anything?
“Do you realize how much I love you, Shiloh?” I changed the subject to hopefully let her know without actually saying it that we didn’t need to talk about school anymore. “Do you realize how much?” I asked again when she didn’t answer. My voice was pitched low, deep. She licked her lips and I watched the act, her tongue moving over the swell of her bottom lip, my cock hardening. My dick had punched forward, gotten stiff the moment I saw her step out of her car at the construction site.
I had no control over my body’s reaction where she was concerned.
“I love you too,” she said softly and I wanted to groan, wanted to just say fuck it all and pull her on top of my lap.
I started breathing harder, that idea sounding better by the second.
“I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you move into the house across the street, although I didn’t know it then. I might not have known what love was that young, but I knew that I had to have you in my life forever.” The truth spilled from me and I was unable to stop it. I didn’t even want to.
I wanted Shiloh to know everything, to understand that when it came to her there was no one else. She was what was important. She was my life.
And then, surprising the hell out of me, she was the one who moved closer to me, placed her hand on my thigh, which had my dick punching forward against my zipper, demanding to be free, and placed her mouth on mine.
I curled a hand on the steering wheel, knowing I needed to be calm, keep my control, because if I didn’t I’d be feral when it came to her. But when she moaned softly, that rope that bound me, keeping me in check, broke right in two.
I had my hands on her shoulders, my fingers curled against her arms. I pulled her closer, tilted my head to the side and opened my mouth. Our tongues touched and it was the sweetest fucking thing.
For long moments we kissed, her lips pressed to mine, our tongues dueling together. I was drunk and high and everything in between, and it was all because I finally had Shiloh.
She broke the kiss and pulled back an inch, the shadows moving along her face, and the sight of her so worked up was a visual aphrodisiac.
“We should go slow,” I breathed out, my voice pitched low.
She didn’t say anything for a second, but then shook her head. “I don’t want slow. I feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime for you.”
Yeah, I was fucked in controlling myself.
I had my hands on her waist now and all but pulled her on top of me. She shifted so her legs were on either side of my thighs, her pelvis right on mine. She gasped and I groaned at the contact. I pushed her down on my cock and lifted my hips at the same time, letting her feel how hard I was, how turned on she’d made me.