Page 32 of When We Had Forever
I pause. “I’m not that special.”
“You are,” he says. “You know how I know?”
“How?”
“Because I’ve brought girls here before. A few times.”
I frown.
“Hey, don’t give me that look,” he says, good-natured. “I just mean to the pool. You’re the first one who’s agreed to come inhere. I kept hoping that someday, someone would. And look. Here you are.”
My fingers creep up to brace against his shoulders. I study him long enough to decide I couldn’t care less about his history or where this strange sorcery came from. I just know that if I go back to Seagrove, or, worse yet, let him buy me a ticket to Athens, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
I open my mouth to say so, but Michael stops me.
“I have one condition, though.”
I arc an eyebrow. “Youhave a condition? When you’re the one propositioning me?”
“I’m not propositioning you. Yet.”
I flush. “Still. Bold move.”
“I’m kind of a bold guy, in case you haven’t noticed. And yeah, there’s a rule. No sex. Not until the month’s over.”
I wonder if I’ve heard him correctly. “You want to live with me but don’t want to have sex with me?”
He chuckles and undulates his hips against mine. It makes me breathless. Mindless with want. “I think you can tell I want to have sex with you about as badly as I want my heart to keep beating.”
“But?”
“But I’ve never asked a girl a question like this before, and if we do this, I want to know you. Really know you. And I want you to know me. I don’t want you to be one of those weekend girls you accused me of having.”
“It’s not an accusation if it’s true.”
“Fine,” he says. “But that’s them. This is you. It’s different.”
I can’t believe my ears. It sounds like punishment, being this close to him without reaching the kind of completion my body is screaming for. “Is this because you’re terrible in bed and don’t want me to find out?”
“I’m incredible in bed,” he says. “And I’m probably going to regret this idiotic rule in about five minutes. I think I regret it right now. But it’ll give me a chance to do things right. Because for once, I think I actually want to.”
I consider. “Would you kiss me, at least?”
His attention drops to my mouth. “I’m absolutely going to kiss you. Before the day’s over.”
Heat coils in my belly. He stares and stares, but doesn’t close the distance, and in the absence of his mouth on mine, everything else heightens. His fingertips feather against my shoulder, driving a shiver into my center. His bare chest surges against mine. And his firmest place of all still presses against me, the only separation his sopping shorts and my bikini. Every square inch of him proves so delicious that I find myself savoring the idea of this slow and delicate torture.
“You realize how crazy this is,” I whisper. “Right?”
He lowers his head to my neck. “One hundred percent.” His heated answer propels freezing droplets across my skin.
“But you want to do it anyway?”
“One thousand percent.” His tongue darts out, claiming a bead of moisture.
Sensation rolls through me, leaving me quivering. “All right. Then let’s live together. For a month. See what happens.”
He sucks in a breath and raises his head. “Really?”
