Page 71 of Small Town Swoo
“Or you could come home with me,” I suggested, rubbing my lips against hers.
She went still. “I don’t have to work tomorrow. I suppose I could.”
“You don’t sound too sure about it.”
“I just wasn’t sure how many sleepovers were allowed with our arrangement.”
“Well, I checked the by-laws of the Friends withBenefits Association, and it turns out we can have sleepovers at will.” My cock was getting harder at the idea of spending the entire night with her.
She laughed. “And your dad is still gone?”
“Yes. Until Tuesday.”
“Okay then,” she said, kissing me once more. “I’ll come home with you.”
Back at my house, I sent Ari upstairs while I let Fritz out and locked up. She was already in bed when I entered the darkened bedroom, and my body was hot with desire for her. “Give me two minutes,” I said, yanking my shirt off and throwing it on the floor before going into the bathroom.
After brushing my teeth, I grabbed the box of condoms from the cupboard and brought them out with me. After sticking it in the drawer of the nightstand, I turned back the covers and crawled into bed. Reaching for Ari, I pulled her close—she was warm and soft and smelled like summer, some combination of flowers and the beach.
I buried my face in her neck and inhaled. “I love the way you smell.”
“Good.” She giggled, wrapping her arms around my head. “I was lying here thinking about the last time I was in this bedroom. Things didn’t go my way.”
I slipped one hand between her legs and kissed my way down her chest. “That was then. This is now.”
“I like now,” she whispered as I sucked one nipple and rubbed gentle circles over her clit.
“Me too,” I told her as I moved my mouth down her belly, tasting her summery skin. “Me. Too.”
THIRTEEN
ari
I woke up first.
Blinking, I propped myself up on one elbow, momentarily confused by the unfamiliar surroundings. But when I heard the deep, regular breathing beside me, memories came rushing in like the tide, and I settled onto the pillow again.
Closing my eyes, I tried to fall back asleep—the pale pink light filtering in through the blinds told me it was early—but my body was used to getting up at five, and I’d gotten a lot of sleep after work yesterday. So I lay there for a few minutes, my body sore but relaxed, my mind skimming over details from the previous night.
He’d cooked me dinner. He’d reached out to a friend—Gianni Lupo!—about me. He wanted to help me start my own business. He’d agreed to watchDirty Dancingwith me and stuck with it all the way to the end, even though I’d passed out on his lap halfway through. He was just so damn sweet.
I rolled to my side and looked at him, my stomach fluttering. He was on his back, head turned toward me, chestexposed. God, he was beautiful. I wondered if I’d ever look at him and not experience that weightless feeling, like I was cresting the steepest hill on a rollercoaster. His eyes were closed, thick lashes fanning over his cheeks. His jaw was finely chiseled beneath the scruff. And his mouth. Hismouth. Not just the shape of it, but the words that tumbled from his lips in the dark. I’d never known words could be so powerful.
His eyes opened. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Sleep okay?”
I nodded.
“I was just dreaming about you,” he said.
Beneath the covers, my body hummed with joy. “What about me?”
He turned onto his side to face me. Bringing a hand to my mouth, he brushed my lower lip with his thumb, tugging it down slightly. “This.”
“I’ve got Show and Tell today,” Dash said as the sweat was cooling on our skin.
