Page 64 of Love Expert

“Y-you want me specifically?”

“From the instant I slammed you against the front of your own house and realized Maggie Sava was back in town. I’ve wanted you since we shared cupcakes in the first grade. It wasn’t the same kind of want back then, but it was the beginning of what we are now. I wanted to spend every minute of every fucking day with you, the way my son wants to spend every minute of every day with you now. But then you left, and I swear, I get what he’s saying to me. I would choose you over me, too. I would’ve tossed my parents into the trash twenty-five years ago if it meant I could follow you wherever you went.”

Her eyes, so fucking beautiful and wet, drop to my lips.

In want, maybe. In need. Hopefully.

“I grew up, Maggie, and I married someone else. I made a son, and I became a cop. I lived my life. But Ineverfilled the hole your absence left in my heart. Now you’re back, and my bad moods are all a reflection of how that wound is slowly scabbing over. It’s healing, and healing isn’t always smiles and good times. Healing, for me, is the bullshit dysregulation the eight-year-old version of me never learned how to manage.” I drag my thumb over her cheek and down to the underside of her jaw. “Won’t you please just kiss me? Not because I wanna fuck, and not because I wanna annoy you. Kiss me, because I’ve known for twenty-five years the girl I used to hang out with would have kissed me exactly right. Because I know we earned this, both of us did, and it would be a tragedy if we never tried it out. Kiss me, because the little boy I used to be deserves the confirmation that he was right. And when we’re done kissing, please,” I choke out a breathy, desperate laugh, “please don’t punch me in the face or say something unkind. Because that little boy from the second grade is fragile. So fucking fragile.”

She surges forward, quicker than I anticipate and so much fucking hungrier than I could’ve hoped for. Wrapping her arms over my shoulders and pulling herself up until we touch from toes to tops, she slams her lips to mine and makes all the hurt better. She exhales into my lungs, giving me life when I hadn’t even realized I wasn’t truly living, and then her tongue comes out to tap mine.

I’m officially a goner.

I drop my hands to her hips and hold her close until there’s no space left between us. Until her pounding heart beats against my diaphragm, and her intoxicating breath injects tingles into my bloodstream.

She moans in the back of her throat, gifting me with the vibration and sound, and when I slide my hand beneath her sweater, resting my palm against her bare back, she practically fucking climbs me. “Is it what you thought?” She nips at my bottom lip, tangling her fingers in my hair and holding me down.

Like I would walk away!

“Billy? Is it what you wanted, or?—”

“It’s so much more.” I catch her lifting leg, my hand cupping the back of her toned thigh, and because I’ve had a beer, I blame my impulsiveness on the alcohol, lift her up, and spin. I slam her against the door and pin her delicate frame with my hips. Breaking our kiss, which is basically a fucking sin, I beg for forgiveness with my tongue pressed to her throat instead. I nip at her skin, and suckle just hard enough to taste, but not so hard that I’ll mark her flesh.

I help myself to her body, slipping my second hand under her sweater so I’m treated to her fiery torso pressed to my palms, her ribs, countable under my fingertips.

I swear to God, I don’t slam my cock against her core. I don’t dare, despite the inferno it is. Butshegrinds closer.Sheinitiates that contact, and when her pussy glides over my hardened length, her desperate whimper damn near undoes me.

“Billy.” She tips her head back, banging it against the door. “Jesus.”

“See how good it is when the kiss is mutual?” I tear my hand from her sweater and grip the front of her throat instead, squeezing just hard enough to get her attention, then dragging her back down until her lips clash against my smug grin. “I fear sayingI told you sowould start a fight, and I’m trying really hard not to do that anymore. So?—”

“I thought about you, too.” She uses me, tightening her arms around my neck, tightening her legs around my hips, and grinds against the zipper of my jeans. “I thought I was crazy, because you were just a boy I knew a long time ago.” She sucks on my bottom lip, groaning into my mouth and bringing herself pleasure with the roll of her hips. “The first boyfriend I ever had was jealous of you.”

“Me?”

“Mm. Because I told him about the boy I loved when I was a child. My second boyfriend’s name was William, and he didn’t even bat an eye when I nicknamed him Billy.” She peels hooded, hungry eyes open and stops onmine. Slowly, a salacious grin spreads across her lips. “I lost my virginity to him, and I called him Billy the whole time.”

“Fuck.” My hips jut forward without my conscious thought, slamming her greedy body against the door. “Fuck, Magnolia. That turns me on and pisses me off at the same time.”

She barks out a sexy, sinful laugh that presents her bobbing throat as the perfect target for my teeth. So I dive in and taste.

“I can’t help but want to argue with you,” she moans. “It’s the strangest thing, because we didn’t do that when we were younger. I don’t mean to do it now. But every time we’re in the same room, you start speaking, and my temper takes over.”

“It’s pride.” I drag my hand down her body, over her hips, and under to cup her ass. So round and perfect. So malleable under my fingertips. “Because you wanted me too, but you were too proud to say so out loud.”

“I want you now.” She drops her hand, digging her nails into mine just hard enough to loosen my grip on her ass. Then she guides me exactly where she wants me to go. “You can touch me.” She brings her eyes back to mine, her breath racing and her swollen lip trapped between her teeth. “Touch me like it’s the only time we’ll ever get to touch.”

“A-are you sure?” My heart gives a heavy thump, bruising the inside of my chest and crushing my lungs until they simply cease to function. “I just wanted to kiss you. This isn’t about more than that.”

“You don’twantmore?”

“Of course I fuckin’ do!” A desperate laugh scratches along my throat. “Jesus. I want all of you. I’ve wanted all of you since I was old enough to realize I liked girls. But you already think I’m a prick.” I dive in and take her lips with mine. “I don’t wanna ruin this with something else.”

“You have my permission.” She massages my fingers closer, closer, closer, so when I move from creamy flesh to fiery core, we both groan. “Jesus.” She rides my hips, searching for the final piece of this puzzle. “Please, Billy. I’ve thought about this for twenty-five years, too.”

“Fuck.” I tear my hands away completely and set her on her feet, swallowing her cry of despair, but then I drop to my knees, hitch her skirt up, and pull her panties down. “Tell me to stop when you’re done, Magnolia.” I bury my face between her legs and clap my hand over her mouth.

She cries out, screaming as I lap at her delicious nectar. I bite her clit, so she bites my palm. I slide my tongue into her pussy, so she forces my finger between her lips and nearly undoes me.