Page 70 of Seeking Stars
Her eyes found him. The connection squeezed his throat.
She let go of his hand to put both of hers around his face.
His hands flew to her hips. His heart tripled its pace, the rush of blood loud in his ears. Could it be, that she was going to make the jump? Did he dare to hope?
She bent closer to him, too slow if the timing of his heart had anything to say about it. He stilled, afraid to scare her off, hoping he'd show her whatever she needed to see. He only dug his fingers further into her hips and it must have been the right thing, because her lips softened into a small grin. His throat burned with the words he didn't let himself say; his brain yelled and called and begged.
The first contact of her lips on his was minimal, tingles bursting on his lips. Desperate, he angled his head for a deeper kiss. He skimmed his bottom lip against hers, a sort of challenge. The warm air of her sigh brushed his face, before she gave in and pressed her mouth against his.
It was like diving into the deep end, with no rush to make it out for air anytime soon.
He'd happily let himself sink into this forever, let himself drown in her.
The kiss was both tentative and intense, bursts of passion and hesitation burning through their skin. She was the one to use her tongue to make a path on his lips, asking him to open his mouth and let her in. He did, taking as much as she took.
It wasn't enough. Her kiss opened the dam of need within. Aching for more, he twisted from the waist to bring Ana onto the bed. The movement was swift; she let out a huff of shocked air. He had to stand for a moment to turn his body to lay down; as he did that, she scooted back on the bed— she'd recovered quickly from the surprise and her eyes told him, finally, that they were on the same page.
The smile stretching his lips may have been slightly feral, he wasn't sure, and didn't care. It matched the fire in her eyes. He followed her on the bed but didn't rest fully on top of her; he laid down on his side, as close as he could get without being on top of her. He kissed her again even as they continued to shift with each other's body.
Kissing her was everything.
"I want you, Liam," she said as his lips explored her jaw, the tender skin where it met her neck. "I don't want to think of anything else."
He followed a lazy path down the column of her throat, painfully aware that as much as he'd wanted to hear those words from her, her wanting him wasn't going to be enough.
He needed her to crave him, to care about him, to make her way into his heart, and to let him fall into hers. He sought more than a simple release, and as he nibbled on the concave hollow between her clavicles, he knew he wouldn't get that from sex alone.
Her hands found their way to his waist and pulled at the bottom of his shirt, trying to undress him. He lifted his torso to make it easier for her; when his shirt had landed somewhere on the floor, she pushed him back to the bed and climbed on top of him. She settled on his cock, hard as a rock against his jeans. Her hands wandered across his chest and abs, her fingertips pressing hard enough to make grooves on his muscles as they moved.
"Fuck," he said, his eyes darting to her ruffled long hair, her parted lips. He despaired at the lust in her eyes.
He needed to know if he could have her heart.
He grabbed her hands and pulled them above his head, forcing her to come to him for a kiss. He twisted and rolled them so that she'd be on the bottom. For a moment he let the weight of his body crush her, but he broke their ongoing kiss by pulling on her bottom lip and shifting his weight back to his knees. His hands moved from hers to her forearms, where his long arms still kept them above her head even as they roamed down to her biceps.
"Liam," she whimpered, as he kissed her neck again, the swell of her breasts, and ended his journey by gently biting a hardened peak through her clothes. She moaned.
"I want you to want me," he said, now letting his fingertips make their way down the soft skin above her breasts and around them, until they reached the bottom of her shirt. He lifted it only enough that he could caress her belly. He kneeled between her legs, their weight resting on his thighs. "But that's not going to be enough."
She sat up to come close to him. His hands moved to her thighs, rubbing them up and down. Her hands came to his shoulders, one of them falling to his naked chest as the other climbed to grab his nape. She pulled him to her for another kiss: their tongues clashed and their teeth nipped, as if they were already arguing about his words.
"I want all of you," she whispered against his lips, eyes on his, searching. "I'm gonna risk it."
"I don't want us to jump without a parachute. We need to build a good founda—"
She kissed him again, this time falling to her back and bringing him down with her. He let her guide him to lay on her, and rested his weight on his elbows. Unwittingly, he moved his hips against hers, causing the tension to build in his lower back.
"Sex can be a cornerstone," she argued against his ear, nibbling on his earlobe. He groaned. He was going to explode if he wasn't careful.
"I need more than fifteen rushed minutes," he said as she explored his neck, kissing his Adam's apple. "I don't want sex clouding your judgment— or mine. Not when we talk about our relationship. When we have sex, I'm going to be all in."
He angled his head so that he could kiss her again, shifting his weight to rest three-quarters on top of her. He pillowed her head with an arm around her neck. He created a small distance between them, only enough so that he could look into her eyes and see every sign of her willingness.
"Sure," she breathed. "Makes sense."
"But I'd like to give you a taste of what we can have. Let you know how good I'll make you feel."
Her lips parted. He brought his free hand down to knead her breast. When his thumb teased her nipple, her eyes closed and a soft whimper escaped her. With his lips in front of hers, he breathed in her sighs. He smiled and guided his hand down to her waistband.
