Page 139 of Sit, Stay, Love
She watched the confusion creep across his face. ‘Are you going to hang up and let me in?’ she asked. ‘Or are we going to stand on your doorstep and talk on the phone all day?’
He frowned, slid his phone into his back pocket and pushed open the screen door. She shimmied under his arm and into his house.
He turned towards her. ‘What’s happen—’
But before he could finish his question, she was on her tiptoes with her lips pressed to his. He jumped, his entire body jerking in surprise. Then his arms wrapped around her waist and he enveloped her.
The kiss started softly at first, gentle and sweet, kind of like him, until he parted her lips and slid his warm tongue into her mouth, and an explosionof fireworks burst hot behind her eyes. A rush of blood hit her head and she wobbled on her feet. He clasped her tighter, lifting her a little so that her toes almost left the ground, and she circled her arms around his neck and hung on.
She was kissing Toby. Her tongue was in his mouth and…
Oh my god, I’m kissing Toby.
He growled somewhere in the back of his throat, grasped her hips and gathered her closer. She squealed against his lips as her breasts slammed into the solid wall of his chest.
He pulled back, all jagged breaths and blown pupils.
‘Shit… sorry. Was that… not okay?’ he asked through uneven pants. ‘Did I… do something wrong? I’m not sure… what—’
Her eyebrows bunched together, her heart up where her throat should be. ‘No.’ She clutched onto him. ‘I did. I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. After everything… we should have talked first.’ Her voice was high and breathy, a strange mix of Betty Boop and Marilyn Monroe.
His face softened and his full lips curved into a smile. ‘Sera,’ he said sternly.
‘Mm?’ she squeaked.
‘We’ve been talking for two years.’
Then his mouth was on hers again, and her entire world tilted back onto its axis.
His large hands splayed across the small of her back, cinching her to him, his kiss unyielding, frantic and bruising, as if he’d been waiting for this moment, as if he’d been planning every push and pull. His muscles flexed against her stomach, and she trembled over, her knees threatening to buckle. Heat seared across her skin, burning everywhere, licking and coiling low in her belly and she writhed and squirmed and had to stop herself from screaming into his mouth.
His long fingers wandered up her waist, gliding over her ribcage, his thumb tenderly brushing the side of her breast. He groaned and muttered her name as he slid his lips to her throat and sucked. She whimpered, thespace between her thighs exploding with wet heat. His bite was going to mark, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was how his lips were lingering on the sensitive skin of her neck, skimming her flesh with an almost unbearable tenderness. Her fingertips dug into the cheeks of his arse as she tried to stop from melting to the floor.
It didn’t feel strange kissing her best friend. Not like she’d always told herself it would, when her thoughts had dared to drift there before she scolded her brain and chased them away. It felt wonderful. Their mouths fit flawlessly together, the way their lives had since the first day they met. Perfect. Right. Just like them.
Their teeth clashed with a loud clunk, and they laughed against each other’s lips.
‘I think we need practice,’ he murmured.
They laughed again, breaking their kiss when they couldn’t stop grinning. Then they quietly gazed at one another, their eyes skipping back and forth as if finally seeing each other, their faces flushed and their breathing ragged, standing just inside the room with the door still open behind them, and Sera’s suitcase sitting on the drive.
‘What happened?’ Toby asked. His voice was raw and rough, and he had to clear his throat before he spoke again. ‘Why aren’t you on your way to LA? I mean, goddamn, I’m glad you’re not, but… why?’
She cupped his cheek and he pressed against her palm.
‘You know why,’ she said.
‘Why don’t you tell me anyway? So there’s no more confusion.’
‘Because you’re in love with me. And, it seems, I’m in love with you.’ She watched his throat bob up and down as he blew out an unsteady breath. ‘You’ve always understood what my heart wants better than I do,’ she said. ‘I don’t know why it took me so long to figure it out, or why I fought so hard against the truth.’
‘Because you’re stubborn?’ he teased with a crooked smirk.
‘Hey.’ She gave him a playful shove. ‘I only know this is where I want to be. Here, with you. You’re all my happy days. You’re the person I wantto share my good news with, and my bad news and my boring, whining-about-life news. You get my weird love of dinosaurs and movies made in the eighties, and you don’t care that I crush on Kevin Costner in chaps even though he’s in his sixties.’
‘Well—’
‘Shh. I’m on a roll.’
