Page 56 of Next to You

She kicked off her boots and ran her hands up my chest. I shrugged out of my coat and let it drop to the floor behind myself.

“I am so happy you came over. You have no idea.”

I brushed her soft hair over her shoulder, smiling down into her eyes. “I couldn’t stay away anymore. I thought of nothing but you all day.”

“Me too. I didn’t want to wait for our date. I would have called you, but I didn’t have your number. I also didn’t have my car.” She dropped her forehead against my chest. “I mean, I wanted to find you,” she mumbled. “I was in full stalker mode, but I had no way to get to you.”

“I’m so sorry.” I cupped her cheeks and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll never let this happen again. You’ll always be able to reach me from now on. I swear.”

“Okay. Is this too much? I can be a lot.” Her voice shook and I wished she would look at me. “Should I back off?”

“No.” With a fingertip beneath her chin, I tipped her face up. “No way. I’ve wanted you for so long, Lucy. I just wouldn’t let myself feel it. Because somehow, I knew I had to be ready for you. That I had to be man enough to handle the way you have always, fuckingalways, made me feel. I shoved it down. I couldn’t allow it until I could give you what you deserve.”

“You’re mine now, Spencer.” Her eyes blazed as she gazed up at me. “Mine, okay? You’re just gonna have to put up with allthe ways I’m going to spoil you. I’m talking some seriously clingy stuff, so don’t freak out, please.”

“Yes to all of it.” My entire face spread into a smile. “I want everything. There’s no freaking me out, sweetheart. I swear. I want it all.”

“Be sure, because I’m sure about you. I don’t want to go back to the way we were. I don’t want to lose this?—”

“You won’t lose me.” I kissed her quickly before continuing. “Listen, I’ve dreamed of this. Of you and me. Together, just like this. I’m yours.”

“I have too. So many times. You were in my dreams, Spencer, and now it’s real.”

“Yeah, baby, it’s real. Who cares if it’s fast? We know what we have. Nothing else matters.”

“You’re right. I want it. I want you, Spencer. Now.”

Grabbing my hand, she tugged me down the hall and toward her bedroom.

It was pink, with a white four-poster bed, but strangely, I felt right at home in this girly cloud of a room, probably because I felt at home with her.

She slipped out of my hoodie and tossed it to me, leaving her in a lacy white thong that showed more than it hid.

“I have condoms—a huge box from Costco, uh, in my bedside table. I won’t tell you that my mother drops them off every few months because she’s overprotective in even the cringey ways. Yeah, so anyway, we have nothing to worry about.” Her face blazed with embarrassment. She was fucking adorable.

“Promise me, Lucy. Swear you won’t ever change or hold anything back. Ever.” I bit back my laughter but couldn’t hide my huge grin. “I think you know this already. But I’m falling for you, sweetheart.”

“Thank god because I am too.” She held her arms up, and I bent low to wrap myself around her, lifting her off her feet,kissing the side of her neck, and smelling the sweet lavender scent of her skin. I couldn’t get close enough.

“God, you have no idea how many times I’ve imagined this.” I breathed into her hair. “Your gorgeous body. Getting between these pretty thighs of yours. I’ve thought about how you’d taste way more than I should, Lucy. Now that it’s real, I think I might lose my mind. You drive me crazy, and you’ve been doing it for years. I have never been more sure of anything in my entire life.”

“This is happening. It’s really happening.”

“Yes, it is, sweetheart. There’s no going back now. I want you too much.”

“I want you too. The cabin was real, but it also felt like it was too good to be true, like magic or a daydream. You being here tonight means the world to me.”

“To me too. I couldn’t stay away from you any longer.”

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she murmured, wiggling to get down. “I want to feel you.”

“Get on the bed.” I watched her slip out of her thong and throw the covers back as I undressed.

“Oh. Wow, you’re big.” Her legs squeezed together as her eyebrows shot up. “I knew, in theory, I mean. Uh, that it was big because I felt it in the chair. But yeah.”

“Don’t worry. I will not hurt you. You’ll be ready to take me, I’ll make sure of that.”

Her nod was slight. Her eyes had not yet moved back up to mine.

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