Page 99 of Give Me Love

She opens her mouth, and I kiss her softly. All the worry about how we’re going to make this work evaporates with the taste of her lips.

Her hands go to the side of my face and mine go to her ass. I lift her up, and she wraps her legs around me.

Our kiss turns from a sweet compromise to a profound need I didn’t know was in me.

I feel as though I’ve been drowning all my life and she’s at the surface, coaxing me to come up for air.

Our tongues dance and our heads tilt. Air comes out in a rush and fingers dig into skin. I walk until her back is against the dresser. It moves and something falls off, but we don’t let up.

Her hands go to my head and she slips my hat off, dragging her fingernails across, sending chills down my spine.

Man, I want her.

I want to love her on every surface of this room so she’ll think of me when she sleeps in here. I want her bed to smell like us, so when she lies down, she’ll remember how I make her feel. I push into her, and she whimpers as I hit between her legs.

I move us to the bed and lay her down. She bites my lip, dragging it between her teeth.

My hand roams up the side of her body, lifting her shirt so I can feel her skin, dancing over rib bones until my thumb grazes the bottom of her breast.

Her head falls as she arches her body, and I kiss down her jaw to get to her neck. I suck and bite, and she moans and marks my skin with her nails. She tastes like lavender and feels like velvet.

“Fuck,” I breathe out. I’ve never felt like this before, and it’s terrifying. Our lips lightly touch, and the thought of her changing her mind about us crosses mine.

I can’t let myself go. I can’t be in the moment and not have that little voice in the back of my mind shut the fuck up. It whispers constantly,This is a bad idea. She’ll only break you if you let her.I squeeze my eyes shut and press my forehead against hers. My heart beats out of control and sweat slides down my back.

“You’ll break me,” I murmur, shocking myself as raw emotion spills from my lips.

“Bryce,” she says in a pant. I keep my eyes closed, holding myself up with one arm with her tucked under me. I feel a shake in my bones and a heavy feeling in my chest. “Look at me.” She gently touches my face.

I open my eyes and see her staring back at me. “I’m scared, too.” I feel her fingers tremble. “You have no idea how hard this is for me. So, know that every time you doubt yourself, doubt us, remember, I’m doing it, too. Because that’s what life has taught us. But there has to be a way to break this cycle we’ve been living, and I think… I think you and I together might be the answer we’ve been searching for.”

My chest moves rapidly, and I look between her eyes, seeing the truth. She’s not lying. Whatever this is, it’s different. It’s earth-shatteringly different. A knock sounds on the door, and I groan.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Claire says. “I really need my taster here. Kat, you know Austin is picky, and I don’t want to hear his mouth.”

My forehead rests against hers, and I see her lips smile. “Gotta love my best friend.”

“No, I don’t,” I reply.

Kat laughs as I move back. “Come on. Everything this girl cooks is amazing. You’ve got to try, too.” She pulls her legs out from under me and swings them to the side of the bed. I’m on my hutches with a hard-on as she bends down and grabs my hat off the floor. She grins at me as she places it on my head.

“How many of these do you have?”

“Several,” I reply as I get off the bed.

“And those?” she asks, looking down at my Nikes as I straighten out my shirt.

“Same.”

She makes a cute face.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing. I just already figured that.” She tightens her wet, messy hair. “Come on, boy. Let’s go try some food.” I follow her into the living room, adjusting my hat as we walk into the kitchen.

This place is small as shit, but it’s got a warm feeling to it. Unlike my place, which is huge and cold. Probably because I hardly stay there and no one else does… well, until recently anyway. Now my drugged-out Mom is there detoxing and hating my guts.

Claire’s moving around the place a mile a minute and I’m wondering if she’s on drugs, too.

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