Page 32 of Broken Chords

I laugh in surprise and delight at his dirty response then snuggle closer, batting my eyelashes up at him. “Okay, boo boo bear. If you say so.”

He bends his head and kisses me. From our usual interactions in public, I expect it to be a quick, chaste kiss, but his arm pulls me against him, and his tongue slides along the seam of my lips. I open for him, sliding my tongue against his. And he kisses me breathless, his tongue seeking out every corner of my mouth.

When the cashier clearing her throat penetrates my lust-muddled consciousness, I realize she’s done it two or three times before succeeding in getting my attention. I blink up at Damian, my body pressed to his as tightly as possible, my arms twined around his neck, and take in his eyes hooded with lust, but still clear and in control. I think he heard her the first time. Times? Whichever.

He knows exactly what he’s doing.

And that sends another shiver of arousal skating down my spine. “Yeah. We’ll have plenty of natural lubrication,” I say in a husky voice.

Damian gives me a wicked smile.

The cashier clears her throat again, and we glance at her. “Your purchase?” She says the words like they taste foul, and she’s holding out the bag with the condoms like it contains dog shit.

Damian’s smile morphs from sexy to charming as he takes the bag from her hands. “Thanks!” he practically chirps as we leave. Once outside, I can’t hold back my giggles anymore, and Damian laughs right along with me as he unlocks his car and opens my door.

When he folds himself into his side, he turns to look at me before starting the car. “Schmoopsie poo? That was priceless.”

I shake my head. “She was acting like we were asking her to commit a crime by selling us condoms. I thought it would be fun to scandalize her a little more. I never expected your response, though.”

He chuckles and leans over for a quick kiss before turning the key in the ignition. “Yeah, well, that wasn’t just for scandalous effect.”

Crossing my legs, I squeeze them together at the low, sultry quality of his words. “I picked up on that.”

That wicked grin is back as he glances at me before pulling out of the parking lot, his hand once again returning to my leg as we head back to his apartment. Only this time, he presses against my knee, a wordless command to uncross my legs. I do, and his fingers inch up my thigh, pulling my legs open even more until he has free access to trail his fingers up and down, up and down, the caress almost tickling, totally hypnotic.

I shift in my seat, inching my hips forward, wanting him to get that last inch. He flashes me a grin, but doesn’t give me what I want. His fingers get closer, the back of his hand brushing against me, but never making it where I want him to touch. Even with my leggings on, I still want his hand to land squarely between my legs. With the way he’s teasing me, his dirty promise at the store, I have no doubt he’d find my clit through the layers of fabric. My head falls back against the headrest, and I close my eyes, pushing toward him each time his hand moves up my inner thigh.

Then the warmth and weight of his hand disappears just as I think I’m about to get what I want.

My eyes fly open to find the shadow of his face hovering almost in front of mine. He drops a kiss on my forehead. “We’re back at my place. But it looks like someone’s home. Is that a problem for you?”

I glance at the house, noticing the lights in the windows, the other car parked in the driveway. “Is he likely to interrupt?”

Damian shrugs. “Probably not. I wouldn’t know, though. You’re the first girl I’ve brought over like this.”

Biting my lip, I look from him to the house again. We could try my house, but there’s a fifty-fifty chance that Lauren’s home too. The other option is to wait until another time. But I don’t like that idea. Not after how keyed up I am from Damian’s touch on the ride back from the store.

As if he’s reading my mind, Damian starts, “Look, I get it. We could—”

I unbuckle my seatbelt and pop my door open before he can finish. Before getting out, I wrap one hand behind his neck and give him a hard kiss. “I don’t want to wait until another time. If not tonight, it’s bound to happen sooner or later, right? If I don’t want to run into your roommates in the morning, I’ll just be sure to sneak out by like two am.”

“Right.” Damian doesn’t sound thrilled about that last part, but he kisses me back. “You can leave whenever you want. But for the record, I’d like it if you stayed all night.”

“Noted.”

He kisses me once more, this one slow and exploratory. When he pulls back, his eyes skate over my face, his limned by the low light from the porch. “I love you, Charlie,” he says softly. “I’ll always want you to stay over after we make love. For as long as you’re willing to stay.”

“Then let’s get started.”

Whoever’s home isn’t in the living room when we slip in, and we hurry to Damian’s room, both to avoid bumping into whichever of his roommates drives a green Honda Civic and to quit delaying what’s already been delayed for far too long.

But when Damian flips on his light, I cringe. “Do you have a candle or anything?”

His eyes search the room, which I don’t find encouraging, but then he snaps his fingers. “Yes! There’s one in the bathroom. Hang on.”

He’s out the door before I can say anything, and I take my time looking over his room again. It’s simple. A full-size bed on a basic metal frame with pale green sheets and a simple black comforter. A small particle board desk. A mismatched dresser of the same construction. A closet with sliding doors on the wall adjacent to the bed. A window with drawn black light-blocking curtains above the bed. The desk and dresser are both piled with books and papers, his backpack leans against the wall between the door and the dresser, and clothes don’t quite make it to the laundry hamper in the corner on the other side of the dresser.

We haven’t spent a lot of time in here. He showed it to me before, but we typically hang out on the couch at my house while Lauren’s off practicing or hanging out with her friends. She’s auditioning for a concerto competition soon and she also has a recital coming up next semester, so she spends lots of time in the practice rooms.

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