Page 39 of Pillowtalk

“Regular yogurt?”

“Ick.”

“Pudding?”

She made a playful gagging noise, and his lips left her skin just enough to turn up and let out a laugh. Kennedy’s cheeks ran warm, and she had the inexplicable desire to make him do that as much as possible.

“What about you?” she asked, her voice slightly shaky from the sweet visual of his genuine laugh; it made her entire body tingle. “Any foods you won’t touch?”

“Broccoli,” he answered immediately, his lips finding the tip of her nose. “Celery, peas…really anything green.”

She ran a hand through his soft hair. “Your mother must’ve loved that.”

“I don’t trust green food,” he said with a serious shake of his head. She mimicked his expression, teasing him as she silently “agreed” with his logic. However, just bringing up the subject of broccoli had her craving it; nothing beat cheesy broccoli soup in a nice warm bread bowl. Oh, she could’ve gone for one right then.

Aaron let out a small laugh before pressing another soft kiss to the underside of her jaw. “You okay there?”

“Huh?” she asked.

“You were…moaning.”

Her heart stopped, and she threw her hands up over her warming face. “Sorry. I was thinking about…soup.” She shook her head furiously, and hoping to draw attention away from her bizarre late-night cravings, she threw the conversation back to him. “Do you hateallgreen things?”

He took a little bit to answer, so she peeked through her fingers and saw him trying to catch up to where she was.

“Nah,” he finally said, his hand skating up her side, his thumb just tucked under her breast. “It’s not my favorite, though.”

Kennedy’s eyes followed down the length of his torso, her mouth pooling at the way his blue button-up draped over his subtle muscles. Aaron was thin, but he was strong and sculpted, and she could only imagine what lay hidden just under his belt. She’d only caught a shadow of a V when he’d been shirtless in his laundry room, and the anticipation of seeing it in the light sent her teeth into her bottom lip, a buzz through her skin, and a pulsing feeling between her legs.

“What color is your favorite?” he asked, and since her brain was only working part-time and her eyes were still glued to his chest, she blurted, “Blue.”

No…wait. That wasn’t right. Blue had never brought good memories to her, being the color of Jared’s old bedsheets, the color of Jared’s hospital gown, the color of his lifeless eyes when his body gave out and the cancer overtook.

She shook her head. “No, it’s pink,” she corrected. “I like pink.”

The air between them fell quiet, and Kennedy blew out a frustrated breath and shook her head. It wasn’t that she felt awkward; talking with Aaron was as natural as breathing, which came as a surprise every time she recognized that. No…her trepidation was more about how nervous she felt, her body wanting to be touched and caressed in a way it hadn’t been in a long time, but her heart unsure that she was up for the repercussions of the act. What if it wasn’t how she remembered? Or worse, what if it wasbetter? Her mind tripped and tumbled as she recalled the way her body had soared to the highest height just the other night, and that was only Aaron’s tongue and hands. If he brought her even higher tonight, high enough to touch the clouds of heaven, would that mean that she enjoyed Aaron’s touch more than that of Jared, the love of her life? Or did that mean she’d simply forgotten what it was like?

She blinked away tears.No,she told them. She would not be sad tonight. Whenever she’d kissed Aaron, it had been because she was sad. It would not be that way now. She would kiss him and touch him because of who he was and how he made her stomach twirl and her pulse race.

The mattress dipped between them as he rolled off her, obviously sensing her change in mood. His thumb ran over the top of her cheek, and the corner of his mouth curled up.

“Pink,” he said as her skin heated under his touch, “is growing on me.”

She bit away a smile, blushing the pink shade that she imagined was coloring her cheeks. She rolled to him, closing the gap he’d put between them and hiking her leg up on his hip. It felt like a lifetime since she had felt comfortable enough with a man to do this, to fluidly touch and cuddle. Jared was her last, and in the back of her mind she had worried that the day would come that a man would cause such strong reactions, but she never imagined they’d be this powerful. And she certainly wouldn’t have guessed it would be Jared’s once-upon-a-time best friend.

Her hand touched the corner of his mouth, her nail scratching against the coarseness of his trimmed face.

“I’m nervous,” she said, her thumping heart backing up her confession. Aaron let out a soft breath and ran a comforting hand over her shoulder and down her arm, pausing at her elbow to give her a quick squeeze.

“Me, too.”

Her brows shot upward, her relief mating with shock. “Thank goodness,” she said, and they shared a laugh between them, their bodies moving in pleasant waves against each other. “Why areyounervous? I take it from the girl attached to your lips when we first met—along with that mind-blowing orgasm you gave me the other night—that you aren’t…inexperienced.”

She expected him to laugh more, but Aaron’s head jerked back instead, his honey eyes laced with surprise. “Mind-blowing?”

Heat rushed up her neck. “If I can be candid about that…then yes. That’s an accurate description.” Yet not nearly strong enough.

His hand fell to her waist, clutching her as his eyes closed and he breathed in deep. His hips seemed to ease gently into hers, his hard length pressing up against her belly. She held her breath, gulping at the heat pooling deep in her sex. Her tongue came out to moisten her lips, preparing them for his talented mouth, but he didn’t close the gap.

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