Page 49 of Embers in the Dark

“So, if I kissed you along here”—he moves his lips along my jaw toward my ear, and I shift my head up to give him space to roam with more ease—“you wouldn’t like that very much?”

“Oh, um, definitely not,” I say above a whisper.

“And if I nip and lick you right here”—he grabs my earlobe and leaves open-mouthed kisses below my ear which is like a direct jolt to my pussy—“it must do absolutely nothing to you, huh?”

“Mmhmm.” I can’t form words anymore. I’m short-circuiting at this point.

“Admit it, Bay. If I stuck my fingers in your underwear right now, you’d be so fucking wet for me, baby,” he whispers into my ear.

“Fine, you win,” I tell him on a whisper, with a little hip thrust.

He nibbles on my ear one last time and squeezes my ass.He then lets me down and tells me, “Good, now go get ready and then we’re headed out. Wear something warm because you know it gets chilly at night even though it’s warm during the day. September has a way of being bit a temperamental like that.”

“Are you fucking serious? You got me all hot and bothered like that?” He lets go of me and I’m standing in front of him breathing heavy after he got me turned on.

“We have a date to get to, right?” he asks me.

“So, you’re going to leave me like this?” I gesture at myself.

“I need to leave you coming back for more later.” He winks.

“You know I can take care of myself, right?” I tell him.

He comes toward me and grabs my chin. “Oh, Baylee, don’t you dare touch yourself because I’ll know if you touch my pussy before I get a chance to.” Then he gives me a chaste kiss and walks away.

“Has anyone ever told you how frustrating you are?” I tell him as he walks away from me.

“The longer you take, the longer it takes to get back and relieve yourself, Baylee,” he has the audacity to say to me. Such a cocky ass.

I storm off to my room and slam the door. My body betrays me, and the butterflies triple in excitement.

I try to tamper my enthusiasm as I make my way down the hall forty minutes later. I slowed myself down as I got ready, but at one point I threw my makeup brush down and saidfuck it. I’ve been waiting years for this moment. I’m not wasting another second before starting something with Tucker Malloy.

As I round the corner, I find Tucker sitting on the couch,scrolling through his phone. The moment he hears me, he pockets it and stands up. He runs his hands through his beard and gives me a shy smile. Despite how cocky he sounded earlier, he’s clearly a little nervous about our date. It’s sort of endearing and I can’t help the smile that breaks through my face.

“Hey,” he greets me as if he didn’t just see me when I got home.

“Hi.” I walk toward him.

“You look beautiful.” He grabs my hand and pulls me the rest of the way into his body, moving his fingers through my hair.

“You don’t look bad yourself,” I say on a whisper.

I have to crane my neck to look up into his deep-green eyes and I find myself lost in his gaze, biting my tongue to keep myself from professing my love for him. I think I’ve been in love with Tucker Malloy from the minute my heart started to formulate the meaning of the word. And since then, I’ve always used him as the model of what love should be.

He bends down and brushes his lips against mine. I want to deepen the kiss, but he pulls away quickly.

“Let’s go, because if I had my way, we’d stay here and never leave.” He grabs his wallet and keys off the coffee table.

“I wouldn’t mind that.” I giggle. What’s wrong with me? I’m not a girl that giggles. I internally roll my eyes.

“Bay, we’re going on this date.” He squeezes the hand he still has in his grasp. “You warm enough in that?” He juts his chin in my direction.

“Yeah, I think so.” I look down at my outfit. I opted for my black leggings and a sweater.

“Okay, let’s go. We aren’t going far, but I want to head out before it gets too late.”

We walk out the door and lock up. We get into the elevator, but instead of heading down, he hits the button to go to the top level.

---