Page 75 of The Jack*ss in Class

I put myself between her and the house, blocking anyone else’s view of us. Then I put my hands on the railing on either side of her, and boxed out the rest of the world.

She looked up at me, a flush spreading across her cheeks. “Flynn, I’m not—” she started, then stopped, biting her lip. “I’m not good at this. I’m not used to letting anyone see...me.”

I focused on her, so she knew she had all of my attention. “I very much want to see all of you, Tempest.”

Her eyebrows rose questioningly, definitely doubting everything I said. Probably everything I’d ever said. My girl wasn’t just shy, or stand-offish. She had some deep wounds and it was going to take more than charm to win her over.

I had my work cut out for me. And just like I’d told her Tio Pedro, I was up for it.

Because despite all the rules and my determination not to catch feelings, I was falling in love with Tempest Navarro. Right here, right now, I wanted her to know that. But she never believed anything I said. So instead, I showed her.

I lowered my head and brushed a soft kiss over her lips. “Tell me to stop if you don’t want this, Tempest.”

Her breath stuttered, but she whispered, “Don’t stop.”

BETTER THAN IN THE BOOKS

TEMPEST

“Don’t stop,” I whispered. Though I wasn’t sure I even heard it myself. My heart thundered in my chest so hard, that I was sure a tornado was brewing inside of me.

Flynn’s eyes went all dark, and I watched his gaze drop to my lips again. The entire world went into slo-mo with every centimeter he leaned in closer. One hand came up to cup my cheek, and where I expected sparks, I got a soft warmth like a fuzzy blanket, cup of tea, and a cozy fire. But when his lips finally met mine, his beard brushing against my skin, that heat turned to pure lava. His mouth was impossibly soft yet firm, tentative at first and then more certain.

My first kiss.

I’d written dozens of them. First kisses that sparked fireworks, that melted heroines’ knees, that changed lives in an instant. But nothing I’d ever written came close to this reality. The warmth of Flynn’s palm against my face. The faint scent of his cologne mixed with a scent all hisown. The gentle pressure of his mouth against mine, coaxing me to open for him, rather than demanding. And that beard that made every cell in my body tingle when it rubbed against my skin.

I didn’t even know I was a beard girl. Until now.

I was frozen for a heartbeat, overwhelmed by sensations. My brain was fritzing and then my body told it to fuck off and pure instinct took over. My hands found his chest, feeling the solid strength beneath his blue shirt as I leaned into him. His other arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer, and a small sound, an actual whimpered little moan, escaped.

Flynn growled or purred or groaned, I didn’t even know except that the sound went skittering from my chest, down to my belly and pooled right between my legs. He deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue past my lips, and I followed his lead, letting him show me how our mouths fit together.

Every romance novel I’d ever read or written had attempted to describe this feeling, this dizzy, breathless, alive feeling, but the words I’d so readily relied on my whole life were now completely inadequate.

He broke the kiss way before I was ready, nibbling at the corner of my mouth, teasing me with soft brushes of his lips across mine and his whiskers across my cheek. I kept my eyes closed for a moment, afraid that opening them would somehow break the spell.

“Tempest,” Flynn murmured, his voice lower than I’d ever heard it. “Look at me.”

I opened my eyes to find him watching me with an expression that made the lightning and lava in my chestsend shockwaves to my stomach. This was so far beyond the butterflies I’d written for my heroines. Wonder, heat, and something else I couldn’t quite name pooled in his eyes.

“You’re fucking delicious, Tempest. That was...” he started.

“My first,” I confessed without thinking, then immediately wanted to snatch the words back.

His eyes widened slightly and flashed between mine, studying me for at least a thousand and one years, which was really only a second. I saw a multitude of thoughts and emotions run through his face and swallowed down the fear that he was about to judge me like everyone else in the world did.

“Your... first kiss?”

I nodded, heat rushing to my cheeks with the realization of what I’d really just admitted. “It’s weird, I know, but?—”

“No,” he said, his thumb brushing across my lower lip in a way that made me shiver. “It’s not weird. And I don’t want you to think I’m some misogynistic asshole who thinks virginity is hot, but, fuck, Tempest. I can’t tell you how goddamned turned on I am to know I’m the only man who ever gets to have this with you.”

Flynn pressed his forehead against mine. “I want so fucking much to get to be the only man who gets to do a lot more firsts with you.”

I had convinced myself that first kisses, and sex, and falling in love weren’t actually important to me. I had to because I was sure I’d never get to experience any of them. If they didn’t matter, then it wouldn’t hurt so muchthat I missed out when everyone else around me got their cake and had fun eating it too.

But I was wrong.

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