Page 52 of Shiver

“Do you…” she says before trailing the tip of her nose down my jaw, agonizingly slow.Fuck, that’s hot.

“Know the muffin man?” she asks, leaning away from me before bursting into a fit of laughter. My mind feels like a fog has settled over my brain as I try to dissect her words, but I keep getting caught up in how goddamn gorgeous she looks when she’s laughing. It takes a moment for my mind to catch up past my lust-induced haze, and when it does, laughter rips through me.

My smile is the size of Texas when I finally meet her eyes. “So, the tough-as-nails lawyerdoeshave a sense of humor, huh?”

Over the next half hour, my heart rate calms down, but my feelings for Samara start to morph into something entirely different from the arousal I’m used to feeling around her. I rattle off just about every question I can think of, but my mind keeps on snagging, and with each answer she freely gives me, my confidence builds until I can’t hold it in any longer.

Especially not after she’sfinallywarmed up to me.

“So what you said about not wanting to go on this vacation,” I say, clearing my throat. “I gathered that maybe…”

She rolls her eyes at me, but she’s wearing a grin, so I don’tthinkshe’s annoyed. “Maybe what, Luca?” she asks with a smirk, tilting her head to the side and taking another sip of her Coke.

“Maybe you’ve felt like you don’t live up to their expectation of you no matter how hard you try?” I ask, my voice soft.

Her expression twists, and she turns her face away from me, her throat working on a swallow. I scoot closer to her, wrapping my arms around her on instinct. When she doesn’t pull away, I collect her warm body into my arms and settle her in my lap.

Apparently, we’re being fucking bold tonight, huh?

A tear slips down her cheek and over her clenched lips. I swipe it away with the pad of my thumb; my heart feeling strangled in my chest.

“I ask because I feel the same way.” I clear my throat again, trying to dislodge the massive lump settling there. “A lot, actually. I think I do it to myself, really. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be as good as my brothers were at everything, and when I’d struggle, I’d beat myself up about it.”

“Luca, I think weallfeel that way. At least some of the time,” she tells me. Her voice is the most gentle I’ve ever heard it.

I nod because, clearly, she doesn’t want to get into any more deep conversations with me tonight.

I’m just her fake boyfriend. So,of course,she doesn’t.

Samara scooches off my lap, and the loss of her in my arms has a chill settling over my skin.

She sits closer to me than she had been before, though, and reaches over to the coffee table, grabbing her soda and taking a sip before setting it back down.

She’s got a little dribble of it on the corner of her lip. Leaning across her, I wipe it with my thumb, not even thinking about the possible repercussions until her body has gone still, and her sharp intake of breath has my cock twitching. I bring the droplet to my mouth and suck, keeping my lips just inches from hers, reveling in the way her warm breath comes more quickly the longer we make eye contact.

“I don’t remember Coke tasting this sweet,” I say, low and slow. “It must beyou.”

“Luca,” she scoffs, but the way she’s dragging the word out sounds more like a moan.My name sounds so good on her lips.

“Yes, princess?”

“It’s literallyallsugar.” She pulls away from me, rolling her eyes and slipping back into what I’ve come to know is her usual defense tactic, but I don’t miss the way her chest heaves. Satisfaction ripples through me each time I’ve caught even just a glimpse of what’s hiding beneath her meticulously manicured surface.

“Maybe so, but I bet you’re sweeter.” I chuckle, raking my eyes over her deliberately. “You’re still wearing my jersey,” I observe.

“I’ve had no reason to change since getting here,” she says, defiance thick in her tone.

I dip my head, loving that I don’t have to strain my neck to coast my lips over the shell of her ear.She’s so tall, and so damn perfect.“I could dirty you up and give you a reason,” I tell her, a littletoocurious to find out just how far I can take this before she knees me in the nuts. “Though I have to say, it looks better on you than it does me.”

She sucks in an audible breath, turning her face to mine. I watch with enraptured interest as her pupils dilate, and out of the corner of my eye, I see her thighs clench together.

“Oh, hell,” she says before finally running her hands up my chest, gripping my shirt in her fingers, and dragging me into her for a mind-numbing kiss.

The moment her lips are on mine, it’s all fire and ice, and I fuckingloveit when she finally lets go of some of that perfectly curated control.

My lips move against hers, pleading for entrance as I swipe my tongue along the seam of her pillow-soft, plump lips. She refuses me at first but leans all the way back until she’s flat against the couch, dragging me over top of her.

I run my hands up her thighs, pulling them apart so I can sink between them. She hikes them up my back, locking her ankles behind me.

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