Page 27 of First Verse

My heart pumps painfully against my ribs. There’s something in his voice I’ve never heard before. Sharp barbs and fathomless shadows. Coupled with the trembling of his body, it scares the shit out of me.

My arms automatically wind around him, anchoring tightly and pulling us flush. With a choked groan, he wraps his arms around me in return. His heart thunders against my ear. Every quake in his frame spikes my worry further.

The fact that this is our first hug registers only dimly as I rub his back and massage the tight muscles of his shoulders. Slowly, his trembling abates.

“Fuck, that feels good,” he whispers.

“Wilder,” I say against his chest, “what’s going on?”

His hold relaxes a fraction. “Nothing.”

I try to lean back but he doesn’t release me. “Please talk to me. Tell me you’re okay.”

He sighs, a hand shifting to cradle the back of my head. “I’m okay. A cockroach, remember? Ugly and indestructible.”

I fight the urge to smile. “Grudge much? I was eight when I called you that. Right after you told me I was a toothpick with a cotton ball for a head.”

This time when he shakes, it’s with laughter. His fingers dive into my hair, spreading across my scalp. When he begins to lightly massage me, my knees melt. His other arm tightens, holding me up.

“Does that feel good?” he whispers.

It feels really fucking good. So does his big, hard body, still curled around me like a heated, muscly blanket. I haven’t been held in close to a year and never by someone built like Wilder.

Never byWilder.

All the things I shouldbe feeling—alarm being the foremost—are nowhere to be found. I feel fuzzy and warm. Oddly safe. A tapestry of colorful patchwork memories surrounds me. Lying in the shade of the sycamore in his parents’ backyard, scribbling in our journals and playing guitar. Arguing about whetherplacerhymed withdecay.Comparing calluses on our hands.

Our first sold out show as Night Theory, the screams of the crowd in our ears as we looked at each other and realized we’d done it. Built something special, somethingmagical,together.

My voice wavers with emotion. “I’m really confused by what’s happening right now. We’re hugging.Is this an alternate dimension?”

I can’t see his smile, but I feel it.

“Never hugging you is now on the list of my biggest mistakes.”

A warm hand encompasses the back of my neck. I shiver as he nuzzles his face into my neck and drags in a deep breath. “You smell the same,” he whispers, a gravelly note in his voice that makes my stomach drop.

The arm around my back flexes, canting our hips together, and the world tilts again. My body wakes up apocalypse-style—boiling seas and giant plumes of fire.

That isnothis belt buckle growing harder and bigger against my stomach.

“Wilder,” I squeak.

This time when his lips find my neck, there’s no mistaking his intent. A small, involuntary moan escapes me as he presses a soft, open-mouthed kiss beneath my ear. His hands float down my spine and seize my hips. He lifts me onto the counter, immediately pressing forward between my legs. My fingers dig into his waist as his tongue touches my pulse. I moan again because logic has clearly left the room andit’s been so damn longandholy shit I forgot how enormous his dick is.

The last time his hands were on me, I wasn’t ready for it. My heart was too invested; we were both hurting. I was a virgin and his experience was daunting. He shocked me on purpose to push me away.

I may not be that much more experienced now, but I’m three years older. No longer a virgin. I’m not afraid anymore. My body screams for what he can give me and my head suddenly doesn’t care about the consequences.

“Fuck, I want you so bad.” He nips at my earlobe as one hand dives between our bodies. His thumb circles, manipulating the seam of my jeans against my clit. “Tell me to stop.”

“No.” I gasp. “Don’t st?—”

My voice chokes off as a fist pounds on the bathroom door.

His head whips up and he snarls, “Go away!”

“Wild?” asks a concerned female voice. “It’s me. Are you sick? I’m coming in.”

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