Page 93 of Written By a Woman

“I’m just being ridiculous,” I mumbled, trying to look away even though his grip on my face tightened to keep me from doing so. He wouldn’t let me escape, determined to hold my gaze before he tried a new tactic.

Zaid’s lips brushed against my ear, slowly dragging down my neck in a way that made goosebumps erupt across my skin. My heart was racing from both fear and arousal.

“Why do you think you’re ridiculous?” Zaid asked, kissing the pulse point between my neck and shoulder in a way that drove me insane.

“I-I just—” when I first met Zaid all that time ago, I never would have guessed that the man would eventually be using his kisses to get me to spill my guts to him, “I’m a little embarrassed at how easy it is for you to not have sex with me. H-how I’m not exactly someone you see yourself s-settling with yet.”

Zaid stiffened, his lips ghosting over my skin near my collarbone. My head was lifted and bent back to make room for him to explore me, but as he froze, and I held my breath as I waited for him to respond.

“I thought I made it clear howdifficultit is for me to not sleep with you right now,” Zaid spoke against my skin, making me exhale my breath on another shiver, “Signe, I—” his hands came back up, and gripped either side of my waist, and I had to give up all pretense that I could regulate my breathing “Goddamn, I want yousobadly.”

I felt myself huff a disbelieving laugh, “You do?”

“Do you not remember our first kiss?” Zaid asked, his kissing losing its sweetness and being taken over by something else. Something hungry, “How you straddled me? How I touched you?”

You mean the kiss that ended with me coming in my pants? Yup, I sure do.

I was meeting his kisses eagerly, my hands sliding up his chest and tangling in the roots of his hair behind his neck. I remembered our first kiss. I couldn’t think of a time recently when I wasn’t thinking about our first kiss.

“Yeah,” I managed to respond once he pushed me farther against the wall, his lips ravaging my neck, “I remember.”

“I couldn’t resist you then,” Zaid grumbled, pulling away and tugging me with him as he twisted our bodies to sit me down on his bed, “I’m barely resisting you now. Do you know why I’m resisting, Signe?”

I wheezed my response, “Because you’re waiting.”

“Because I’m waiting foryou,” He corrected, sliding his hands up my arms and gently pushing my shoulders so I fell back on his bed. Zaid bent over me, one knee bracing himself on the edge of the bed as he pressed his lips against mine again. Once. Twice. “You, and only you, Signe.” Every time he said my name like that my heart swelled, “As soon as you kissed me in your hotel room, I was a goner.”

I sighed as his lips trailed against my jaw, my cheeks, my temple.

I melted underneath him.

He said he was a goner, but I was the one who was completely hopeless for him.

“I don’t want to make you wait too long,” I whispered, surprised at myself for getting so emotional during this conversation.

“That’s okay,” Zaid lifted a hand to brush some of my hair away from my face and neck, “I can wait. You’re worth it.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, “Because I am scared easily, too.” I giggled awkwardly, trying to brighten some lighthearted humor into a very serious conversation.

“That’s why we aren’t disclosing our relationship to Jacqueline quite yet,” Zaid replied into my neck, making me addicted to the feeling of his lips on my skin, “Not until you tell me you’re ready.”

I gently gripped his wide shoulders, pushing him back so I could look him in the eye, “You really see me as the last person you’d ever date?”

“Habibti,” when I raised my eyebrows at his newest term of endearment, he shook his head once, unwilling to translate for me, “I’ve seen you for a long time. I want you toconfirmthat you’re the last person I’ll ever date—but unfortunately—” he leaned down to plant a firm, drugging kiss against my lips again, “We need to get to the actual date part first.”

With that, Zaid pushed himself off me, not bothering to conceal the erection in his pants as he grabbed my hands and pulled me back up too.

I was dizzy from a whirlwind of a conversation, and from suddenly being tugged into a standing position from a prone one. Zaid wrapped me in his arms against his chest for a moment, letting me get my bearings after stumbling into him, before finally loosening his grip and nodding towards the bookshelf, “You still need to pick a movie.”

“You don’t want to cuddle up under the Captain America bedding and read comic books together instead?”

Zaid nudged me towards the bookshelf, a low chuckle in his chest as he kept his hands on my hips, brushing his lips against my ear while I faced the shelf of DVDs, “That’s the hottest thing a woman has ever said to me.”

“Maybe we can go online and see if anyone is selling first editions of your favorite comics?” I continued, using my finger to skim the names on the spines of the DVDs. Behind me, with his hands still gripping my hips, Zaid let out a very low and very sexual moan.

I whirled on him, every inch of my skin blushing from the utterly erotic sound he just made, only to see him grinning at me.

“Is this something you’re always going to tease me for, Signe?” Zaid asked, reaching behind me, and tugging a movie off the shelf.

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