Page 80 of Replay

“Because I want to.” He paused, but yeah, my brain had skipped out. “I like being friends with you, but I want more. I have since I saw you again, but I thought I should show you that you could trust me again before I pushed you. But all this time, I’ve wanted more, and I need to know if that’s ever going to happen.”

“Really?” That came out in a squeak. Josh wanted more? This new, improved, more confident and successful version of my high school boyfriend was interested in the not-much-changed math nerd that was me?

Not sure what was showing on my face, but he stepped around the counter, moving with slow steps till he was standing in front of me.

“I want you in my life. As a friend, if nothing else. But yeah, I really want more.”

I had a long list of reasons why this was a bad idea, focusing on school, his popularity, my own insecurities. The fact that he could get traded. But the way he was looking at me silenced them all.

I lunged at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He was right there with me, pulling me close with those strong arms and meeting my lips. My brain might have been struggling to understand but my body was fully on board.

Kissing Josh was both familiar and strange. I knew what he liked, the sounds he made, the way he moved his hands over me as he kissed me. But he’d changed—bigger, stronger and more confident.

And my response was familiar and strange too. He’d always been able to light me up and tempt me to more, always more. But now there was nothing in the back of my brain on alert for sounds of someone like my parents breaking in on us. Everything was swamped by that kiss, and I didn’t care if Madeline walked through the door or Norman asked for an autograph.

I finally pushed back, needing air. I was panting, my skin sparking like I’d been electrocuted, only in a good way.

Josh watched me like there was no one and nothing else around us. That laser focus on me, just me, was almost as arousing as the kiss. He leaned forward, and reluctantly I leaned back.

“Katie?”

“The stove is on. I’m going to burn something.” Something other than me because I felt hot and lit up, like I hadn’t in too long.

He dropped his head, taking a long breath. “Okay, if you want to eat now?—”

“Not a chance.” I stepped away from him and turned off the burners. “Can you wait for dinner?”

A slow smile crossed his face. “And do what instead?”

“Get me off.”

“Absolutely.”

Josh

Katie grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall to the bedrooms. Her door was open, and I paused in the doorway to see what her space was like now. I needed a moment to get some control back or this was going to end too soon.

Lots of books. She’d always loved books. She still favored blue too, since her bed had a blue duvet. There were some clothes piled on the desk chair, like she hadn’t expected this to happen tonight. She grabbed the clothes and threw them in her closet.

I stepped in, so I was in front of her when she turned around. “Don’t worry about that. I want to take off everything you’re wearing and throw it across the room anyway.”

She shivered, then looked down at herself. “Go ahead.”

“I might make a mess.”

“Don’t care.”

“Good to know.” I reached for the hem of her sweater and pulled. She raised her hands. I lifted it up, getting to see Katie’s skin for the first time in five years. A quick tug over her head and there she was, in a blue bra. Yep, she still liked blue.

Her tits were bigger, and she had a few freckles scattered over her skin that I didn’t remember. I lifted a finger to trace over her collarbone, where her chest was falling and rising as she breathed.

I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t think I’d forget this anyway.

“You now.” Her voice rasped.

I quickly grabbed my long-sleeved T-shirt and raised it over my head, throwing it on the floor somewhere. Her breath caught. I looked down, wondering what she thought.

I was broader now. More hair on my chest. I wasn’t one of those guys who shaved or waxed. Was she okay with that? Then she ran her fingers through my chest hair and I groaned. Her hands felt so good. She paused, then moved to my nipples. Yeah, those were still sensitive. She remembered. She circled, then ran her fingers over them, and like there was a nerve between those and my dick, it got harder, pressing against the zipper of my jeans.

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