Page 134 of Let It Breathe
“I kept my distance because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do. And I may not remember everything about those years I was drinking like a goddamn fish, but I never forgot that.”
She looked back down at the wallet. Picking it up, she began flipping through it, past his credit cards to the photos at the back. She stopped, staring down at the wallet. “There’s more than one picture of me,” she said. “There are three. These are from college.”
He nodded. “Back when I still had a chance with you and blew it. And don’t think I didn’t notice the opportunity to make a blowjob joke right there. I’m still me, Reese. I just forgot that for a little while, but I’m done holding my tongue all the time and trying to say the right thing.”
She closed the wallet and set it back on the counter. She looked up at him. “Still want that Coke?”
“Yes.”
She nodded and popped open the can. She began to pour—too fast. The foam bubbled up and over the rim, spilling onto her fingers. She lifted them to her mouth, but Clay stepped forward and caught her left wrist.
“Let me,” he said.
He gave her a fraction of a second to resist or pull away, but she did neither. She just looked at him, those green eyes flashing in the dim light of the kitchen.
He drew her hand up and slid her fingers into his mouth.
“Oh,” she said.
She tasted sweet—not just the cola but something else. Something warm and exotic and strangely familiar. He slid his tongue lightly over the pads of her fingers and felt her body shift as she angled herself closer and gasped.
Clay drew her fingers deeper into his mouth, sucking lightly, then withdrawing. His tongue found the junction of her middle and ring finger, and he tasted her there, lingering in that soft cleft.
Reese groaned, her body seeming to liquefy as she pressed closer and braced herself against the counter with her other hand.
“I thought we were going to talk,” she murmured.
He pulled back, freeing his mouth but not her hand. He stroked the inside of her wrist with his index finger.
“I’m done talking,” he said. “I’m done doing a lot of things.”
Reese nodded, then looked at his mouth. “Not that, I hope.”
“Not that,” he murmured against her knuckles. “But I’m done apologizing. I’ve done it enough now. I’m done crawling. And I’m done holding off on saying what I feel because I’m afraid of offending someone.”
“I never wanted you to crawl,” she murmured. “And what you’re feeling—” She moaned as his tongue traced the ridges of her knuckles. “I always wanted you to tell me that.”
Clay shook his head and slid his hand along her waist. “I told you, I’m done talking. I’d rather show you instead.”
She gasped as he slid his hand down, moving along the path of her spine. He pulled her closer, his palm pressing hard into the small of her back as his mouth sipped at her knuckles.
He kissed his way along the fleshy part of her thumb and into the hollow of her wrist. She was warm there, and he could feel her pulse fluttering against his lips. He slid his other hand under her shirt, tracing the warm, bare column of her spine before slipping around to the front to cup her breast.
Reese sighed with pleasure and opened her eyes to look at him. “Two days ago you asked me at least a dozen times if I wanted to stop,” she murmured. “Aren’t you going to ask this time?”
“No.”
“Not even once?”
Clay shook his head. “If you want to stop, I know you well enough to be sure you’ll tell me.”
She nodded, then whimpered as he drew her hand to his mouth once more. He moved his lips over the inside of the wrist before pressing it to his sternum. He let go, and she held it there, her fingers splaying over his chest as she blinked up at him. Her chest rose and fell fast beneath the thin top, and the feel of her breast pressing against his palm was enough to make him dizzy. It was all he could do to resist the urge to just bend her over the sink and have his way with her.
“I want you, Reese,” he murmured. “I’ve always wanted you. And I’m pretty sure you want me, too.”
She hesitated, then nodded as she licked her lips. “Yes.”
“But wanting isn’t the only thing between us, is it?” he asked. “I wouldn’t be here if that were the case.”
