Page 25 of Back to You
Chapter 9
First it was lunch, then another coffee date. Then Dane took me out to Mexican, where we shared a giant margarita and got a little handsy in the backseat of his car. Each time we kissed, it was more explosive than the last, and I was going absolutely crazy.
I only had to think about what had happened between us that night—how Dane had tasted, the way he’d moaned my name—and I was instantly hard. I really,reallywanted a repeat performance.
So when he invited me over to his place to have a couple of beers and play video games, I knew. It was time to make my move. I was getting laid tonight, one way or another, and I had the feeling that Dane would be totally on board with the idea. I couldn’t wait to see if his dick was truly as perfect as I remembered.
Shit.I yanked my thoughts out of the gutter before I needed a cold shower. I didn’t want to show up at Dane’s place with a hard-on. There would be plenty of time for that later.
I typed Dane’s address into my phone and let its GPS magic do its thing. Judging by Dane’s taste in clothes and the shiny sports car he drove, he had money, so I was expecting something a little more posh than the dumpy little house I arrived at. I double-checked the number on the mailbox, but yeah. This was the place.
Blue siding, blue shutters, blue tin roof. A chipped-paint white picket fence out back. A detached, single car garage with a door that looked like it’d been graffiti’d in the past. It definitely wasn’t anything to write home about, but who was I to judge? At least he owned his own place. I was squatting with a crazy cat lady.
The front door swung open before I could raise my fist to knock. Dane stood in the entrance—shirtless—his blond hair wet and slicked back away from his face. Droplets of water trailed from the hollow of his throat, all the way down to the dark curls beneath his navel. My gaze followed its path to the waistband of his pants, where it disappeared from sight.
Dane laughed. “Hollister, my eyes are up here.”
“Shut up and let me admire you,” I muttered under my breath, so he struck a pose. It was somewhere between a Greek god and Johnny Bravo. He’d filled out. Gone was the skinny teenager who’d eaten his mom out of house and home. His shoulders were a little broader, his chest was a little wider, and the muscles in his stomach made my mouth water.
“At least come in off the front porch.” He grabbed my wrist and dragged me inside. I moved into his space and pressed a firm kiss to his lips. That made him smile. “You’re something else. Thought we were gonna game. If you keep looking at me like that, we’ll never make it to the game room.”
“Okay, okay.” I raised my hands. “I’ll behave.” For now. “Lead the way.” Didn’t mean I wasn’t gonna ogle his butt on the way, though. Flames licked through my veins. I swallowed back a groan and stuck my hands inside my pockets so I didn’t accidentally-on-purpose grope him in the hallway.
Dane stopped outside the white French-style doors, his hand resting on the knob. “Are you ready for what lies within?” He waggled his eyebrows. “I bring you…” He all but flung the doors open, welcoming me into a brightly-lit room lined floor to ceiling with shelves and cabinets. “My pride and joy. Come in, come in.” He gestured for me to follow him, but I was too busy staring at his collection to do more than gape. He chuckled. “Nice, huh?”
“It’s… Wow, Dane. It’s truly amazing.”
Video games had always been Dane’s thing. After his parents bought him a Game Boy and the newest Pokemon game for Christmas one year, he was hooked. He’d spent every last dime of his weekly allowances growing up on this newfound hobby, saving up Christmas and birthday money until he could afford the newest console. I’d always joked that he was a Nintendo fanboy.
Now Iknewthat he was. The entire west wall was filled top-to-bottom with Nintendo memorabilia, from the Switch to the old school NES. Polished mahogany cabinetry with sliding glass doors held row after row of games, lined up nice and neat and in alphabetical order. One of the cases was locked, filled with likely rare games and collector’s editions, still in their original plastic.
“You like it?”
When I glanced up at him, his smile was so genuine that it made my chest hurt. “This room, these things? It’s so totally you, it isn’t funny. You always said that someday you’d have a game room. I just didn’t expect this level of commitment. It’s awesome.”
“I started seriously collecting after Violet died. I think I needed something to fill the hole in my heart, and video games were the only thing that seemed to make me happy.” He shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but I knew Dane. This was important to him. “Good thing I make good money, huh?”
“Right?” I turned a slow circle in the center of the room, taking everything in. There, in the corner, were our dilapidated red bean-bag chairs. “You kept those mangy old things?” I nudged one with the toe of my sneaker. The beads inside made a crinkling noise as they settled.
“Yeah. Sentimental value. They mean something too, you know.” He cleared his throat. “Hey, do you wanna play Smash, for old time’s sake?” He waved a hand towards his entertainment center. His trusty silver Game Cube sat on the middle shelf, tucked out of the way but still in plain sight.
“Only if I get to smash you afterwards,” I said, mostly joking. Mostly.
Dane laughed, but his expression turned serious all of a sudden. I held my breath. Our eyes met and locked. The heat in Dane’s gaze was suddenly molten enough to melt steel, and electricity sparked through my veins like a current. It turned our attraction into a magnetic force. Games all but forgotten, we collided in the middle of the room and everything else ceased to exist.
It was only Dane. Only ever Dane.
I gasped his name. He dragged his hands up my sides, sending shivers coursing down my spine with each touch. His mouth was on mine in an instant, and there was nothing cautious about the way he held me to his chest, like I was precious to him.
I couldn’t breathe, but damn, I’d give up oxygen if it meant Dane kept touching me, kissing me, needing me. When he turned his attention to my neck, to the pulse jumping wild beneath my skin, I felt like I might actually implode. But I didn’t let him go. No. I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.
I threaded my fingers through his floppy blond hair and groaned when he drew my lower lip into his mouth. His body rutted up against mine. I could feel his erection through his pants. When I rubbed my hand over him, the noise he made was intoxicating.
I did it again.
With a growl, he pushed into me. I took a step backwards. Another push, another step, until the backs of my calves hit the couch. “Sit,” Dane rasped against my tingling lips. Excitement burned a hole through me.Thiswas what I wanted, what I’d been waiting for.
I sat. Dane dropped to his knees in front of me. He grabbed my thighs and spread them, then began to kiss his way from my knee, all the way up to my groin. He mouthed over me through my jeans, sucking lightly on the denim, and I couldn’t stop the moan from escaping if I’d tried.
