Page 66 of Silver Linings
If she notices, she doesn’t let on, answering my question instead. “I’m a little sore from the scuffle, but otherwise, I’m fine. Grateful, actually.”
“Grateful?”
“Objectively, it fucking sucked…but you showed up.” She gives me a soft smile. “I still have dad’s necklace and will get it fixed after the renovations are over. The store is okay.” She turns, finally seeming at ease, and burrows herself deeper under the covers. “What time is it?”
“Half past five in the morning. I should probably slip out before someone sees me.”
A brief flash of disappointment crosses her features before she schools it into one of cheerful neutrality.
“Oh yeah, of course.” She looks away from me.
Brick by brick, walls start going up, ones that were knocked down last night and that I have no intention of letting her erect again.
“Hey.” I nudge her under the chin to look over at me. “I don’twantto go. It’s the last thing I want to do. Last night was… It meant something to me. I’ve never—I’ve never been able to open up to someone the way we did, I don’t want to lose that. I want to see where this could go, if you do,” I hasten to add on, suddenly feeling very vulnerable and remembering that, just a couple weeks ago, she told me we needed to remain platonic.
Her eyes bounce around my face. “I–” She takes a deep breath. “I don’t know why this is so hard for me.”
The sting of rejection lands swift and brutal, and I try and fail to not let it show on my face.
“No! No,ugh, that came out wrong,” she rushes to assure me. “I’ve just never…dated anyone before.”
“Never?” My surprise is obvious.
“Well, once in high school, but it wasn’t a good experience, and I just never cared to try again.” She pauses to collect her thoughts, and my heart teeters on a ledge the height of the Chrysler building. “I’m not used to this feeling.” She indicates between the two of us with her hands. “Thisconsumingfeeling Iget when I’m around you.” She settles her hand on my chest, and my heart is beating a million miles a minute. There’s no way she can’t feel it. “But for the first time, I want more.” She draws in a deep breath. “And it scares the shit out of me.”
I slide my arm under the covers and hook it around her waist to pull her closer to me. Her body is soft, sinking into my hold. “I’m scared too, Sunshine. We can figure it out together, at whatever pace feels right, but I’m not going anywhere.”
She seems to breathe a little easier as she reaches her hand up exploringly and brushes a lock of hair from my eyes. “Why do you call me Sunshine?”
A flush creeps up my neck and onto my cheeks, an undeniable reaction she’s looking right at. I clamp my lips together, unwilling to admit this truth to her for fear it will make me sound crazy. I shake my head in denial at her.
“What? No, tell me!” I bury my face in her shoulder to avoid her stare, but she digs out my face with a hand on each stubble-coated cheek. “Tell me right now, Hamilton.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Please; it’s not like I’m asking you for the nuclear codes. Fess up.”
“When I met you, it was the first time I felt warm in a very long time. Like the sun was shining down on me, heating my bones after a really harsh winter,” I admit to her, wishing I could stuff the words back into my mouth.
Silver stares at me for a silent moment that feels like it stretches on for an eternity, saying nothing. I knew it was too much; now, I’ve scared her off.
“I’m sorry, that was too much. Let’s pretend I said it was cause of your sunny dispos?—”
Her lips collide with mine, and every thought I’ve ever had scatters to the wind.
“That is–”kiss,“the most ridiculous–”kiss, “and stupidly romantic–”kiss,“thing I’ve ever”a nip on to my bottom lip,“heard.” She pulls back to look at me with a kiss-drunk look in her eyes. “Are you even real?”
The look she’s giving me rockets my pulse into space as she leans in for another long, languorous kiss, sliding her tongue against my bottom lip to ask for entry I gladly give her. I tighten my hold on her waist as she moves her mouth against mine in a punishing rhythm, our tongues tangling in a way that makes my skin tighten and my dick harden.
She smirks into my mouth. “Very real, if what I’m feeling is any indication. God bless these too small sweatpants.”
“You’re a menace,” I pant against her lips, groaning as she hooks her leg over mine and grinds against me. I grasp her thigh, bringing it even further over my lap until she’s settled atop me, thighs straddling my hips.
She whimpers into my mouth at the feeling of our bodies connecting, my rigid middle against her soft center. Reaching my hand up to brush the hair out of her face, I grasp it in my fist as I pull her head back to expose her neck, peppering kisses on her collarbone and leading them up to her ear.
“This isn’t very platonic,” I grit out, nipping at her ear, and teasing her previous attempts to keep me at arms length.
She bears down on me harder, bringing her mouth to mine. “You don’t do this with all your friends?” she teases, smiling against my lips.
