Page 61 of The Bright Side of Brooding
He sat angled toward me, one arm resting on the back of the couch. When he spoke again, his voice came out rich and full of promise. “I hope this doesn’t make you feel pressured, but I want you to know that you have a great deal to do with that happiness.”
I exhaled, a kind of helpless sound I couldn’t contain. “That’s… I’m glad.”
Had anyone ever said something like that to me? Not that they liked me or thought I was beautiful, though those were nice things. But that I contributed to their happiness?
Little fireworks shot off in my chest. Looking in his eyes, at that face, after he’d said those words, pushed adrenaline to my toes. My hands reached for him. “Nick—”
Fortunately, he had the same idea. Or maybe he heard the desperation in my voice. Either way, our lips met in a joint effort, and I shuddered in relief. The kiss escalated quickly—so quickly. Like we’d lit a match inches from kindling and all it needed was a light breeze for it to catch. This was a determined gust, and Nick’s mouth and hands on me caught and stoked the flames.
In moments, I sat on his lap facing him, my fingers sifting into the short hair at his nape, kissing him like I’d die if we stopped. Eventually, he broke away from my mouth and began a path along my jaw. My hands smoothed along his glorious shoulders, the muscles like warmed granite under his shirt.
“This shirt.”
He spoke the words into my neck, where he kissed a line to my shoulder. His finger skated along the edge where it curved around my throat, then over the arc of my trapezius and down. The calloused pads of his fingers sent shivers of delicious sensation in all directions.
“What about it?”
I sounded breathless because I was. Completely captivated by the slide of his skin against mine on my back, tracing around the curve of my shoulder blade. My breath caught, hung up on his warm breath at my collarbone and the achingly slow progress of his hands. I wanted him to touch me now, later, everywhere.
He lifted his head, and the desire in his eyes would’ve lit me on fire if I hadn’t already been aflame.
“It’s so soft, but your skin’s even softer.”
He sounded drugged. Dazed. Whatever it was, it sent heat to every part of me, an assault on every bit of reason and control I might’ve been clinging to.
“That’s… good.”
I didn’t know what I was saying. My ability to communicate, to make any sense, had fled with the first press of his lips to mine.
He laughed. The sound, light and full of joy, made me smile, then join him. He pulled back from his close attentions and looked into my eyes. What he’d said earlier—that he felt happy—I could see it there on his face. I wanted to save the image, and the feeling of utter bliss it sent through me, and never forget it.
“I’ve never done this before,” he said with an unexpected sense of wonder, his palm warm on the bare skin of my back.
My mouth opened, but no words emerged. He’d never…hehad never… “You’re a—”
“No.” A blazing smile split his face and absolutely demolished my heart. “No, I’ve just… I’ve never laughed with someone like this while being… physical. I’ve never hadfun.”
That sobered me. Like so many things, his earnest expression, his honesty… it just slayed me. “Well, I’m glad you can have fun with me.”
Deep in my heart, buried under the fears that’d kept me from anything close to this with anyone else, I heard the words. Ones that I’d never even remotely wanted to say to someone before.You can have whatever you want with me.And more.
Far more significant for me, someone who did whatever she couldnotto take from others, were the words:I want everything from you.
