Page 66 of Dirty Martini
He raises his eyebrows. “Do you realize what you’re offering?”
“Knox said to invite whoever,” I say. When he doesn’t immediately answer, I lean into his side and start nibbling on his neck. “Yeah?”
He huffs. “Fine. I’ll text in the group chat.”
I plop a fat kiss on his cheek. “Thank you— Ah!”
I’m caught off guard when I’m suddenly shoved onto my back. He has this predatory gaze in his eyes as he runs his hands up and down my sides.
“I know how you can thank me.” He wraps a hand around my cock, and I groan. “Let me get this gorgeous dick in my mouth.”
“Oh, fuck,” I moan, throwing my head back as he disappears back under the covers.
Yeah, screw homework.
While Knox’sone-bedroom apartment is large, it feels like there are far too many people in here. I don’t know who most of them are, probably randoms who Knox knows through his line of work. As his closest friend, I know he doesn’t hang out with many people, choosing to be alone instead.
The party is in full swing by the time we get to the apartment. Rhys and I would have gotten here earlier if we’d decided to take separate showers. Worth it, though. Rhys looks sexy as hell in a plain black shirt and jeans, complete with his backwards baseball cap that always makes me drool. It’s a true hardship to keep my hands to myself. We haven’t defined…whatever this is and him saying that he wanted to have people hearing us fuck in the heat of the moment doesn’t constitute an answer.
“How long do we have to stay?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at a drunk girl who nearly spills her drink on him.
I shrug. “We can leave when it’s over? I know Knox would like it if I stayed until the end.” His jaw clenches as he levels me with a look I don’t understand. “What?”
He bites his bottom lip, looking around the apartment before dragging me to the corner. Stepping in front of me, he blocks my view of the living room. He seems pissed. “Do you miss him?”
I raise an eyebrow. “What?”
“Do you…” He lets out a deep breath, almost reluctant to continue. “Do you ever think of him?”
“He’s my best friend.”
“Do you ever think of him as more?”
I’m actually shocked. Rhys is a lot of things, but insecure isn’t one of them. He knows about my past with Knox and made it clear that wasn’t happening anymore, but I didn’t think he legitimately worried about it.
I know I said I didn’t want to cross the line by touching him, but I can’t help it. Raising my hands, I cup his face, smiling sweetly and with comfort. “Do you mean do I think about him late at night when I’m alone? Do I try to stay awake because I’d rather be with him than dream?”
His eyes widen. “Ev…”
“Does just the thought of him make my heart race? Do I constantly crave his kisses?” I drop my forehead against his. “Because I feel all that with you, Rhys. Always. All the time. So, no, I don’t miss him, and I don’t think about him like that. You take up all the space.”
I’m not expecting it when he crashes his mouth onto mine, immediately aiming to consume me, to which I easily yield. He pulls away only when we’re breathless, dropping a smattering of feather-light kisses over my lips as he speaks against them.
“God, I hate you sometimes,” he mumbles. I open my mouth, confused as to what he means, but he cuts me off before I can even start. “Because if I take up all the space, you take up all the air until there’s nothing left. Until I’m choking—dying—because of you.”
I don’t know how to respond to that or even how to take it. All I know is that his confession makes me wish we were the only two in the room—in the world—so I could get lost in him and live forever in this moment.
But I hesitate. Still. Not because I’m afraid he’ll hurt me again, but because I’m afraid I’ll lose this fragilesomethingwe’ve created.
“It’s you, baby.” He breathes in deeply, placing his hands on the wall on either side of me, caging me in. “Fucking hell, Everest. It’s you.”
And then he’s kissing me again, his hands running greedily across my body. He shows me what he means, and the intensity is something I’ve never felt before. It’s sudden, an onslaught of raw emotion, more than I thought the two of us would ever experience.
I don’t know what it means. I don’t know if we’re just caught up in the lust and the thrill, or if this is real. But I don’t care because itfeelsreal.
But I need to hear it. I need to know. I need all of him and I want him to need all of me.
With all the courage I can muster, I break apart from him and recklessly put the ball in his court. “What is this?”
