Page 16 of Jake and Conner
Conner licked his lips and my eyes followed the movement of his tongue. "Remember when we used to tell each other everything?" he asked.
"There's things I never told you," I rebuked.
"Like what?"
"I stole one of your shirts and took it back to college with me. You never noticed." I still kept it in my closet.
Conner grinned. "You really think I didn't notice."
"You did?"
"Of course I did." Conner made an amused sound. "I retaliated too. I took one of your sweaters the next time you were in Oceanport."
"Iletyou take it."
"It was comfortable."
"Yeah?" A smile tugged on my lips. I'd loved seeing Conner in my clothes, even when they were a little big on him. It was one more way I could let the world know that he was mine.
My smile fell because he wasn't mine now. With a huff, I set my coffee mug down. All of this was so frustrating. Having Conner this close to me without being able to touch him all the ways I wanted to touch him. I wondered if his skin would still feel the same. It probably would. I suppressed a sigh. My fingers itched. If only I could--
I nearly jumped when Conner rested one of his hands in the nape of my neck.
My eyes snapped to him.
"I'm worried about you," he said, meeting my gaze and holding.
I swallowed. Conner's eyes were such a brilliant green.
Focus, Jake.
Part of me wanted to shove Conner's hand away so I could think more clearly, but let's be real, I was never going to do that. "You don't have to worry," I made myself say. "Some shit happened at work. You know how it is."
I saw the gears in Conner's head start to turn. "You lost someone?"
I shrugged again. Conner still had his hand on me, which chased the bad memories of the accident away, at least to a degree. Conner's touch was a lot more effective than the liquor had been. "It happens," I said.
"I know." Conner's eyes softened. Was that sympathy I saw in his gaze? I didn't want his sympathy. I wanted... Fuck, I wanted so much more than that. How could he tempt me like this? Didn't he know how weak my hold on my self-control was whenever he was around?
Still, I was never going to do anything Conner didn't want me to do.
Which was why I was all that much more surprised when Conner leaned in and kissed me, full on the lips.
I couldn't tell you what I thought of that because I didn't think anything. My brain straight up short-circuited. Boom. It was a miracle there wasn't any smoke coming out of my ears.
But since my brain was out of the way, my body took over. My body had no problem dealing with this situation. Blood rushed to my groin and I felt myself harden as I pulled Conner closer, touched his lips with my tongue. A soft sigh escaped him as he opened his mouth to me. I didn't need any more invitation than that. I was working on autopilot. I wassoaring.I drank Conner in as if I had been dying in the desert and he was my first sip of water. The one thing I needed to keep going.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to take a second sip.
Conner drew away from me just as quickly as he'd drawn close. I stared at him as he rested his head in his hands, his red hair obscuring his face, his breathing heavy.
I laid a hand on his shoulder because I wasn't ready to give up that touch yet. "Conner?"
He shook his head, took a deep breath. He wouldn't look up. Underneath my fingertips, his shoulder quivered. It was then that I noticed the smell in the air.Reallynoticed it, I mean. It was Conner's scent, and it had been there the whole time, but it was a lot stronger now than it was supposed to be, more intense. Sweeter. I knew what was going on almost immediately.
But how?
I stared at Conner, struggling to hold on to clear thought in spite of the pheromones that saturated the air around us.
