Page 70 of Shut Up and Jingle Me
My fingers clutch at his shoulders, nails digging in, but he doesn’t stop—he presses harder, lips moving to the spot beneath my ear.
“You make me ache,” he growls, the words muffled by the heat of his mouth. “Every smile, every laugh—makes me hard just thinking about you.”
His teeth catch on my skin, a sharp nip that has me gasping, my hips arching up to meet him without thought. He groans, the sound like gravel, and presses me back down with his body.
“You feel too damn good under me,” he says, almost like it’s a confession torn out of him. “Can’t think straight when I’ve got you this close.”
And then his mouth finds mine again, sealing the words between us, real and hungry, his tongue sweeping deep as though he wants to own every sound I make.
His words sink into me as we kiss. They scrape against every place inside that already aches for him. For a second, I can’t breathe, can’t think—just feel his weight, his heat, the way he’s pressing me into the bed like he wants me etched there.
My hands frame his face, breaking the kiss, forcing him to meet my eyes even as his breath rasps hard and uneven. “Good,” I whisper, pressing a soft kiss to one side of his mouth and then the other. “Iwantto drive you insane. I want you aching for me. Because I ache for you, Max. Every second you’re not touching me feels wrong.”
His pupils blow wide, his lips part, and I can feel the sharpness of his inhale against my cheek. I press closer, not letting him look away, my chest heaving against his. “You’re not the only one losing his mind here. You make meburn, Calder. And I don’t want it to stop.”
The confession hangs heavy, electric, and before I can second-guess it, his mouth crashes back onto mine, hotter, needier, as if my words just tore down the last wall between us.
His kiss devours me, and when he finally pulls back, his mouth drags across my cheek, his breath spilling hot into my ear.
“Don’t you get it, Eli?” His voice is ragged, threaded with something more than lust—something that makes my chest squeeze. “You undo me. You make me forget myself. I can’t…I can’t get enough of you.”
The words vibrate against my skin, rough declarations that could meanthis night, this body, this fire between us—or something bigger. Something I don’t dare hope for.
My fingers fist in his hair, holding him there, greedy for every syllable, even if I know I’ll replay them a thousand times later, dissecting every possible meaning.
Because right now, pressed under him, his voice breaking against my throat, I’ll take whatever he’s willing to give.
And I won’t let myself dream it’s more than this.
The words claw at the back of my throat—I love you. I’ve already fallen. I don’t even want to get back up.
But I swallow them whole, force them down where they burn. If I let them out, I’ll ruin this fragile, secret thing we’ve built. And Max… Max isn’t ready for words like that. Not when we can’t even hold hands in public.
So instead, I let my actions speak. My fingers slide through his hair, tugging just enough to drag a groan out of him. My lips press to his like I’m starving, like I can keep him tethered here through sheer desperation. I break the kiss only long enough to murmur against his mouth, “You undo me, Calder. Every time.”
It’s notI love you.But the way I kiss him again—slow, deep, like I’m trying to memorize his soul—it’s as close as I dare get.
And if he notices my hands trembling when I clutch him tighter, he doesn’t call me on it.
Because maybe he already knows.
TWENTY-SIX
MAX
There’ssomething in the way he kisses me—too deep, too steady, like he’s trying to carve something permanent into me. And I feel it. The words he doesn’t say press against my skin as surely as his mouth does.
I know what they are. I’m not stupid.
But I can’t touch them, can’t say them out loud again. Not when I’m barely holding my own walls up. So instead, I give him what Ican.
I thread my fingers through his hair and drag his head back into his pillow just enough to breathe against his lips. “You’re mine,” I murmur, low and rough. “And I’m going to prove it.”
His pupils blow wide, more black than blue, his chest rising against mine, and I don’t give him a chance to answer. My mouth trails lower, catching on his jaw, then down the curve of his throat. Each kiss is deliberate, staking a claim I can’t name out loud.
When I reach his chest, I bite gently at the swell of muscle there, sucking until I know he’ll feel it tomorrow. My tongue follows, soothing the sting, my words spilling hot against his skin. “I’ll mark you everywhere if that’s what it takes. Every time you look in the mirror, you’ll remember who you belong to.”
His fingers clutch at my shoulders, breath hitching, and the sound makes something primal snap loose in me.
