Page 80 of Unplugged

“Iamselfish. I want us time.” I draw back and trace a finger from her cheek to her collarbone. “I was thinking aboutmyselfand how much time I want alone with you.”

Cerys’s lips part as I continue to run my fingers along her skin, skimming the soft swell of her breasts. She catches my hand. “I have a whole two weeks’ worth of bad things I want to do to you,” I say. “Plus, I’m now frustrated with you too, which makes everything worse.”

A hint of a smile hovers around Cerys’s mouth and she circles my forearm with her hand. “I feel the same, but not now.”

I want to groan inwardly but the sound escapes. “Really?”

“Really.” Cerys places a finger on my lips and her tired eyes meet mine. “If Ella likes Emily, we can have lots of ‘us’ time.”

“I’m sure she will. I think they hit it off.”Us time, now. But this isn’t the right moment. Cerys isn’t in the frame of mind for what I want to do to her—and with Cerys, that matters.

“Thank you,” she says quietly, touching my face.

“What for?”

Cerys smiles in the coy way that turns me the fuck on without her realising, and when she says the next words, she triggers all kinds of ball-aching thoughts. “For knowing when to hold my hand, and when to pull my hair.”

Oh, holy fuck do I want to be the guy who pulls her hair. I grip Cerys to me, inhaling her scent as if for some crazy reason that’ll calm me down, not make things worse. “Lie on the bed with me,” I say hoarsely, “I promise to leave your hair alone.”

Cerys nudges her nose into my chest, suppressing a giggle. “Okay.”

I let Cerys go, because if I drag her onto the bed with me, I won’t stay gentle. Instead, I lie on the crumpled sheets and she snuggles into me, spooning as she takes my arms to wrap around her. I take a calming breath and stop at a gentle nip of her neck and touch of her skin beneath her cotton top.

I want to tell Cerys that I love her, but the words aren’t enough. I’m not Dylan—I can’t express myself through poetic songs. What if Cerys doesn’t feel the same and I scare her? What I do know is that the fire she ignited with the kiss at Christmas burns deep inside my soul and, as I hold her warm body against mine, I know nothing will ever extinguish how I feel about Cerys.

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