Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I mean, I can go grab a pair if you want.”
“I’m joking,” I clarified, remembering the last time I made a joke and nearly got a handful of meat and potatoes.
He fell down onto the couch with a chuckle, reaching over me to grab his beer that had been left on the end table. It brought his neck extremely close to my lips, which made me extremely tempted to lean in.
“How’d you like my mom’s cooking?” he asked, sitting back out of range of my ravenous mouth.
“It was Michelin-star-worthy. Can you cook like that? Besides breakfast, obviously.”
He huffed out a breath, following it with a drink of his beer, setting the can down on the metallic coaster with a clink. “Hell no. Breakfast is as far as I can get. I mean, I’m sure I can get by, but it won’t hold a candle to her.”
“Well then, we’ve got to have dinner there more often,” I teased, not expecting Jake to answer in the affirmative, asking me when was the next time I could make it.
“I don’t know… Saturday?”
“Saturday it is,” Jake replied. He had one leg crossed over the other, his knee rubbing against mine. It was a soft, subtle touch but not one that went unnoticed, my body reacting as if the man had pulled out his hard dick and started stroking himself. I was that thirsty for him, and yet what the hell was I supposed to do about it? I didn’t want to make things awkward between us, and acting on my lusty thoughts could definitely bring a side of awkward if things didn’t go right.
But his leg… he was moving closer. It wasn’t just our knees touching but a majority of our thighs, the leg hairs rubbing together, the body heat rising and making the room feel a couple of degrees warmer. I swallowed, wondering if the buzz through my veins was the beer already working or something else.
“You know, Noah, I couldn’t stop thinking about our kiss from the other day.”
Jake’s confession nearly knocked me off the couch and sent me flying across the country, landing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, lost and confused.
“I, uh, well—”
“Is that bad? I know we’re just friends, but kissing you felt like kissing the sun. It left a mark on me. And I want more.”
My eyebrows darted halfway up my face, my lips parting in slight shock.
“It’s not bad, Jake. I don’t think so… Honestly? I feel the same exact way; I just wasn’t sure how to even bring it up.”
He threw me a cocky smirk. “Un—”
“—expected,” I said, finishing his thought, a bubbly sensation rising up my chest, like the fizz in an expensive bottle of champagne.
Jake was speaking everything I’d been too scared to put into words, and he was also moving closer, and his hand was on my leg, and it was moving up my thigh now, and his fingers were going under the shorts, and his face was closer, closer, lips on mine.
The rest of that night was history in the making.
12
JAKE PEREZ
Fuck. I tried to stop myself. I really did. I just couldn’t help it. My brain had malfunctioned. Melted next to the heat source that was Noah Barnes. Nothing made sense, and everything made sense, all at once. I knew this could end in disaster, or it could end in something totally opposite; this was a way of demolishing our budding friendship or shifting gears in a different direction, and I had no way of knowing what was about to happen.
And truthfully? I didn’t really care. Not in that moment. Not when Noah was giving me those big brown puppy-dog eyes, his lips pouting and his cheeks flushed, matching the same rosy-pink color that started climbing up his neck. It made the perfect target, marking the spot I wanted to sink my teeth into.
Fuck friendship. I wanted more. More of Noah, more of him on me, skin to skin, hands exploring every damn inch of him.
Our lips crashed together, his immediate moan giving me the green light. We’d deal with the aftermath of this later. Right now, all I cared about was tasting Noah on my tongue, his swirling around mine. I reached for the back of his neck, gripped it. Steered our kiss, directing his tongue deeper into my mouth, our noses rubbing and our breaths melding.
It was paradise. I got a taste of nirvana, and I was already addicted to it.
More. I needed more. I left his lips, gleaming as they curled into a smile, and I kissed my way down his jawline, running my tongue over his chin. He jerked up on the couch as my lips closed around that throbbing spot on his neck, my tongue swirling and my teeth nipping. He moaned again, louder this time, his hands on my shoulders and fingers beginning to dig for purchase.