Page 136 of Reckless
“You’re standing too close.”
“You could move.”
“I don’t want to move.That’s the problem.”
“That doesn’t sound like a problem.”
“It is when your mother is watching.”
“My mother is always watching.”
“Exactly.”
His fingers brushed lightly over the back of my neck.
Tiny touch.
My whole body lit up.
“You did that on purpose,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“In front of people.”
“They weren’t looking.”
“Hope was looking.Hope is always looking.”
“Then she already knows.”
I tipped my head back enough to look at him.
His face was composed.
Only his eyes gave him away.
I looked down at my tea and smiled into it like an absolute fool.
I didn’t like his body.
I liked his touch.
The little touches.The easy ones.The ones that made me feel held in the world without being trapped in it.
That was so much more reckless than sex, honestly.
The rest of brunch blurred in the best way.Conversation.Laughter.Plans for departures and travel and leftovers and who was staying until tomorrow.All of it buoyed by the simple, impossible fact that under the table, or in passing, or when no one was quite looking, Xerses kept finding small ways to touch me.
A hand at my back once when I stood too quickly.
His knuckles brushing mine when he passed me the honey.
The lightest pressure at my waist when we moved around the same chair.
And every single time, I liked it.
More than liked it.
