Page 68 of Yours, Finally

"Look. You touch yourself, right?" I asked.

Her eyes opened wide. "Uh…"

"You masturbate. Right?" I insisted.

I didn't mean to take a step closer to her, but I did. We stood face-to-face, close enough for me to see the way her pupils dilated.

She nodded.

My nostrils flared. "You orgasm from it, don't you?"

She nodded again. Blood rushed south at the mere thought of Maia coming undone. I wasn't supposed to feel this way. I wasn't supposed to want to erase every word in the dictionary, only so I had no other choice but to show her.

My breath quickened. Jake's voice deepened. I opened my eyes to watch him as he read for me. A soft blush tinted his white face and, if he looked at me as closely as Ash looked at Maia, he would see that I did, too.

"When you touch yourself," I said. "When you put your fingertips on your clit and rub and pull— when you tease a nipple with your free hand and gasp— I'd wager you're not thinking about themess you're making in your underwear."

Her lips opened in a slack, sensual O, and my dick twitched at the sight.

Jake leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, blocking the view of his cock. I strained my eyes anyway, because all I wanted to know was if he was getting hard as he read those words for me. The water had cooled down and half the bubbles had died. My own nipples touched nothing but fading foam, and they pebbled in a mix of cold and arousal.

When he gave voice to my book again, the words rasped from his throat.

"Kissing can feel like touching myself?" Maia's eyes searched my face, as if I held the answers to the questions of the universe.

"No," I growled. "Kissing can kidnap your brain, like touching yourself does. But it's even better because when it happens with the right person, it's like sex with the right person. Touching the right person. Lips aren't lips, and hands aren't hands, because you forget where you end and the other person begins. All that matters is that fleeting feeling of ecstasy and connection. Until it's done, and you want to do it all over again."

"Have you felt like that, Ash?"

I put my hand around my breast. The book's description of a good kiss was apt, and accurate to what kissing Jake felt like. Maybe we didn't have to wait until it was time to sleep, to know if I sex would feel like that, too.

"I don't know," I confessed. "There have been times when I thought that maybe, yes… but it's a feeling I'm still chasing."

"So you've been closer to it, but it's still no more than a mirage. And yet you feel you can guide me? Teach me?"

"I can teach you." I dropped my eyes to her mouth. I lowered my head slowly, letting her react, but she didn't. I closed my teeth gently on her lips. "I can show you."

She gasped, like I knew she would. It ruptured my awareness and I broke— I kissed her. My mouth stayed on hers on a suspended breath.

"Put the book aside." I gulped. His eyes locked on mine and he did as told, forgetting all about the bookmark. I couldn't care less. "Kiss me."

As if in a trance, he laid the book on the counter and kneeled by the tub. He crossed his arms over the copper edge, and let his eyes roam over my exposed skin.

In the next breath, he pressed his lips to mine. He kissed me, languid moves of his tongue and mouth, and incredibly sweet. Reverent.

I lost myself in it.

Many heartbeats later, he retreated, and I took a deep breath with my eyes closed.

"Better than a kiss in one of my books," I said. "I always knew it would be like that with you."

I opened my eyes to find his adoring sight on me. Electric red energy buzzed in my veins, to have his complete attention on me like that.

"You cherish me." I lifted a wet hand to his face.

He kissed the palm of my hand. "I do. I can hardly believe you're here, naked in the tub, and want me close."

His words burrowed into my tender heart. Any resistance I'd ever had to us thawed into the bath water. A thousand butterfly wings blew air into my chest; it lightened and lifted me up in fluid motion.