Page 98 of Until The Lights Go Out

Maisey kissed me like she was finally done holding herself back, like all the years between us had snapped clean in half. My hands tightened against her waist as she shifted closer in my lap, every inch of her warm and soft and real beneath my palms. I could feel the rapid beat of her heart through the fabric of the hoodie, matching the violent rhythm of mine almost perfectly.

She rolled her hips, making me lose any coherent thought as I tugged her closer, our kiss deepening and becoming more desperate. My fingers traced up the bare skin of her thighs carefully, reverently almost, like I still couldn’t quite believe she was here letting me have this. Her sitting here, grinding into me, wearing my team’s hoodie and my number on her back, made my control snap. She was letting me have her after everything. I pulled away slightly, taking a breath, and she looked at me.

“You’re so perfect,” I murmured softly against her lips.

“So are you,” she whispered back, immediately followed by a deep blush brushing over her cheeks as she dipped her eyes down. I reached my hand to her, tipping her chin back up.

“You drive me crazy, Red,” I said with a groan.

“Likewise, Bauer,” she smirked.

I laughed quietly under my breath before kissing her again, slower, savoring it. Every tiny sound she made seemed to go straight to my head: the little inhale when I kissed beneath her jaw, the way her breathing hitched whenever my hands wandered under the hoodie again. I slowed down instinctively, brushing my thumb gently across her hip. “This okay?”

Maisey looked at me for one long second, flushed and breathless and completely open in a way that made my chest ache. “More than okay,” she admitted with a mischievous look before grinding her hips back into me, making a groan slip through my lips. Her hands slid down my chest again, exploring the hard lines of muscle beneath the thin fabric of my shirt like she’d thought about doing it before. Heat curled low in my stomach at the curious touch of her fingers.

“You’re unfairly broad now,” she muttered distractedly.

I barked out a laugh. “Unfairly broad?”

“You used to be lanky and annoying.”

“Damn Andrews, way to kick a man down.” I mocked a knife to my heart, which made her head fall forward in laughter. “I’m still annoying, don’t worry.”

“Oh, I know.” She lifted her head again to give me an eyeroll. “Way too cocky.” She rolled her hips with a sigh, her mouth slightly open, making me want to flip us over and pin her down, but I gave her the space, gave her the control. “Where are those guaranteed Bauer moves, huh?” She gave another roll of her hips as her nails scraped down my stomach, and lower still to the edge of my sweatpants. Painfully slowly, she dragged a finger along the waistband, the barely-there sensation making my self-control snap. I squeezed her waist, holding her to me before flipping us over in one fell swoop. Her back landed gently on the mattress below us, and I hovered over.

“Oh you want to see some moves, Maisey baby?” My voice sounded foreign even to me, too raspy and straining. She drove me crazy. My hands slipped beneath the oversized hoodie fully this time, palms flattening carefully against the warm skin of her stomach. Maisey shivered hard against me, a gasp releasing as her eyes fluttered shut. The reaction nearly killed me.

“You have no idea what you do to me,” I admitted roughly. Her eyes opened again slowly.

“Yeah?” she whispered.

I nodded once, forehead resting against hers again while I tried desperately to have patience and savor this. Because wanting her was one thing. Actually having her? That was catastrophic.

My thumb brushed softly beneath her chin, guiding her gaze back to mine completely. “Tell me if anything feels too fast.”

Maisey’s expression softened immediately into something so fond it almost hurt. “I will.”

“I mean it, Red.”

“I know.” She nodded, her eyes looking so warm.

Because I needed her to know.

I needed her safe with me.

I needed this to be different from every other reckless thing in my life.

Her hand slid gently along my jaw then, fingertips brushing the light stubble there before tangling into my hair again. “Theo,” she whispered softly, “I need you.”

I was losing my mind. It was unraveling completely, because she was under me, begging for me to let go, her soft eyes meeting mine, her fingers brushing away the hair hanging down.

“Please,” she begged, making the thin thread snap. I kissed her hard instantly, pulling a surprised little sound from her that sent heat rushing straight through my body. Maisey melted against me, her fingers tightening in my hair while my hands roamed carefully over her waist and thighs, learning her slowly like I’d been waiting years for permission. Every touch felt loaded with history and longing, with all the things we never got to have when we were younger, too scared and too broken to figure it out.

But now?

Now there was no hiding from it.

No pretending this was casual.