Page 54 of Clean Finish

My wide-eyed gaze locked with his. His pupils were huge.

“If they’re breathing a little faster.”

His chest was rising quicker than normal.

“And they’re angling their body toward you, keep themselves open. Sometimes mirroring your gestures.”

Well, Seb was standing right in front of me, and he knew I was about to kiss him, so that one didn’t really help right now. But I nodded, trying to take it all on board, even as my gaze dropped back to his mouth and refused to budge.

“So whenever you’re ready…” His tongue darted out to swipe at his lower lip, making my breath catch. “Just do what you’d do to… make the first move and kiss someone. Knowing they want you to. They’re waiting for you to do it. They’ve been waiting for a long time.”

That actually helped a lot. Imagining that Seb really, really wanted to kiss me, that he wasn’t just doing this as a friend to help me out, made it easier for me to move closer until my chest brushed his. I felt a little self-conscious and kind of silly, but I knew Seb would never laugh at me if I acted like a total dweeb. He wasn’t like that.

My hand was trembling as I lifted it to lightly rest it on his chest, my fingers twitching to feel the slide of his short chest hair against them. Seb’s heart was pounding surprisingly hard and fast under my palm. Oh god, maybe he was already worried about telling me how crap I was going to be at kissing. I mean, I knew he’d say it in a nice way, but I really hoped I didn’t need too many notes.

I slid my hand up to rest it on the side of his neck, his pulse rabbiting against my palm. Then I raised my other hand to cup his nape, because I’d need to tug him down slightly to reach his mouth.

My breaths were already fast and shallow as I darted a nervous look at him. He was watching me, his eyes a little heavy-lidded and dark around his enormous pupils. But he didn’t move an inch, patiently waiting for me to get on with our impromptu kissing lesson in Holt’s spare bedroom, in the middle of a pool party, with all our co-workers just outside.

I wanted to do well at this. I wanted to do well at all of it, but kissing was kind of the absolute basic when it came to sex, wasn’t it? If I wasn’t good at this, people might reconsider doing anything more with me. I wanted to nail it.

Be seductive or whatever!

I didn’t really know how to be seductive. I was too jumpy and easily excitable to be all suave and sultry. I was already shaking with nervous excitement. I couldn’t fake being all calm and confident and like I did this all the time. But that was okay. Seb knew I didn’t. He already knew.

Remembering that relaxed me a little. Swallowing, I stretched out my thumb to smooth it along his jawline, my belly dipping at the rasp of stubble. Fae were pretty hairless, so I probably wouldn’t ever be able to grow facial hair or anything, and the sensation of it was… nice. Different.

The feel of the hair on his chest and stomach was nice too. Really nice. It was warm, and the line bisecting his abs was surprisingly soft against my skin.

I tilted my chin up and applied slight pressure to his nape so he would dip his head. He was breathing fast too, but he still stayed mostly unmoving, waiting placidly and reminding me that I was the one who actually had to do it.

Tilting my head, I rose on my toes and slowly pressed my lips to his. He immediately kissed me back, just as softly, and my heart stuttered as something thudded hard into the pit of my stomach. I kissed him again, a bit firmer this time, and heard Seb’s breath catch in his throat. I had to be doing something right, then.

The next kiss was a little deeper, our lips parting slightly and moulding together. I knew I should be concentrating, taking in his reactions and gauging what to do next based on them, but my mind was starting to go blank. My heart was pounding hard against his, our chests pressed together.

Warm hands crept onto my sides, and I shivered as his thumbs smoothed over my bare skin. When I brushed my tongue against his upper lip, his grip tightened. Then the tip of his tongue feathered over mine, and tingles raced over my scalp as I parted my lips wider.

A tiny sound left me when our tongues met and glided slowly together. I could feel a tremor running through Seb’s body, so I was definitely getting this right, but I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that this was a lesson anymore.

Admittedly, I hadn’t done this all that much, but I was pretty sure it’d never felt like this before. I’d never been so hyper aware of all the sensations. How hot Seb’s tongue was, how smooth it felt gliding against mine, how he was slowly taking control of the kiss, sinking his tongue into my mouth and tilting his head to get deeper.

His hands left my sides and rose to cup my face, thumbs trailing over my jaw and making me shiver. The kiss grew even deeper and hotter and wetter, and I found myself straining to get closer, pressing my whole body against his as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

A hoarse groan vibrated into my mouth as Seb’s strong arms circled my waist and tugged me even more tightly against him. And suddenly, the slow pace evaporated completely. We were kissing feverishly now, our tongues thrusting together desperately. I was panting against his lips, my heart racing. I couldn’t stop. I buried one of my hands in Seb’s short hair, like I didn’t want to risk him ending the kiss and moving away, and he groaned into my mouth again, his hands trailing down my hips.

My breath caught when he tugged on my towel until it fell to the floor, then gripped the backs of my thighs and hoisted me up in a rush. My legs automatically snapped around his waist, clinging on, and a desperate moan left me when my straining cock rubbed against his stomach through my trunks.

He was suddenly striding across the room without breaking the kiss, carrying me somewhere until my back hit a wall. His hands were clutching my ass as he groaned and thrust his tongue into my mouth, the force of it keeping my head pinned to the wall. I gasped when I felt something hot and hard grinding against my balls through my trunks, breathlessly close to my asshole.

Oh my god, oh my god. He could hold me up like this and fuck me against the wall.

I couldn’t stop panting out little moans as we kissed frantically, and my belly swooped when I felt Seb’s fingers curl into the slippery fabric of my trunks, gripping two fistfuls tight and dragging them down over my ass with intent.

Oh my god, oh my god.

A sudden, panic-inducing realisation jarred me out of the moment as I felt cool air hit my ass and taint, then my cock as it popped free. Shit. Shit shit shit, he was going to feel—

“Wait.” I broke the kiss, my breaths trembling out of me. “Wait.”