Page 77 of Double Shot

I laughed and rested my hand on his arm. I wished he’d take his hand out of his pocket so I could hold it again. “I know it wasn’t a line. It was really great. I’ve had such a nice time with you.”

“Me too.” He cleared his throat. I could see his pulse hammering in the side of his neck as his gaze dropped to my mouth. He’d relaxed considerably over the course of the evening, but now he was visibly nervous again, and it was the sweetest thing I’d ever seen.

I knew this was one of those moments where I needed to give him a gentle nudge before he started overthinking it.

“Are you going to kiss me goodnight, Brian?” I asked with what I really hoped was a demure but sexy little smile. I tilted my head back and parted my lips slightly to make them look soft and pouty and inviting. I ran my hand up his chest, over the solid mound of his pec muscle, to play with the little curl of hair peeking from under his ear.

He let out an unsteady breath and stepped closer, skimming his hands up my arms to cup my shoulders. “Yes.”

Chapter 26

Simon Sucks

Klaus

My breath hitched, anticipation making my entire body buzz and tingle, and my eyes were already growing heavy, wanting to close, as Brian started to lean down.

I couldn’t contain the needy little sound that left me when his lips pressed softly to mine. It was such a sweet kiss, soft and light and so respectful, just like he’d been all evening, and then…

I brushed my tongue against his top lip. Brian’s fingers tightened on my shoulders in reaction, and then his lips were parting against mine so he could stroke my tongue with his. It escalated quickly from there. Soon our tongues were surging, thrusting and gliding together. Our breaths were growing shallow and unsteady. I strained up on my tiptoes and flung my arms around his neck, trying to tug him down even more so I could get closer and deeper.

His big hands circled my waist, making me shiver. He effortlessly lifted me off my feet, like I was lighter than air, and turned us to set me back down on the first or second step of the front stoop so he didn’t have to hunch so much to kiss me. I smiled against his mouth, wrapping my arms tighter around his neck and tilting my head to deepen the kiss.

Brian definitely seemed to be enjoying kissing again after going so long without doing it at all, which was both immensely gratifying and very flattering. He groaned quietly into my mouth when I pushed my tongue deeper to slick it against his. He stepped even closer until I could feel the heat of his big body, letting those huge hands slide around to my back, run up my spine and back down, stopping exhilaratingly close to my ass. His fingers flexed, breath hitching against my lips, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was furiously fighting his own instinct to slide his hands that bit lower and squeeze my ass.

Do it! Squeeze it! I tried to project while keeping my tongue in his mouth. It’s such a nice ass and it misses you!!

I knew I couldn’t actually say it, because we were—ugh—taking it slow, so I settled for moaning softly into his mouth in gentle encouragement, hoping he decided that some ass-groping was within the parameters of respectful dating. If you asked me, it absolutely was, but then again, what did I know? I could obviously make some pretty hefty mistakes when it came to dating and romance. I’d agreed to go out with Clarence, after all. Twice.

His fingers twitched again. They inched lower, just until his pinkie fingers brushed the swell of my ass. He groaned helplessly against my mouth, then moved his hands to my hips with what seemed to be—what I hoped was—great reluctance.

It was already a slow and sensual kiss, the kind of kiss that broke me out in goosebumps and made my belly dip with heat, but a few seconds later he slowed it down even more, gentling his lips and giving me a final soft, sweet kiss before we broke apart.

I had to blink a few times to try and reboot my brain. I knew my eyes were dazed, and my lips felt swollen and overly sensitive. Lucifer, Brian could kiss. I felt a little drunk despite not having had a drop of alcohol all night.

Brian’s high cheekbones were flushed, and his lips were a little pinker and fuller now, which made my insides ache with the need to kiss him again. He cleared his throat, but his voice was still gratifyingly hoarse when he spoke. “Can I take you out again soon?”

“Yes. Please.” I nodded hard. I’d never been very good at acting coy, but I didn’t even want to with Brian. I didn’t ever want to put on any kind of act with him. I already liked him and respected him too much for that. “I had a really, really amazing time tonight, Brian,” I added, because it was the truth, but also because I got the sense he’d probably go home and worry about it if I didn’t explicitly say it. He’d already told me about his tendency to rethink every interaction he had, picking apart what he’d said, what they’d said, what tone they’d used, whether or not they’d given him any odd looks.

It sounded exhausting and made me want to wrap him up in a big hug.

The fragile hope that blossomed in his eyes from my words made that urge grow even stronger. Lucifer, he was just so sweet. “Yeah?” He blushed. “Me too.”

I nodded, fiddling with his hair, my arms still draped over his wide shoulders. I was still standing on the edge of the second front step, and it was kinda weird being almost eye level with him. “Thank you for taking me out. And that meal was so good. I’ll happily go back there a million times.”

Brian’s shoulders sagged a little in relief, which confirmed that it’d been the right thing to say. Again, it was the truth, but from what I’d gleaned about him and what he’d told me, I also figured that he was a creature of habit. I wasn’t going to make him try out a bunch of new restaurants just for the sake of mixing up our dates when we could just go back to somewhere we both enjoyed.

“Good.” He gave me a shy smile that made my heart squeeze so tight it felt like it might burst. “I like it there.”

“But I don’t mind if we, like, go to your place next time or something. So you can be in your other form and feel more comfortable.”

It was genuinely my reason for asking, but did I also have the sneaky thought, while I was asking it, that if we stayed in for our next date, it would probably end in passionate, filthy sex? Well, yes, that did cross my mind very briefly. And honestly, could anyone really blame us for breaking our no-sex rule if we were alone together somewhere private, and Brian, just in general, looked like that? It would be like asking a cute little bumblebee to land on a beautiful, freshly bloomed flower and not gorge itself on all that wonderful pollen. I was the cute little bumblebee. Brian was the beautiful flower filled with delicious pollen that I really, really wanted to suck out of his stamen.

I was pretty sure that wasn’t how flowers worked, but still.

Brian smiled at me and lifted a hand to cup my cheek, and my eyelashes fluttered in pleasure as I tried not to swoon from the touch. Sure, other men had pulled similar moves, but that was the difference—with Brian, it wasn’t a move. He didn’t have some messed up ‘system’ he utilised on dates to get laid, a bunch of tried and tested methods that preyed on people’s weaknesses or insecurities or yearning desires. He was just touching me sweetly. There was no ulterior motive. He wasn’t trying to get me into bed, because he’d specifically ruled that out for the time being.

And suddenly, I got the point of his whole no-sex rule a lot better, and it made me like him even more. I already liked him a Hell of a lot—possibly a scary amount—so that was saying something. But by taking sex completely off the table, it meant I didn’t have to second-guess everything. I didn’t have to wonder if he was just saying or doing something to increase his odds of fucking me later. I didn’t have to worry that if he said something nice to me, he was just saying it to get me into bed, and he’d still leave straight after having not meant any of it.