“Wait!” she exclaimed, and then disappeared into the bathroom. I heard the faucet running and a quick two minutes later she was back. “Sorry. Cheeto breath,” she explained.

I barked out a laugh at that. “I’m not worried about your breath. And besides, I’ve been eating the same shit. Do you want me to go brush my teeth?”

“No. Cheeto breath wouldn’t make you disgusting the way it would on me. You’d somehow find a way to make it sexy.”

I licked my bottom lip, amused, and Giana rolled her eyes before smacking my chest playfully.

“Come on. Focus. Tell me what to do.”

She carefully removed her glasses next, setting them aside before she was tuned back into me. And the way she was perched there, propped up on her knees, her chest swelling and falling, eyes eager… it was the sweetest, most intoxicating sight. She watched me like I had all the answers, like I was her lifeline.

Like she trusted me with everything that she was.

Swallowing, I ignored every voice inside me that warned against what I was about to do, and I moved into her, framing her body with my fists against the mattress as she leaned against the headboard.

“Lie down,” I commanded.

A flash of desire pooled in her eyes as she obeyed.

Chapter Fourteen

Giana

I was consumed.

By the darkness of my room, the incessant pounding of my heart, the towering mass of Clay’s body as he lowered me down into my sheets. His rough voice reverberated in my ears, the command low but firm.

“Lie down.”

I submitted, and as my back came flush against the mattress, Clay slid on top of me, nestling his thick frame between my thighs. The heat of it sent a chill down my arms, one Clay smiled at before he smoothed his knuckles along my chin.

“Relax,” he said. “We’re not going all the way tonight.”

I frowned, sagging into the sheets as Clay chuckled and tilted my chin. I was ready to protest, to point out the fact that Shawn had my freaking number now and I could be alone with him at any moment, completely unprepared. But before I could argue, Clay spoke again.

“Don’t look so sad, Kitten,” he teased, pressing a kiss light as air to my jaw. “There are many things that come before that, and trust me when I say you won’t want to skip them.”

An embarrassed smile found my lips before he kissed them, and I sucked in a breath, looping my arms around his neck and asking for more. It felt natural now that we’d done it a few times, almost… comforting.

But he broke away all too soon.

“One step at a time, yeah?” he whispered, waiting until I nodded before he descended on me once more.