He moved up and buried his face in my neck with a nuzzle. “I’m not trying to tease you. I’ll take care of you again,” he whispered. His breath ruffled my hair, his beard tickled my neck. I shook my head as he placed biting kisses all over my throat.

Gah, my brain was becoming non-functional. I was acting like a dude, like a douchey dude. Putting the pressure on Luke. I felt bad. Guilty and horny and bad. I stuck my face into his chest, so I could hide. “I’m so sorry, Luke. I don’t want to pressure you into something you’re not ready for.”

He pulled back and looked at me like I was crazy before bursting into loud laughter. “Oh, Lily. I almost forgot about the crazy shit you would say sometimes. You’re not pressuring me. I just—” His eyes darkened as he looked at me. “I haven’t been with you in almost seven years. I haven’t been with anyone in all that time. When I finally get between your legs again, I do not want to be interrupted. Understand?”

My body melted back into his, and he hugged me closer. “I understand. I’m sorry for acting like such a dude.”

“What am I going to do with you?” he said with a big smile.

“I’ll get started on a list. And with all this build-up, Luke, the list will be a long one.”

He laughed again and gave me more kisses.

I pulled away again to ask him, “Do you really want to sleep down here? We could just leave the couch made up, and you could wake up before Dylan gets up, so he won’t see us in bed together. He doesn’t need to see that until we’ve at least gone on our first date,” I teased.

Luke laughed softly. “I would love to sleep in your bed, Lily.” His eyes were hot on mine.

I got even meltier. My heart had turned into a puddle of Luke goo, my brain was mush, and even though I wasn’t going to get any, I was happier than I had been in years.

13

Luke

I woke up to the sunlight from Lily’s window shining on my face. I glanced down to see her head resting on my chest, red hair fanned out across her shoulder and tickling its way down my arm. I blinked a few times to make sure this was real. Please be real…