I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. I would’ve taken her if she had let me, but it still didn’t set well in my chest. “Well, there’s always next year.”

Her lips split into a wide smile that caused my heart to stutter. Needing a moment to myself before I did something incredibly stupid like get all vagina-emotional, I scooped up Raphael and took him back home, promising to come right back. I planned to talk to her when I did, about what I had done, but when I did return, I discovered Shortcake standing in the hall that led back to her bedrooms with a look on her face that did funny, twisty things to my insides.

The look on her face was part anticipation, part uncertainty, and the driving force behind it was an innocent curiosity that literally blew my thoughts out of my head. I had no idea why exactly it was important to talk about serious shit right now. Since the Sunday we cleared everything up, I’d been taking things slow, so slow I wondered if I could go any slower. Every night I ended up going one on one with myself to the point that my hand was starting to get numb while I took notes in class.

It was worth it though. The last thing I wanted to do was rush her, but right now . . .

Avery wetted her lower lip as I pulled my sweater off, draping it along the back of her couch. Her gaze dipped to the width of skin exposed between my shirt and jeans and a flush spread across her cheeks.

Yeah, Shortcake looked like she wanted to be rushed.

I sat on the couch while she remained by the hall, fiddling with the edge of her sweater dress in the soft glow of the TV. When she had pulled off her tights earlier, after returning from dinner, I’d spent an ungodly amount of time staring at her bare legs like a teen who’d never seen so much skin before.

“You going to come over here or stare at me the rest of the evening?” I asked, grinning as she took a deep breath and approached the couch slowly. I lifted a hand to pull her down next to me, but little Shortcake had something else entirely planned.

My grin faded as she put her knees on either side of my thighs and sat in my lap. My body’s response was ridiculously immediate. I hardened as I curled my fingers around her hips. “Hey there, sweetheart.”

“Hey,” she whispered.

“Did you miss me this much? I was only gone a few minutes.”

She laid her hands on my shoulders as she pressed down, bringing our bodies together in all the right places. “Maybe.”

Moving my hands up her sides, I cupped her cheeks. She had to feel me between her thighs. There was no hiding that. “What are you doing?”