“Care to share some of what’s going on inside that big brain of yours?”
She looked up at him in surprise, feeling as if he’d already read her mind. And since she guessed that even if she didn’t say it aloud, he’d know, she said, “I’m having trouble concentrating on my goal of learning how to drink tequila when all I want to do is kiss you.”
His mouth curved up wider even as his eyes grew darker. “Who says you have to pick one or the other?”
He poured tequila into one of the shot glasses, quickly drank it, then drew her onto his lap so that she was straddling him. He slid his tongue into her mouth and she instinctively knew to suck the liquor from it, then lick his lips clean, too.
“How was that?”
She was almost too breathless to reply. “Good.” She couldn’t drag her gaze away from his mouth. “So good.”
He poured another small amount into a shot glass, then held it out to her. “Your turn.”
She brought the glass up to her lips and tasted it, unable to stop her nose from wrinkling at just how strong it was.
“It’s usually better if you just toss it back,” Sean coached her. “Although I’m perfectly happy to quit the drinking part of the evening now if you want...and just get back to the kissing part.”
Oh, but she was tempted. It would be so easy to skip over this rite of passage. Only, she knew it would keep bothering her that she’d never experienced something that was a part of nearly every other college student’s normal vernacular.
Taking a deep breath, she tilted her head back and tossed the shot down her throat. Oh God, she thought as her eyes watered, it burned like fire...but then Sean was there with his fingers tangling in her hair and his mouth on hers as he sucked at her tongue the way she’d sucked at his. As the fire immediately moved from her throat to her br**sts and the vee between her legs, the shot glass dropped from her hand and she wrapped her arms around him to try to get closer.
“What did you think about that?” His mouth was still so close to hers that his question felt like another kiss.
“It was hot. But I’m not sure how much of the way I’m feeling has to do with the tequila.”
A low sound of pleasure came from his throat as he nuzzled the curve of her chin and into her shoulder. “Do you want to do more?”
She couldn’t quite manage to get her lips to form the word yes when what he was doing to her sent thrill bumps running all across the surface of her body, but she could nod.
“You’re a hell of a lot more addictive than booze,” he murmured as he poured another shot. “And I’ve got a serious thing for your neck tonight. Tilt your head to the side for me, beautiful.”
Her heart raced as she made her neck completely vulnerable to him, and though she wasn’t cold or nervous, she actually started to shake as he lightly brushed her long hair over to her other shoulder. His tongue slicked out across her neck, warm and slightly rough, and then he picked up the saltshaker and dropped a few grains onto her skin.
“Doing okay?”
She loved that he was checking in with her, not just with his question but also by running his free hand down her arm in a reassuring way.
“I’m great,” she said, and she really was. Simply because she was with him, and he made her happier than anything or anyone else ever had.
His mouth descended to her neck and he sucked on her skin, taking the salt. If she hadn’t already been aroused, that would have done it, and when he lifted the shot glass to his mouth, she wished she could be there on his tongue instead.
In a flash, the memory of his mouth on her br**sts the previous Friday night hit her and she was nearly moaning aloud by the time he put the lime between his teeth and sucked the juice from it. She was so jealous of all of it—the salt, the tequila, the fruit—that she didn’t think, couldn’t stop herself from giving in to the urge to tackle him.
She attacked his mouth with hers, her weight over his pushing him onto his back on the blanket. And when his arms came around her back and hips to drag her closer, she realized it was the first time they’d ever lain down with each other. Every other time they’d kissed, they’d either been standing or straddling the bench in the locker room. How easy would it be, she wondered as he nipped at her lower lip, for them to strip off each other’s clothes and make good on the sensual desperation that was driving them both to distraction?
But before she could so much as reach for the hem of his T-shirt to find out, he’d rolled them over so that she was beneath him. “Slow.” The word came out on a harsh breath. “We’re taking things slow.”
Remembering what Abi had said, that the only reason he’d want to take things slow was if he was in love with her, she said, “Sean—”
He cut off her protest with a kiss, even as he brought them both back into a sitting position. “It’s your turn to do another shot now.”
When he poured it for her, she noticed his hands were shaking slightly. At least she wasn’t the only one who felt like she was rapidly approaching the edge of insanity.
“How do you want it?”
“Your stomach.”
She was as honestly surprised by her answer as he seemed to be. It was just that after reading online about people doing body shots off one other, she’d been unable to shake the idea of doing a shot off Sean’s abs.
“Okay.” He shifted so that he was leaning back on his forearms. “Go for it.”
His T-shirt was already mostly out of his jeans and belt, and she was almost unbearably excited as she reached for the cotton to draw it up and expose bare skin. A few heady moments later, she was staring in awe at his beautifully tanned six-pack.
No, there were more muscles than that, she thought as she momentarily forgot all about drinking her next shot to run her fingertips over his abdomen. His muscles rippled beneath her touch and when she looked up at him, his eyes were darker and more intense than she’d ever seen them.
“Your body is a work of art,” she told him earnestly. “You could make a fortune modeling.”
He laughed, but it sounded slightly choked. “Good to know.” He closed his eyes for a brief moment, as though searching for control. Finally, he opened them and said, “You know the drill, right? Get my skin wet, drop the salt on, then lick it off and pound the shot, chasing it with the lime juice.”
She nodded, her nerves making a sudden reappearance at the shocking realization that she was just seconds from licking a guy’s stomach. She’d never done anything like this before, and even the way Sean had played with her br**sts the previous Friday somehow felt different because he had been the one doing everything and all she’d had to do was let herself enjoy it.