Serena had been glad to hear that nothing had happened between the two of them—apart from Drew making Abi feel like the prettiest, most important girl in the world for one special night. Maybe Sean’s rock-star brother was a player, but something told Serena that one day, when he found the right girl, his life would change in the best possible way.
Just like hers had.
* * *
The sun was just setting in front of the library when Serena said, “Are you ready?”
Sean was holding the classic 35mm Canon film camera he’d been lucky enough to find online, and feeling a hell of a lot shakier than he liked. “Sure.”
“You don’t have to do this today.”
But he did. And he was going to completely lose the light if he kept stalling.
Clearly, she saw that he’d made his final decision, because she said, “Tell me what you need me to do.”
“You’re already doing it.” And it was with Serena standing right beside him that he finally lifted his camera, framed a shot of the setting sun illuminating the library’s pillars, and took his first picture in months. At first he was unsteady, and it was frustrating to feel like he was starting all over again. Soon, though, he found his groove.
He didn’t know how long he’d been taking pictures when a couple of students walked up to Serena. She was no longer hiding in baggy jeans, sweatshirts, and baseball caps, and he’d noticed more than one person do a double take today. He assumed they wanted an autograph, but all the students wanted to know was how to get to the Engineering building.
The moment he heard Serena laughingly confess her utter lack of directional skills, it was pure instinct to turn his camera so that he could see her through its viewfinder. She was pointing, then laughing again when she realized she was pointing in the wrong direction. By the time she turned back to him, he’d already taken a dozen pictures of her. Each one, he already knew, would be beautiful.
Especially the one he took when she looked straight into the lens and smiled the biggest, happiest smile he’d ever seen.
* * *
A little while later, Serena and Sean had just made it up the steps to her floor when his large, warm hand curled around her waist. He turned her to face him in the deserted stairwell, then drew her against him so that she was looking up into his incredible green eyes.
When he touched her, she lost not only her breath, but most of her brain cells. Which meant the best she could manage was, “Hi.”
He smiled down at her. “Hi.” Once upon a time when he’d smiled at her, it hadn’t reached his eyes. Now, it did.
“Have I mentioned in the past five minutes,” he said in that deep voice that always made her insides all melty, “how much I love you?”
“It might have been six minutes ago,” she teased.
He framed her face with his hands. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said, and then, “Have I mentioned in the past five minutes how happy I am that you’re taking pictures again?”
He answered her with a kiss, and by stroking her with deliciously demanding caresses. He ran his hands down over her back and waist and hips until he was grasping her bottom and dragging her tightly against him. This was the unquenchable passion, the never-ending glow, the endless desire she’d been waiting all her life to feel.
Wanting even more, she threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled his mouth down harder against hers. On a groan, he complied with her silent request and took the kiss deeper.
In the tiny space he gave her between kisses, she whispered, “My room,” deliberately bringing them back to the first night they’d met.
The next thing she knew, he had her hand in his and they were hurrying down the hall to her room. The second the door was closed and locked behind him, he said, “What about Abi?”
“She’s not coming back until late tonight.”
“Thank God.” His hands tangled in her hair as he kissed her hungrily, his mouth roaming from hers down to the pulse point at the side of her neck. “I love it when I can feel your heart beating this fast.”
He licked against her skin, then followed it up with a light scrape of his teeth that had her moaning. She wasn’t thinking—couldn’t think at all when he was slicking his tongue across hers—but it was okay. She didn’t need to be in control all the time anymore. Especially not when losing control with Sean was so much fun.
“I love how hot your skin gets when I touch you.” He rubbed his five o’clock shadow across her skin, and she arched into him, desperate to get closer. “I love hearing the sounds you make when you come apart for me.” He moved his hands so that he was cupping her hips and dragging them against his, nearly taking her over the edge with nothing more than that. “And I love how bad you need me,” he said as he gripped the bottom of her shirt and had it off over her head before she could take her next breath. “Just as much as I need you.”
She didn’t know what was hotter, his tongue licking a wet path over the upper swell of her br**sts...or the way he was talking to her, telling her everything he loved about being with her. Showing her that he noticed everything.
“But do you know what I love most of all?” He brought his mouth back to hers. “I love it when you kiss me like this.”
Kissing Sean was like having the most amazing dream, one that she never wanted to wake up from, an erotic and sweet seduction that sent wave after wave of helpless pleasure through her.
“Please.”
He was so eloquent, so good at telling her everything he was feeling, but all she could do was beg...and tug at his clothes, even as he stripped the rest of hers away. Thank God they were soon completely naked. He quickly took care of protection, and then she was lying beneath him in the bed, wanting him so bad she thought she actually might burst if he didn’t take her soon.
As if he could read her mind, he threaded his fingers through hers and held her as he slid into her, so slowly, so perfectly. His kiss was as sweet and sinful as the movement of his body inside hers, and she gripped his hands tightly, crossing her ankles behind his hips as she rocked with him, getting closer and closer to a peak that was higher than anything she could ever have imagined.
She’d given him all of her trust, had surrendered all of her defenses. And he’d done the same for her.
As sweet turned to wild, Serena whispered against his lips, “Kiss me again, Sean.” And even after they’d tumbled into ecstasy together, they didn’t stop kissing for a long, long time.