I closed my eyes in pleasure as his thumbs brushed over my ni**les and it took me a minute to shake myself out of the spell he kept putting me under. “No,” I murmured, pulling back. “It’s your turn.”
“Charley,” his voice cracked with need, “you don’t have to. Tonight was for you. We don’t have to do everything at once.”
“But I want to see you.”
Jake closed his eyes as if he was in pain. “You’re going to kill me.”
I smiled and leaned over to whisper over his lips, “But what a way to go.”
He reached up to cup my cheek in his hand, his expression seeming somewhat awed. “You’re amazing, you know that, right?”
His words seeped into my chest and curled around the ache of feeling that lived in there, that ache that belonged to him and him alone. “You make me feel amazing, Jake. You make me feel like I can be just who I am. I’ve never trusted anyone the way I trust you.”
Abruptly, Jake sat up and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me hard against his chest. “I feel the same way about you.”
“Good.” I nibbled his lower lip and then smiled against his mouth. “Can I see you?” I repeated his words back to him. Jake nodded slowly.
His arms loosened so I could move from his lap to his thighs. Cockiness seeming to return, Jake casually leaned back on the palms of his hands and stared at me as if to say, “Well?”
I narrowed my eyes on him, which made him smile.
My faux frown disappeared, melting under his charm. I smiled back and then looked down at his lap where his erection strained against his jeans. Suddenly feeling a little dry-mouthed again, it came as no surprise to me when my hands trembled as I reached out to unzip him.
Jake noticed. “Baby, we don’t have to do this tonight.”
“I want to,” I promised him. I attributed the trembling to not wanting to disappoint him, but I shoved that thought away as soon as I looked deep into Jake’s eyes. I trusted myself when I was with him. I trusted him with me. He would never make me feel bad about myself.
Slipping my hand under Jake’s boxer briefs, his abs jerked at my touch. My heart was back to thudding like crazy as I encircled my hand around his hot, silken but throbbing erection.
I squeezed it gently, testing the waters, and Jake groaned. Spurred on by the sexy strain in his features and dark heat in his eyes, I tugged him out into the cold air and stared.
So that was what it looked like. Wow.
His reddish-purple mushroom-headed hard-on was so big, I instantly wondered how this thing was going to eventually fit inside me. My mind wandered briefly and my stomach flipped with nerves, but the sound of Jake’s scratchy voice asking me to stroke him pulled me back to the present.
As I watched Jake watch me, his hips jerked to meet my strokes and his cheeks colored with heightened passion. His breathing grew more and more shallow and he began to pant. Witnessing his arousal and knowing I was the cause of it was almost as good as what he’d done to me. It turned out I had nothing to worry about regarding getting this stuff right. I caught on quickly, and honestly, Jake seemed easily pleased.
When he came in a sticky mess all over my hand, my eyes grew so big, Jake was still amused about it when he took me home. I endured his teasing, though, knowing I’d find some way to pay him back.
Later, before I got out of the car, my palms already sweating at the thought of seeing my parents and hoping that they didn’t notice the lack of innocence in my eyes, Jake tugged me close and kissed me. I also then hoped my parents weren’t spying on us because the way Jake kissed me … well … it was filled with knowing. It was sexual. It was possessive. It was different from any kiss that had come before it because our relationship had changed.
We were truly intimate now.
A thrill coursed through me as I pulled back from him and smiled.
It should’ve scared me how crazy I was about this boy, but it didn’t, because I had the comforting knowledge that Jake Caplin was just as crazy about me.
Chapter Nine
The month of October sped by. When I didn’t have my head buried in my laptop and fogged with energy drinks, I was hanging out with Claudia, sometimes our roommates, crashing mini-parties in the apartments in our block, or hanging out with The Stolen and attending whatever gigs they’d managed to line up. Things with Jake were better, especially when it was just the two of us. I had coffee with him at least once a week and we went to the gym together three times a week. There was still that distance between us, but we could banter back and forth to cover it. Whenever the entire group was there, however, it was a little strained, mostly because of Melissa’s presence.
During those times the rest of the group did their best to distract me—whether I was watching the bizarre friendship between Claudia and Beck that was so thick with sexual chemistry, we were all waiting for the entire thing to explode, or whether I was flirting with Lowe or watching Lowe flirt with someone else, or cracking up at the socially awkward crap that Matt said. Beck and Lowe were constantly hooking up with girls, which definitely didn’t bother me and didn’t appear to bother Claudia, so it caused no awkwardness. I did often wonder if Beck was trying to get a reaction out of Claud, though. There was something in the way he studied her when he thought she wasn’t aware of his regard.
I wasn’t interfering. My own romantic life was a mess. I had no right to delve into anyone else’s.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. This is not me. Not to mention the fact that I have a paper due in three days and I’ve only written fifty words.” I turned from the mirror in Claudia’s room, my arms akimbo, my legs splayed. It was an unfortunate choice of body language considering my costume and Claudia immediately burst into laughter.
I was dressed as Supergirl.
Claudia was Wonder Woman.
The outfits were ridiculous and showed off a lot more skin than either of us was used to. It occurred to me that she might be trying to make a point to someone and I’d gotten dragged into the whole thing so she would have me to share in the mortification of it all. Still … I eyed her red and gold bustier and star-spangled blue hot pants and decided the belly top, miniskirt, and cape I was wearing could be worse.
“We can’t go out like this,” I groaned, glancing back at the mirror. “If I become a cop and pictures of me dressed like this get out, I’ll never live it down.”
Claudia grimaced. “Is that all you think about? We’re twenty years old and we’re hot. Halloween is the one night of the year we can feel free to show boobs and leg. And our outfits are cute. More to the point, we need this. The guys are great and all, but we’ve been hanging out with them for nearly six weeks. While they rack up a bunch of temporary romances between them, we’ve been dry. Until now. Tonight is for us.”