“You make me crazy,” I murmur against her mouth when I release her lip. “I’d fuck you right here on the kitchen counter if you’d let me.”

“Oh God,” she says on a gasp. “Say that again.”

“Say what again?” I drop kisses along her jaw, down the length of her neck, moving her heavy hair behind her shoulder so I can kiss the spot behind her ear. “You’re always accusing me of saying something to mess it up.”

“Just…repeat what you said. What you want to do to me if I’d let you.” She swallows hard, I feel the movement beneath my lips and I pause there, knowing exactly what she wants me to say.

Does this mean Jade likes dirty talk? Who fucking knew?

“I said, that if you’d let me.” I press my mouth to the spot where her pulse thumps erratically, inhaling her heady scent, humming against her skin. This is like torture. Touching her. Kissing her. Talking to her, all while not able to do exactly what I want to her. “I’d fuck you right here on this kitchen counter.”

“God, this is absolute torture,” she whispers as I continue to kiss her neck. She’s reading my mind. “I should…probably go.”

Everything within me skids to a stop at her words. “Hell no,” I practically growl, lifting my head so I can stare at her. “You’re not leaving.”

“We can’t—” She whimpers when I nibble on her earlobe. “But we can’t do anything.”

“We’re making out,” I remind her as I pull away from her fragrant neck. “Tristan’s gone tonight. He won’t get home until late. So we have the entire house to ourselves.” I wish I could fuck her on every available surface but since that’s not happening, we’ll have to make plans to do it another night.

That I’m thinking of future nights with Jade is freaking unbelievable.

“Your cousin is gone?” She sounds hopeful.

“Yeah.” I brush my thumb back and forth across her ass, tracing the band of her panties beneath her leggings. Teasing is fun right? I might come close to giving myself a heart attack and a massive case of blue balls by the end of the night but I’ll survive.

Barely.

“So it’s just us.” She trails her hand down the front of my T-shirt, her nails lightly grazing and my dick twitches. Well, it’s been twitching for a while but I want her hands on my bare skin. This clothes on business is for the birds.

“Just us.” I kiss her once, then slip both of my hands under her ass, indicating that I want to pick her up. She grabs hold of my shoulders, her shocked gaze meeting mine. “Come on.” I heft her up into my arms and turn, heading toward the living room.

“How is it that you’re able to carry me so easily?” she asks in wonder.

“You don’t weigh that much.”

She snorts. Actually snorts. It’s kind of cute. “You don’t need to lie to keep me here. I’m sort of trapped and at your mercy.”

I like that at my mercy part. She should’ve never said those words. Now my imagination is going absolutely wild, thinking of all the things I could do to Jade while she’s at my mercy.

More like I’m at her mercy, considering she’s drawn the line in the sand for tonight. Look, look, touch, touch, but don’t touch me there, kiss, kiss…that’s it.

Fucking misery.

“I’m respecting your wishes.” I sit on the edge of the couch with her straddling me and lean back slowly, enjoying the way she leans in with me. Her knees are on either side of my hips, her hands still on my shoulders, my cock nestled between her legs. An ideal position that’s going nowhere. “We’re just going to kiss. Nothing more.”

“Right.” She sounds hesitant. Almost…disappointed? “Nothing more.”

I reach for her, settling my mouth on hers, kissing her before she has a chance to think, to say something else, to remind herself that maybe she doesn’t want to be here after all. I trace the seam of her lips with my tongue and she opens easily, a moan sounding low in her throat when I circle her tongue with mine. I cup her nape, holding her still, not wanting to let her go and she starts doing this circling of the hips thing that I know is going to drive me absolutely crazy.

This entire night is driving me crazy. Jade makes me lose my fucking mind. Is it because she’s so resistant yet…not? That she only lets me take it so far before she withdraws or we’re interrupted? I don’t know what to think. The theory behind wanting something you can’t have plays heavily on my mind. I think that’s my problem. I think once I finally have her, I’ll be done. Able to walk away without a backward glance.

What scares me worse is that might not be the case at all. That I’ll finally fuck her and only end up wanting more. Want her all the time. She makes me feel completely out of control with just a few kisses and innocent touches. What will happen when we finally get naked together?

Fuck I almost don’t want to find out.

My thoughts are running rampant, coming up with all sorts of solutions to this—problem Shep and I are currently facing. I can’t do anything with him tonight. Well, I suppose I could, but ew. I don’t want to. My first time with Shep is not going to be when it’s my time of the month. That’s just too much, too soon.

But there are other things we could do. Things I could do to him…

That I’m even contemplating this shows just how wrapped up I am in him. Normally I wouldn’t do this sort of thing. Offer this sort of thing. The other guys I’ve been intimate with always asked for it. Almost demanded it. I did as they asked, never fully comfortable with it. One even told me my skills were lacking and that totally put me off of blowjobs pretty much forever.

It’s different with Shep though. I don’t know why. I like how he touches me. The things he says, spoken in that sexy as hell voice. He says he wants to fuck me and it’s like I melt. Just thinking about how he said it earlier, his mouth on mine now, his tongue working some sort of magic, his hand gripping the back of my neck, his other hand at my waist…I give in to my instincts and just let go.

Slowly I thrust my hips against his and I feel his erection straining beneath his basketball shorts, brushing against me, making my eyes practically roll back in my head. He’s so…big. I can tell. And so incredibly hard. He groans when I move against him and power flitters through me, making my head spin. Without thought I reach down, drifting my fingers along his length in a feather light touch and he rips his mouth from mine, staring at me with hungry eyes.

“What are you doing?”

My insecurities come rushing back, one on top of the other and I jerk my hand away from him while answering, “Touching you?” Though I phrase it more like a question. The way he’s looking at me makes me feel unsure.

His chest lifts and he exhales roughly. “We can’t do anything tonight. You already established that boundary.”

I can appreciate his respecting my boundaries. He’s more of a gentleman than I ever thought. “I won’t let you do anything to me,” I point out to him, shocked that I’m even about to say this. Here I go. “But I could do something for…you. To you.”

He stares at me, his gaze dropping to my lips, lingering there for a moment as he starts to shake his head. “No way.”