hard to believe?”
I shrugged. “I guess because you’re so confident.”
“You have to own your sexy.”
I scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re the sexiest guy I know.”
I immediately wanted to take back what I said. I felt silly and awkward telling someone how sexy they were. I never even did that with Jennifer. Sure, I’d tell her she looked beautiful, or how great a certain outfit looked on her, but never sexy. And there I was, babbling like an idiot to the man who’d just kissed me stupid. Maybe the kiss had lowered my inhibitions so much my filter had disappeared.
“Well,” he said as his voice dipped low and he leaned a bit closer to me. His pressed his finger against my lips again and ran it down to my jaw before cupping my cheek. “I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
“What’s that?”
I resisted the urge to close my eyes and lean into his touch. His gaze was so hypnotic that I didn’t want to miss a single second of this chance to stare into it.
“You’re extremely sexy, and I’m about to show you just how much.”
Without another word, he planted his lips on mine again. That time, the kiss was even more frenzied and heated, if that was even a possibility. And when we pulled apart to catch our breath, I needed to put some space between us before I did something that would be out of character for me. So I popped the tab of the soda we’d forgotten about earlier and took a long drink.
And then I forced myself to say the words I’d been dreading to utter since I’d gotten there. “I should go. Let you get some sleep and let me…”
“Think over everything that just happened?”
I shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. “Something like that. But it’s not because I have any regrets. More like, curiosity why this is happening all of a sudden. Up until I met you, I only dated women. What changed?”
Stellan pursed his lips. “That’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself. And you say you have no regrets now, but that could be the alcohol and adrenaline talking. See how you feel when you wake up.”
“I don’t think anything will change,” I said vehemently.
“We’ll see.” Something flickered in his gaze before disappearing as quickly as it came.
Stellan spoke with such assurance. I wondered if maybe someone had changed their mind about him before. But rather than question it, I forced myself off the couch. Stellan stood and then walked me toward the door, but after pulling it open, I paused. I wanted to give him a kiss goodbye, to prove I wasn’t going to change my mind, and because I wanted to kiss him again. I just wasn’t sure if I was allowed to do so, or if I could muster enough guts to make that move.
The internal struggle must’ve shown on my face, because he took a step closer to me until our shoes were touching.
“Never hold yourself back. If you want to say something or do something to me, then do it.”
That was all I needed to hear, and before I could talk myself out of it—and to be honest, I didn’t want to try—I wrapped my fingers around his neck. There was no resistance on his end as I pulled him down until our lips were touching again. He allowed me to take the lead, and I wasted no time parting his lips so I could sweep my tongue inside. I kept it slow, taking my time to enjoy the taste of him. I wanted it to last as long as possible, because it was hard telling when I’d see him again.
It didn’t matter that we were in an open doorway or that I could barely breathe. Breath and nosy neighbors didn’t matter, all that did was me and the man I was kissing goodbye. By the time Stellan pulled away, my arms had wrapped around his neck with one hand gripping his hair. His strong hands had a firm grip on my hips and our groins were pressed tightly together. The evidence of how the kiss affected both of us was evident, if the bulges in our jeans were any indication. But what I noticed more than anything was how good it felt as they rubbed against each other.
After letting go of my hips, he reached up to gently grip my wrists to unwind my arms from around his neck before lacing our