me as he groaned, and I wanted to nip his lower lip, but I didn’t dare. He gripped at my hip, and I let out a hiss of breath, so he slid his hand up my side.
When he sucked against my tongue, I hummed a little happy note, and he dragged his other hand up into my hair. With care, he angled my head so he could deepen the kiss, and I dug the fingers of my left hand into his chest. Another pained groan escaped him, and I pulled back. “Sorry.”
“I’m not,” he repeated in between little huffs of laughter. I met his gaze, and we both cracked up. “This is not how I imagined kissing you again.”
“No,” I told him. “I didn’t dare imagine it. Even when I wanted to.” A little part of me felt like a hypocrite. I’d missed the hell out of him. Missed being close and having the right to kiss him or to hold him and just be. But I hadn’t been alone.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” he said in a throaty voice. “Stop.”
“I just—”
“Stop.” Then he tipped my chin up. “I mean it. I missed this. I missed you.”
“Even though you were right there,” I agreed with him. “I missed you, too.”
He sighed and then rested his forehead against mine. “No more missing each other.”
A lopsided grin stole across my face, even as I fought to suppress it. “Kind of hard to miss you when I’m sitting in your lap.”
The slow grin curling the corners of his mouth had me shivering. That, and the erection very quickly firming beneath my ass. If I wasn’t so damn sore and achy and he wasn’t so bruised, I’d be tempted to tease him a little. As it was, it seemed like a very nice promise for the future.
“Hurting?” he checked.
“A little.” As much as I was loath to admit it. “You?”
“Yeah, a little.” He dipped his gaze to my lips, even as he combed his fingers through my hair. “We could just sit here and rest.”
“You do need to ice your face.” The ice pack was currently somewhere on the bed, probably hanging out with my abandoned Pop-Tart.
“Absolutely,” he agreed, then ran his tongue over his lower lip. “You should be elevating that arm and eating something so you can take some pain meds.”
“Probably, though…” I traced a finger against the collar of the t-shirt he wore. “The guys are bringing back food.”
“True.”
We considered each other. “They could be back any minute.” It was heading right in to evening.
“Could be hours,” Ian countered.
“Could be,” I leaned in and pressed a kiss to the uninjured corner of his mouth. His lips twitched. “Does this hurt?”
“No.”
Another kiss. “What about here?”
“No.”
“Here?”
“No.”
I grinned and nuzzled his jaw. “This looks like it’s a safe spot.” I worked my way to his ear, but he tugged my hair and I leaned back, only to have him swoop down and kiss me, all lips and tongue. A groan vibrated from one of us.
Maybe both.
When he let me up for air, I said, “We could just make out until they get home.”
One moment, I was on his lap, and the next, he had me lying down and stretched out next to me. “This okay?”
I slid a thigh up so he could settle more firmly against me. He stuffed a couple of the pillows so they were supporting us better, then we fixed on each other.
“This is perfect,” I sighed before he kissed me again. He strained against me, and I winced, scraping his lower lip with my teeth.
“Ow,” we said in unison, and then his laughter chased mine as he kissed me again.
Perfect.
Chapter Four
Pocketful of Sunshine
Monday arrived way too soon, and I don’t think any of us were ready to go to school. I wanted to insist Ian and Jake stay out and rest, but they both just gave me a kiss and headed out for practice, bruises and all. At least Ian’s other eye was open now.
“Don’t worry,” Coop said as they walked out the door. “The other guys look way worse.”
Archie groaned. “Fuck the other guys.”
I wrinkled my nose. “No thank you.”
They both glared at me, and I stuck my tongue out at them before I limped my way to the bathroom to finish getting ready. My hip and shoulder hated me way more today than they had the evening before. Somehow, we’d managed to have a really good evening, and I got a solid hour of just making out with Ian. Thankfully,