by Lili Valente
And what kisses they were…
Just thinking about them makes my nerve endings hum and my feet move faster along the path, already anticipating the tingle inducing kiss waiting for me in the clearing where Nash is meeting me tonight.
Kissing Nash is heaven and hell all tangled up together, enough to make my soul light up with joy and my body ache with a hunger that’s almost painful.
But…deliciously painful.
Until now, I’ve only really been into kissing. It’s hard to get interested in much more in the back row of a movie theater or under the bleachers after school, and it’s not like any of the guys I’ve locked lips with were all that great at it.
But now…
Now I want Nash’s big hands to slide beneath my t-shirt. I want to explore every inch of his skin with my fingertips, until I’ve memorized him so well I can sculpt him in ceramics class. And I want him to do the same. I want him to touch me wherever he wants, do whatever he wants, because I know anything I do with Nash will feel amazing, and so, so right.
It’s only been three weeks, but I’m ready for him to be my first. I can feel how much he cares about me, and I’ve never been so completely gone on a guy. In my secret thoughts, I used to imagine growing up to have a string of gorgeous lovers, each one more dashing and dangerous than the last. But now a part of me wonders what it would be like to find “the one” the first time around.
To spend my life with only one man…
When the man in question is Nash, the possibility doesn’t seem boring. Not in the slightest.
I shiver as I reach the edge of the clearing and a large shadow separates from the darkness. A beat later, Nash’s voice rumbles through the trees, “Hey. There you are.”
“Here I am.” I grin, skipping the last few steps off the path and into his arms. He picks me up with a happy moan that vibrates through my bones, and then he kisses me, long and deep, until my breath is coming faster and that delicious hunger rises inside me again.
“I was beginning to think you’d changed your mind,” he whispers against my mouth as his hands wander down to cup my bottom through my shorts.
An electric jolt surges through me in response.
God, he makes me crazy, so wonderfully, crazily crazy. “No,” I say, clinging tighter to his shoulders. “I just had to wait until Molly fell asleep. She was reading in her bunk forever.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. I missed you, and I’ve been dying to be alone with you.”
“Me too,” I breathe, threading my fingers into his hair. “So much.”
We kiss for another long minute, or maybe a hundred minutes. All I know is that soon my head is spinning and my chest is aching and I feel like I’ll die if I don’t get more of him.
All of him.
I pull away, sucking in a ragged breath. “Did you bring something?”
“Something?” he echoes, his breath coming faster, too.
“Something…just in case.”
“In case…”
“In case we want to do more than kiss,” I whisper, my nerve endings buzzing.
I can’t tell if I’m nervous or excited or both, but I’ll feel better once I know we’re protected. I’m ready to be with Nash, but I’m not ready to be a mom. Not for a decade. Or more. Or maybe ever. There are so many adventures to be had and most of them don’t pair well with caring for an infant.
“Yes ma’am,” Nash drawls in that silky voice of his. “I brought a blanket from the storage room. It’s over here.” He takes my hand, drawing me deeper into the shadows.
As my eyes adjust, I make out the rectangular shape of a dark gray camp blanket spread out on the grass. Nash sits, guiding me down onto the blanket beside him and rolling me beneath him with a calm assurance that makes my blood pressure spike.
But when he moves to kiss me again, I put a finger to his lips.
“I didn’t mean the blanket,” I say, amazed by my own gumption. But if I’m really ready to go all the way, I should be brave enough to talk about protection, too. And I am, a fact I prove when I add in a softer voice, “I meant a condom.”
Nash pauses for a long second before he exhales. “Um, yeah… I have something. In my wallet, but I didn’t…”
“Didn’t what?” I ask.
The hesitation in his voice would make me anxious as hell in any other situation, but it’s impossible to feel anxious with Nash leaning protectively over me, his big hand running up and down my side.
“I didn’t think you wanted to tonight. I thought you would want to wait.”
“Do you want to wait?”
“Heck, no,” he says, with a soft laugh. “You make me crazy and you’re so beautiful.” He sighs, a sound filled with so much longing it makes me feel like the most desirable woman on the planet. “I want you so much it’s probably sinful, Aria, but…it’s your first time.”
“Does that make you nervous?” I bite my lip. I know some guys avoid virgins like the plague, thinking we’re going to get too clingy or something lame I’ve never quite understood.
I might be a virgin, but I’ve watched sexy movies and read every racy romance novel I could get my hands on. I know what goes on between a man and a woman. Yes, I’m sure the feelings can get intense, but I’m not going to be rendered idiotic because my privates and a boy’s privates meet up for the first time.
I’m inexperienced, not naïve, and my brain is just as much a part of this decision as the rest of me.
“A little,” Nash confesses. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” I snuggle closer to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Could he be any sweeter? Or perfect? Or sexy? God, he’s so sexy, it makes my blood feel like honey oozing through my veins. “All you ever do is make me feel amazing. This won’t be any different.”
“Are you sure?” he presses. “I don’t mind waiting. I…”
“What?” I let my fingers play through his spiky hair, wishing I could see his eyes.
“I really like you. A lot. I don’t want this to just be a camp thing, you know? I want to see you after. Be with you after. Like…an official couple.”
“Me, too,” I say, smiling so wide it makes my cheeks hurt.
Nash and I haven’t talked about anything long term, but I’ve had all my fingers and toes crossed this would happen. Sure, we go to different schools and live on opposite sides of town—me in a cookie cutter subdivision, Nash out in the country—but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a relationship work.
“I don’t have a lot of time during the week,” he says, a smile in his voice that makes me grin even harder. “I have football most afternoons and help out with my brothers and sisters at night, but I could come to Bliss River every Sunday.”
“And I could come out and help you babysit when I don’t have art class after school,” I say, catching his excitement for our future. “I’ve got my permit and Dad said I could borrow the truck once I turn sixteen.”
“I’d like that,” he says, before adding in a voice that completely melts my heart, “I’d like as much of you as I can get.”
“How about all of me?” I ask, wondering if this is what love feels like. If it isn’t, then love must be some insanely serious stuff.
Because this…
This is…magic.
“I’m not scared.” I cup his cheek in my hand. “I care about you so much, and I know what I want.”
Nash’s breath hitches in a way that makes me feel beautiful and powerful and so drunk with needing him I vow to beg him to get naked with me, if that’s what it takes.
“On one condition,” he finally says. “We’re a couple. Exclusive. It’s official. You’re my girl.”
“Yes,” I whisper, suddenly feeling shy.
I’ve never had a boyfriend like this before, one who made it clear being a couple meant something to him, that this was a commitment more serious than most casual, high school connections.
Hearing Nash call me “his girl,” is inti
mate, possessive, and completely irresistible.
“And you’re my man,” I say.
His husky sound of approval sends a thrill rushing through me, giving me the courage to whisper, “Now, will you make love to me?”
He doesn’t say a word, but the next second he’s kissing me so hard and deep that, soon, his breath is my breath and I swear I can feel his heartbeat echoing in my chest.
A beat later, his hand slides beneath my shirt, making every cell in my body zing. Not long after, my shirt is off and he’s kissing me in places no boy has ever kissed me before and it is…mind-blowing.
Life changing. More pure, sweet magic.
My head spins and my fingers fist in Nash’s hair as he kisses and licks and, God, the things he does to me. The way it makes me feel. It’s more incredible, more intoxicating than I’ve ever imagined.
Soon, his hand dips beneath the waistband of my gym shorts, down until he finds the place where I want him so badly. And then his fingers begin to move, building the tension inside of me until I’m panting, moaning, my every muscle going tense as he trails hot kisses down my neck. I’m so close, so desperately close that my eyes are squeezed tight.
So tight that I don’t see the flashlights coming through the woods until it’s too late.
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About the Author
Author of over forty novels, USA Today Bestseller Lili Valente writes everything from steamy suspense to laugh-out-loud romantic comedies. A die-hard romantic and optimist at heart, she can’t resist a story where love wins big. Because love should always win.
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When she’s not writing, Lili enjoys adventuring with her two sons, climbing on rocks, swimming too far from shore, and asking “why” an incorrigible number of times per day. A former yoga teacher, actor, and dancer, she is also very bendy and good at pretending innocence when caught investigating off-limits places.
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You can currently find Lili in the mid-South, valiantly trying to resist the lure of all the places left to explore.
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Find Lili at www.lilivalente.com
