New Romantics

Chapter 18

"You could've come in through the front door," I said in a tight whisper, stepping aside to let him climb through the window first. Even through his sweatshirt, I noticed the way his broad shoulders and muscled back flexed with movement, his long fingers gripping the window frame, and I swallowed the dryness in my throat. Maybe a break from steamy romances was needed...

"What's the fun in walking in the front door?" he asked, snapping me out of my wicked thoughts. Noticing my stare, Leo's gaze turned deliciously devious. "Though... you don't seem to be minding the view."

I let out a noise of protest. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

With the way he stood in front of the window, there was barely a foot of space between where I knelt against the window sill. But instead of moving out of the way, Leo tugged his sweatshirt over his head, giving me the perfect glimpse of chiseled abs and a fading summer tan. "Like what you see, Aria?"

A sultry heaviness filled my chest. "If I did?"

"For someone who reads so much smut," Leo said in a low, teasing voice. "You're quite shy, Aria Shah."

Heat sizzled through my body. "Oh?"

"Say it," he ordered in a tight whisper. A dare. A promise. At the precipice of pleasure and pain, his eyes roved over my disheveled frame with matching fervor. Say that you want me.

He didn't move. Wouldn't dare until I affirmed what he sensed. The warmth of the bedroom brushed against the front of me, while the cool nighttime breeze prickled the back of my neck, the sensations so at odds with each other they heightened my awareness tenfold. In the dim lamplight, Leo's eyes were a bottomless, storm-colored ocean, his irises engulfed by the same desire that churned in my lower belly. Electricity passed between us, and I breathed in just as he breathed out.

I dropped into the bedroom. And then, deliberately slow, my eyes not once leaving him, I bit my lip. "I want you," I whispered. It felt like a sweet release all on its own. "I want you, Leo."

I wasn't sure who made the first move, then. My mind didn't register much of anything when Leo grabbed my waist and hauled me against him. And then the world stopped when his long, nimble fingers laced into my hair, tugged my head back, and our mouths clashed hungrily. It was everything I imagined it would be: relentless, sweet, fiery, and fierce. He captured my moan with his tongue and groaned when I snaked my hands along his shoulders, touching, feeling, and memorizing every line and indent possible. Every kiss, every breath, wound us tighter. His hands fell from my hair, and he squeezed my ribs, my hips, and my ass, lifting me flush against him.

"Up," he growled. I wrapped my legs around his waist and a moan vibrated deep in my chest when I felt him—all of him—flush against me, and the friction turned my insides molten. "Fuck."

His arms flexed under my fingers as I grabbed him tighter, my shirt riding up, the pads of his fingers burning my skin, kneading, worshiping every bit of me when I yanked him closer.

"Yes," I gasped, his mouth releasing from mine to explore the sweet spots along my neck, my jaw, and my throat. I was certain that another second of this and I would burst into flames. "Bed."

Leo all but tossed me onto the mattress. The wood groaned with protest, and I paused, my heart pounding in my throat, expecting Dani to burst through the door and demand an explanation for the raucous. A stupid, stupid thought, of course. Pressing my palm to my mouth, I stifled a giggle and looked at Leo standing over me, his hair disheveled from my fingers, his mouth glistening with anticipation. That giggle died when my eyes drifted down to the waist of his low-slung sweatpants to see just how much he wanted me. I am so fucked.

But that was what I wanted, right?

Noticing my gaze, Leo chuckled deep in his throat, and the sound caressed me between my thighs. "Like what you see, Aria?"

"Yes."

"Good girl." He yanked his shirt over his head and climbed over me. Laying back on my pillows, I parted my legs and welcomed him into the apex of my thighs with another string of breathy whimpers. He ground into me as our mouths returned to their exploration, his hips pulsing into my molten core with promises of heaven. "Tell me what you want," he said, nibbling on my jaw. "I'll give you the whole goddamn world if you want it right now."

"I'll keep that in mind," I gasped. Arching my back, I fumbled with the ends of my t-shirt. He wrapped his arm around my lower back and removed the thin fabric with a swift, skilled tug. Another kiss. My body twitched with carnal desire. But with it, exhaustion pressed into my bones, and I struggled to breathe, to hold myself upright, and gently pushed on his chest.

He pulled back in an instant. "Sorry," he gasped. My insides yearned for his weight again. "I didn't mean to move too fast."

"No, no," I clarified. "I'm just out of breath, that's all." And shaking. And two seconds from losing my goddamn mind. "I—I think it's just the stress of everything has me feeling weird—"

Leaning forward, he kissed the side of my mouth. "Tell me how I can help."

Curling my fingers through his hair, I kissed him fiercely. Pulling away, he pressed another kiss to the side of my jaw and slowly worked his way down to my clavicle, moving further down when I slid my fingers through his hair with encouragement. "Just say the word...and...I'll stop..."

I didn't speak—couldn't speak—when his mouth landed on the valley of my breasts, fluttered over my stomach, the moans dripping out of me, his hands warm on my thighs as he massaged deliberate circles into my skin. When he kissed my hip, I squirmed, and he grinned. When he kissed lower, I gasped, and he growled low in his throat, lowering further and further until a thin layer of silky fabric separated us.

"Can I make you feel good tonight, Aria?" he asked, curling his fingers along the waistband of my shorts. Seconds ticked into eternity. The sight of him knelt between my thighs, his eyes hungry, his hair and shoulders outlined golden in the lamplight, felt like a dream.

My breath hitched again. "Yes."

"Yes?" he echoed.

"Please."

"Good girl." His mouth glistened. With one fluid motion, he pulled my shorts down my hips and tossed them aside. My body quaked with anticipation, my heartbeat thundered through all of me, fierce, and wanting, and it took every ounce of willpower to keep myself under control. To look cool. To not look so fucking desperate. "Relax, Aria. Let me take care of you tonight."

And he did, over and over again until euphoria sprinkled my vision with near-permanent stars, and the exhaustion finally lulled me to sleep. When I woke the next morning, he was gone, and for a moment, I wondered if it had all been a dream.

It wasn't, of course. The text message on my screen confirmed it, along with the sweatshirt on my chair, Leo's words lingering on my lips when he kissed me goodbye,

"Sweet dreams, Aria. I hope you think about me." 

♡ ♡ ♡

Things are getting pretty hot and heavy! But as they say, "What goes up, must come down..." ;)