Find Me (The Found Duet #2)(37)
Author: Laurelin Paige

In the hallway, he offered me his hand. I took it, then, there it was—the shock of his touch as his fingers weaved with mine. I let out an involuntary sigh, and with it bricks of tension fell from my body. Release. It shuddered through me as electricity sparked up my limb from where we were connected and spread throughout my body, and I wondered if this was what it felt like to melt. What it felt like to be frozen for so long and then, finally, to have the sun brush against cold ice, transforming it into something more fluid, something entirely different.

I glanced down to where we were joined, so overcome by how right it felt to be touching him in this simple way. When I looked back at him, I found his eyes pinned on me. His expression said he’d felt it too.

“You messed up, you know,” he said, as we started toward the elevator. “You were supposed to wear something that I didn’t want to rip off of you.”

My cheeks heated—actually, I wasn’t sure they’d ever cooled from the first blush he’d caused. “You said it would be impossible for me to wear anything that wouldn’t elicit that response. The only other choice was to go naked.”

“That would have been an excellent choice.”

“But not very practical.”

“I’ve never been a fan of practical.” He pushed the call button and the elevator doors opened immediately, the car likely still there from when he’d arrived.

We stepped inside, our hands still molded together. The doors closed, and I so badly wanted to turn and kiss him.

Instead I delivered the short speech I’d practiced since I’d woken up that afternoon. “I think I should tell you, I don’t have sex on first dates.”

“Wow. That’s…surprising. Considering we had sex before we’d ever even been on a date.” He squeezed my hand. “But, after you left me with blue balls this morning, I already figured out you’d turned into a prude.”

I laughed. “I’m not a prude. I’m cautious. And that’s nothing new. That’s always been me.”

“Yes, it has.” The short phrase was full of subtext, and I knew he was remembering how uptight I’d been when we’d first met. Icy. Frigid bitch.

“I’m better than I was,” I assured him.

He nodded. “I know. Otherwise you wouldn’t have given me even this much of you. And if you want to wait, then I can too.”

What I wanted was to push him against the wall and devour him.

But that was an in-the-moment want, and long-term, I wanted a relationship that was real and lasting. “Thank you. It means a lot.”

He leaned in close and, though we were alone, whispered in my ear. “I’m not going to say that I’m not dying to have you under me, Gwen. Because I am. But I’m dying to just be with you more.”

Despite the descent of the elevator, his words sent me floating. “You’re really good at that impressing thing.”

He gave me my favorite grin. “Who knew?”

I knew. I wondered if he knew that he didn’t even have to try.

Outside, JC had a car waiting for us. “A rental,” he said as we approached the curb. “In case you were wondering. I do have some cars of my own, but they’re in storage in L.A.”

I cocked a brow. “Cars? As in multiple?”

“What can I say? I like things that go fast.”

JC was impulsive and carefree. Of course he’d like cars. It was such a simple thing to know about someone. The kind of thing a girlfriend or lover should be up to speed with. The fact that I was just learning it pulled sharply at my sense of reason.

You don’t know him. He’s virtually a stranger.

I knocked the voice in my head out cold. This is why I was doing this—going on a date. Refraining from sex. Because I wanted to not be strangers, and when we weren’t anymore, that’s when we’d know what was real.

JC stopped at the door, one hand on the handle. With the other, he tugged me into him, my body touching his in so many places I thought I might die of overheating.

“Hey,” he said and waited until I lifted my eyes to his. “Are you done overthinking this?”

“Yes, actually. I am.” In fact, as long as I stood that close to him, it was impossible to do any thinking at all.

“Awesome.” He opened the door and stepped back to let me in. “Then ladies first.”

I slid across the backseat of the sedan, noting the cooler in the front passenger seat as I did. “What’s that?” I asked after he’d told the driver we were ready to go.

“It’s dinner.”

“Wow. You’ve gone all out.” JC took my hand again, and my belly clenched low, and I felt swoony from the simplicity of being with him. Innocently swoony, like a kid at a toy store. And simultaneously not so innocently. Like a teenager at senior prom. Two different desires battling, and I was walking a tightrope between them. It was equally thrilling and terrifying and I loved every minute of it.