Inspire (The Muse #1)(53)
Author: Cora Carmack

She opens her mouth to me, and I swear her taste is a drug. An aphrodisiac. Nothing and no one in my entire life has ever turned me on as much as she does. Just that small taste sweeps through me, lighting up my every nerve ending, and I feel it all over. In my muscles. In my bones. Every single part of me reacts to her.

“I love you,” I tell her, too overwhelmed with it to even give a shit that I just blurted it out like an idiot. Her hands grip my shoulders tightly, and she drags her mouth away, pushing back to gape at me. “I know it’s way too fucking soon. I know we haven’t known each other that long, and there’s still so much we have to learn about each other. I get that. I keep telling myself that it’s not possible this fast, that I’m crazy for thinking it, but everything in me, every fiber of my being tells me that’s wrong. Tells me that I love you so damn much it hurts.”

“Wilder—”

“I’m not asking you to say it back. And I really hope this won’t scare you off. But I can’t pretend that every time I touch you or see you, I’m not thinking it. Every second we spend apart, my body is practically shouting it. I love you, Kalli. And that’s why you’re not going to lose me.”

A tear slips over her cheek, trailing fast over her skin. I blink, thinking maybe I’m seeing things. But then there’s a second and a third.

“Sweet, why are you crying? Damn it. Just tell me how to fix whatever this is.”

She shakes her head, and her hands leave my shoulders to flatten against my chest.

“I love you, too.”

The heater suddenly sounds like a roar in my ears, and I shake my head, trying to be certain I heard her correctly.

“You do?”

She nods, tears still streaking steadily over her face.

I exhale, almost laughing. “Then why are you crying?”

“Because … because I don’t how to love you. I’ve never done that, and I don’t know how to do it without ruining something.”

I gather her close to me, winding one arm around her middle and slipping the other up her back to palm the nape of her neck.

“There are no rules for how to love someone. We’ll both make mistakes. We’ll say or do the wrong thing. We won’t always have the answers. But you keep loving anyway.”

She doesn’t look appeased by that. I kiss the corner of her mouth, then the other side.

“It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Loving you. Stop worrying about how this is going to play out down the road. It’s this moment that matters. Love me right now. Love me tomorrow. And the next day. The future isn’t written in stone. We decide it. Choose to love me every second. We’ll choose that together. The rest will all fall into place.”

Her eyes flick back and forth around my face, and I know she wants to agree with me. So I give her another reason. Yanking her mouth closer to mine, I crush our lips together, feeding every bit of passion and longing and things too big to name into our connection. She sighs against me, chasing my tongue back in my mouth, and my body clenches at the feel.

The need to feel her skin, to touch more of her, crashes over me, and I start with her scarf. Tugging at the complicated twists and knots, I try to keep kissing her, but my fingers can’t figure out how to undo the damn fabric. Laughing against my mouth, Kalli reaches up to help, loosening and removing the thing in a matter of pulls. She tosses it into her empty seat, and I’m transfixed by the skin she’s uncovered. Her long, smooth neck gives way to the plateau of her collarbone. The shirt she’s wearing is a plain v-neck, but it dips low enough to reveal the luscious curves of her breasts. And from my vantage point above her, I can see the center of a black and white bra and a tiny bow that lies in the valley of her chest. I was already hard against her hip, but now the last of the blood still circulating in my body seems to rush south to my cock. I’m so turned on, I can barely think straight.

I drop my mouth to her neck, licking and sucking and biting the sensitive skin there. She arches her back, and I use my hands to encourage her further, leaning into her until her shoulders rest against the door. She’s cradled sideways in my lap, and God knows I’d love to have her straddling me so I could feel the heat of her rocking against me. But this position has its merits too. She’s completely opened up like this, her body laid out over me in a way that enables me to touch her anywhere. I start at her waist, slipping a hand beneath her shirt to touch the warm skin of her stomach. Her skin jumps a little at my touch, and I wonder if my hands are cold. I kiss her again in apology, and with our tongues still tangled, slide my hand up. I dance over her ribcage, tracing the delicate architecture of her bones. She wiggles in my lap, shying away from my hand as though it tickles, but then pushing back against me for more.

I drag my fingers just below the bottom of her bra, and she kisses me harder, one hand clutched at my neck, and the other braced tight against the steering wheel. She’s so fucking responsive. I’ve barely even touched her, and she’s moving against me like she’s on the edge of coming already. When her teeth catch on my bottom lip and pull, I groan and give in to the need to touch her further. I cover the cup of her bra, lifting and squeezing the flesh encased beneath. She cries out, releasing her grip on my bottom lip, but it’s not enough for me. I reach up a little farther, tugging the strap off her shoulder enough that I can fold the cup down to reveal bare skin.

I can’t see her tits beneath her shirt, but I know from memory how fucking perfect they are. Full and heavy with dark tight nipples, one of which is currently pebbled against my palm. Her skin is blisteringly hot, and I know my fingers are still cold as I pull at the peak. She whimpers against my mouth, her kiss going slack as I tighten the pressure. I drop my head lower, dragging my tongue over the cleavage I can reach above her shirt, and then use my nose to push the fabric aside so I can replace my fingers with my mouth.

She bucks in my lap, her hips lifting up and then slamming back down as I suck that tight little bud into my mouth. I drag my hand out from her shirt and cup between her thighs instead. She arches up into me at the same time that her fingers tangle and pull tightly at my hair.

“Wilder, oh yes.” She breathes hard and fast above me, and I don’t slow down my touches. Instead, I draw more of her sensitive flesh into my mouth and press harder against the juncture of her thighs. She squeezes her legs tight around my wrist, keeping me from doing much beyond rubbing the heel of my hand against her clit through the fabric of her jeans.

Nearby, a car honks, its lights flashing, and I force my head up long enough to see a group of people moving toward their car, having just unlocked it remotely. Damn. They’ll end up too close to us not to notice. I’m painfully hard, and judging by the fact that Kalli didn’t even notice the honk, I know she’s close. But there’s no time. I pull on her bra strap, jerking it back into place and dragging her shirt up too.