Kiss Me Like This (The Morrisons #1)(36)
Author: Bella Andre

He pulled her against him, breathed her in as he held her tightly. He’d taken care of his sisters, had his brothers’ backs, watched over his mother and father, but that was his family. When it came to girls, to romance—to love—he’d never wanted to be a knight on a white steed for anyone, had always thought those fairytale stories were ridiculous. But now, he understood each and every one of them.

Because if he could vanquish Serena’s demons, he would.

Stunned by the force of his own feelings for her—and by the fact that love was the only way he could describe them—he gently set her away from him. “Why don’t you lie down for a few minutes?”

“Are you going to join me?”

God, he was tempted, especially given the half-innocent, half-budding-seductress way she’d asked. But he knew better, knew that the very last thing in the world he should do was kiss her, strip off her clothes, and make her his while she was drunk.

No, he wanted her to be one hundred percent with him when that happened.

“I should have made sure you ate before we went up to the Dish, but since I didn’t, I’m going to go down and make you a plate of food to soak up some of that tequila you guzzled on the hill.”

She moved as if to sit up. “I’ll go with you.”

He could only imagine the way word would spread if she wobbled into the kitchen downstairs. Like a freaking wildfire.

Plus, he needed a few minutes to try to get his head on straight. Or, more accurately, to figure out if he’d fallen in love with Serena. Because, at this point, even the idea of falling in love felt like being hit by an earthquake from out of the blue. Exciting to the part of him that wanted to believe there would be no collateral damage. Terrifying to the rational part that knew there probably would be.

And the thing was, if he really had gone and fallen in love with her, then he needed to figure out just what they were going to do about it. Starting with whether she loved him, too.

“I think you should stay up here.”

“Kiss me first,” she requested as she rolled over to put her arms around his neck, “and then maybe I’ll stay.”

He loved when she kissed him. With every kiss it felt like another meaningless hook-up from his past disappeared. One day, he wondered, would there only be her?

He could easily have kept kissing her all night long, but made himself draw back, stroking her silky hair with one hand as he pulled away. Her eyes had closed and there was a smile on her lips as he told her, “I’ll be right back.”

She nodded into his pillow, wrapping her arms around it. “I’ll wait here.” Her words were soft and slightly slurred.

Closing the door behind him with a soft click, he ran into Zane in the hall. “Hey, didn’t think we’d see you tonight. Ready to party with us again?”

Sean hadn’t been to one of his frat’s parties since the night he’d met Serena. In truth, he hadn’t enjoyed them for a long time, but he’d been so desperate to escape what was in his own head and heart that he’d kept going along with the same ritual as everyone else. But drinking, partying, picking up random girls, even working out until his muscles burned, hadn’t helped him feel better.

Only being with Serena had been able to do that.

“Nope, just heading down to grab something to eat.”

Zane looked at him like he was nuts. “What’s up with you, man? You’ve been living like a monk for weeks. Ever since those pictures with you and the supermodel—” At Sean’s hard look, he remembered not to call her that. “I mean, the pictures with you and Serena came out in that magazine.”

Damned glad that no one knew she was upstairs right now, Sean walked into the kitchen, grabbed a plate, and opened the fridge. “You should have told me you were missing me this much. I would have brought you some roses, taken you out for a nice dinner somewhere.”

“Asshole,” Zane muttered good-naturedly, but Sean was glad to see that he was already past his questions about Serena and was uncapping a bottle of beer.

It turned out, though, that Zane wasn’t the only one who wanted to shoot the shit tonight, and in the end, Sean figured it was better to stick around for a little longer rather than make them wonder why he was in such a rush to get back up to his room. A dozen off-color jokes later, he finally picked up the plate of food and a bottle of water and took it upstairs. Stepping inside his room, he locked the door behind him so that they wouldn’t risk one of his frat brothers barging in on them, and put the plate down on his desk.

“I brought some of every—”

His words fell away as he realized Serena was fast asleep. His heart turned over in his chest at just how soft and sweet and vulnerable she looked cuddling his pillow against her chest. Her long eyelashes dusted the tops of her cheekbones. Her full lips were slightly parted. And her hair was spread all across his pillows like someone had posed her for a sexy magazine shoot.

But no one had orchestrated the picture she presented for him. She just really was that beautiful. So beautiful that he could still hardly believe she’d chosen him to date, to kiss…and to trust.

Clearly, she wasn’t going to be eating anything tonight, but at the very least he could make her more comfortable while she slept. She barely stirred when he unlaced her shoes and pulled them off. Though he knew most girls didn’t like to sleep in their bras, and that no one liked to wear jeans to bed, he didn’t let himself take either excuse to strip off anything more.

But he did need to get her beneath the covers, which meant the pleasure of lifting her into his arms so that he could pull back his covers and slide her onto the sheets.

“Sean?”

“Shhh.” He breathed the word against her cheek as he slowly let go of her so that he could pull his dark-blue comforter over her. “I’m here if you need me.”

Her eyes opened and they were such a clear, striking blue that he knew no photo, regardless of how talented the photographer or how good the equipment, would ever do her justice.

“I do need you,” she whispered. “So bad that it hurts sometimes.”

And when she held out her arms for him, how could he do anything but give her what she needed? By the time he’d gathered her into his arms, her head nestled into the crook of his arm, she was fast asleep again.

He doubted he’d be able to get much sleep of his own tonight, but he wasn’t complaining. Not when holding the girl he loved, and feeling her heart beat against his, was the best thing he’d ever felt in his life. So good that even the thought of collateral damage no longer mattered.