True (True Believers #1)(17)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Is it true?” Tyler asked, with a wicked smile that did warm things to parts of my body I had been attempting to pretend didn’t exist. “Are you all mine now for the rest of the night?”

“In what way?” Because I needed specifics.

“In every way.”

The words were direct enough to scare me. For a week his attention to me had been escalating, and was unexplained. Friendship? Or future bed buddy? There had been teasing innuendos, but never forthright, never totally obvious. Any of them could have been explained as a joke. Now here it was, his moving from friendly study buddy to flirt with a purpose.

When he moved closer to me, head descending toward mine, hand slipping around my waist, I panicked. “What are you doing?”

“I’m planning on kissing you. If that’s okay.”

“I haven’t decided,” I answered truthfully, backing up a little and sinking into puffy coats as I retreated to gather my thoughts.

His amusement came out in a soft exhalation and he smiled. “Rory, you seriously kill me. I don’t know a single other girl who would have answered like that.”

Tell me about it. “I’m sorry. But it’s the truth.”

“I don’t want you to be sorry. I like that about you.” His hand slipped inside his jacket, to touch the small of my back, gently urging me to move forward toward him. “But you know what I do want?”

“What?” Though I could take an educated guess.

“I want you to kiss me.”

“And that’s it? Because I can’t promise anything else.” I wanted to be clear on that point. I wasn’t sure how far I was willing to go, and in a world where sex partners were passed out and around like a mutual pack of cigarettes, I didn’t want to find myself in a situation I wasn’t cool with.

“That’s it. For now, anyway. But don’t worry. Only what you want, I promise.”

Though his eyes seemed to indicate that I would want a whole lot by the time he was done with me.

“What about Jessica?” I asked, because it also seemed important to hear his feelings on my roommate. The soft down of the coats was surrounding my shoulders, and I could feel a hook poking me in the back of the head, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. It felt safe.

Though it didn’t feel as safe when Tyler evaporated the space between us by raising his other hand and burying it in my thick curls, his hips pressing against mine. He looked serious, his voice quiet, but firm. “Jessica and I were in agreement to use each other and now we’re in agreement to stop using each other. You heard her. She doesn’t care. We’re friends. Nothing more, nothing less.”

I was out of rational reasons why I couldn’t do the one thing I wanted to do more than anything else. There was nothing left to discuss or negotiate, and I was well aware I was most likely the first girl who had done either. But this was it—I was in or out and the choice was mine to make.

So I nodded. “You can kiss me.”

Chapter Six

Something passed over his face, maybe a flash of relief, but that could have been my imagination.

“Thank you,” he murmured, a satisfied smile in place, before his mouth descended onto mine.

Then I couldn’t see or think. I could only feel the press of his body against me, his breath a hot rush past my ear as his lips brushed over mine. It wasn’t what I was expecting. It wasn’t a determined or aggressive or erotic kiss. It was delicate, worshipful, teasing.

But that only made it all that much sexier. I found myself curling my fingers into the front of his Metallica shirt, needing to steady myself. The guys I’d kissed in the past, which admittedly was not exactly an extensive list, had been amateurs. Tyler was a pro. The pressure of his hand in my hair, stroking carefully, felt intimate but not demanding. His thumb moved across my waist, back and forth, back and forth, raising goose bumps on my arms under his jacket, as every inch of my body became aware of him and his mouth taking mine.

The little kisses he started with became deeper, longer, until I was heating up from the inside out, my lips swollen, my breath frantic little bursts between moments of intense contact. He pressed me harder into the coats and I clung to him, shocked to realize that his thigh was between my legs and I was wrapped around it like he was a seesaw.

Suddenly I heard laughter and a pointed cough. I remembered where we were.

Turning my head, I broke away, panting. He was breathing hard, too, his eyes dark and glassy with desire. “Let’s get out of here. We can go to Nathan’s apartment.”

I hesitated. A week ago I had been painfully getting loaded on that dingy sofa with Grant while Tyler was in Bill’s bedroom with Jessica. I couldn’t go there. I couldn’t do that. Not yet. Because if I went to Nathan’s, then sex, while not expected, was at least an option. Shaking my head, I said, “I’m not ready to have sex with you, Tyler.” I felt like an idiot for saying it out loud, but it was the truth and I couldn’t pretend otherwise. My emotions were too jumbled, my body too tense, with both anxiety and lust, to go where I knew he wanted to take it.

“That’s not what I meant. I already promised you we’ll only do what you want. I just want to be alone so we can talk.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “And I’m not opposed to making out. We’ll go old school.”

How could I say no to making out?

I nodded.

If he had been feeding me a line, promising me that we’d be together or have a relationship or anything else that smacked of bullshit designed to get a free pass into my panties, I would have said no. But he’d been pretty straightforward with me, and he wasn’t offering anything more than exactly what he had said—making out and talking. I could live with that. It might never be offered again, and I was going to damn well take it.

“Excellent.” He leaned forward and kissed my neck. “Mmm, you smell good. Now let’s get the f**k out of here.”

A girl dressed like a sexy Ernie gave me a knowing smirk as Tyler pulled me by the hand down the hall. I refused to be embarrassed considering she was dressed in an outfit no self-respecting stripper would even wear, her ass spilling out of denim shorts, an orange-and-blue striped bra barely covering her br**sts, and a fuzzy orange Ernie face strapped to her head.

We found Nathan standing under the keg, mouth open as the arch of beer shot up from the toilet and straight down into his mouth. “We’re going to your place, man.”