“Tell me,” she says in a heated whisper.
I can smell the wine on her breath and the scent of desire rolling off of her, but I still don’t trust my instincts. She’s here with Drake. Even if she’s not dating him, she was hanging on to him like she wanted to be his. Drake’s, not mine. My lips part, but I can barely think. How am I going to speak?
She moves forward, pushing against me until my back connects with the rough cedar siding of the tight alcove. She lifts my hand and presses it against the wall next to my head, then steps in closer so we’re connected again from knees to chest, and—oh, Lord—I can’t even think.
“What is it, Delilah? Why did you drag me over here?”
I. Can’t. Speak.
My body trembles with need and fear and so much rampant lust I know she can taste it.
“You need to tell me, Dee.”
I can’t force a single word from my lungs. Every silent second feels like a lifetime.
“If I’m reading you right, then I’m going to do something neither of us will regret.” She stares right through me. “But if I’m reading you wrong…it could destroy our friendship.”
“Are you…?” My mouth goes dry, and I force myself to continue. Now or never. Now, now, now!
“Are you into girls?” It leaves my lips with desperation.
“No.”
She holds my gaze as my heart splinters inside my chest.
“I’m into you,” she says before sealing her lips over mine.
Her entire body pushes against me. I press back, wanting, needing, craving every inch of her. She nudges my legs open with her knee and grinds against my thigh. Every reservation I had last night evaporates. I don’t care if I do anything right. I need to touch her. I hold her against me with my free hand, unwilling to ease the pressure, unwilling to chance her changing her mind. Her fingernails dig into mine, and the cedar siding scrapes the back of my hand. I don’t care. The mix of pain and pleasure is hotter than hell, and this. Ashley’s lips on mine, her body forming to mine, it takes me to a plane I’ve never experienced. It’s surreal and hot and delicious and sexy at once. I push through the feeling that I’m stuck in a fantasy, because if I am, I never want it to end.
She buries her hand in my hair and deepens the kiss, still holding my other hand captive beside my head. Her glorious tongue claims my mouth, possessive and hard. Then she tugs my hair and nips at my lower lip, which makes me go a little crazy. I push my fingers beneath her skirt and fill my palms with her perfect ass. It’s still not enough. I hear myself moaning, pleading for more. I need to feel her flesh, not her silky underwear. I shove my hand beneath the material and—another greedy moan escapes from my lungs into hers—her ass is soft and firm. I can’t believe she’s letting me do this, but she is, and she’s taking, taking, taking everything I’m willing to give. She grazes her teeth over my earlobe, and I feel like I’ve touched a live wire.
“I’ve wanted you from the moment I met you,” she says, fast and needful, against my ear.
“Oh God, Ash. Take me.”
She draws back and searches my eyes. “Delilah.” It’s a heated whisper. “You’re…I wasn’t sure.”
“Neither was I.”
I can’t wait another second to kiss her again. Our fingers are still clutched together beside my head. She slips her free hand beneath my blousy summer top, still holding my gaze, and touches my stomach. My skin prickles with need. I want to close my eyes and revel in her first touch of my breast, but I can’t. I want to see the heat in her eyes when she touches me. She presses her hand to my waist, and it feels sinfully good as her soft hands move up and over my rib cage, then higher still, brushing over the side of my breast. We’re both barely breathing as her thumb lightly passes over my nipple, and I melt against her.
“You’re so beautiful, Delilah. I’m never going to get enough of you.”
Months of repressed desire come out in four confident words. “Take more of me.”
Her eyes widen, then narrow as her lips curve into a cunning smile. Her hand presses flat and hard against my breast and moves in a slow circular motion, sending heat between my legs. She tugs my bra strap down my arm. She’s still holding my gaze, and I don’t know how I’m still standing. All I can think is, More, more, more. It feels dangerous in the dark alcove, with the party beating just beyond the wall behind us. And it makes me dizzy with desire. I want dangerous with Ashley. I need dangerous to break free of the walls I’ve built around myself.
She slides the strap of my shirt down next, baring my breast to the cool night air. I feel my nipple tighten, and when she lowers her mouth and laves it with her tongue, my head tips back and I close my eyes. Heaven. She grazes her teeth over the taut peak, making my hips shoot off the wall, and I ride her thigh as she rode mine. Writhing against her, getting wetter by the second, closer to coming apart. She frees my other breast, and my shirt falls, hitching around my shorts, leaving me bare from the waist up. I should be afraid, nervous, embarrassed to be so exposed with all those people nearby, but I’m not any of those things. I’m so excited I barely care that they’re there. It helps to know that no one will come around this side of the house. No one ever does, and I wouldn’t stop Ashley if my life depended on it.