Matt studied her, thumbing the handle on his coffee cup. “Does it have to get weird? I mean, call me naïve, but why does it have to change anything if we sleep together?”
Dara kept her gaze down.
“We both know what this is,” he said. “We’re friends. The sex would be just sex.”
She exhaled. “I know. And it only needs to be as weird as we make it. I’m just afraid we’ll make it weird.”
“Why would we?”
“Because sex does weird things to people. I mean, I’ve had casual sex before, and it was fine, but something…something changes, you know?”
“Can’t say I do know, to be honest.”
Her eyes flicked up to meet his for a second. “Fair point. And I don’t know. Maybe I’m overthinking it.”
“We probably both are. But to be completely blunt and honest, I really want to. And I don’t just mean that like hey, I have an opportunity to get laid. I want to with you.”
Dara swallowed but didn’t speak.
“Look, I really liked how it felt when you kissed me last night. And I’m curious how it would feel to go further.” He paused, his cheeks heating up. “And the more I think about it, the less I can imagine anyone I’d trust more for this.”
Dara was quiet for a while, and then set her coffee cup on the end table and finally met his gaze. “Will you promise me one thing?”
Matt nodded.
“If things change.” She chewed her lip. “If they get weird, or if you have any second thoughts, that—”
“I’ll tell you?”
“Yeah.”
“Will you do the same?”
“Absolutely.” She held up her hand, pinky finger out. “Promise.”
Chuckling, Matt hooked his pinky around hers. “Promise.”
She didn’t let go of his hand, and he didn’t let go of her gaze. His heart sped up. Sitting beside Dara and thinking about sex—about sex with her—was still strange, but it was getting easier by the second. He did trust her. And the more he thought about it, especially as they slowly went from pinky-promise to lacing all their fingers together, the more he realized he wanted her.
She glanced down at their hands. “Would you think less of me if I said I’m not really sure where to start either?”
“Not at all.” He moistened his lips. “We could, uh, pick up where we left off last night.”
“Hmm. I don’t know.” She smirked. “Your sister’s barn is a bit of a drive from here.”
Laughing, Matt rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes. I do.” She slid a little closer. “And you’re probably right. That was, um, a pretty good start.”
“I agree.”
They locked eyes, and his heart was going crazy, even more than it had when he’d been a teenager working up the nerve for his first kiss.
He took a breath. “Would you think less of me if I said I’m nervous as hell?”
Dara smiled, and she touched his face. “I’d be worried if you weren’t, to be honest.”
“I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”
She laughed, sliding her hand into his hair and drawing him closer. “For the record, we can take it slow. We don’t have to just jump into bed and go for broke.”
“Play it by ear?”
“Absolutely.”
“Works for me.” He inched toward her, thankful they weren’t standing right then. His knees would’ve been useless.
With their lips nearly touching, they stopped, hovering in that zone between this is going to happen and there’s still time to call it off. Matt’s nerves threatened to get the best of him, and he was sure Dara was going to come to her senses. But he didn’t pull away. She didn’t pull away.
To hell with it. He hadn’t gotten anywhere in his life by waiting for someone else to move.
He cupped the side of her neck and pressed his lips to hers.
And just like that, the nervous spell was broken. Oh, he was still nervous, still uncertain as hell about everything they were doing and everything they were going to do, but his body got the message. They held each other close, and she took the lead, parting his lips with the tip of her tongue and deepening the kiss. She ran her fingers through his hair, so he did the same to her, and was rewarded with a soft moan. Feeling a little braver, but still uncertain, he slid a hand over her thigh.
She grasped his wrist, and for a second, he panicked, thinking he’d overstepped some bounds, but she drew his hand higher, up onto her hip. He’d always thought the curve of a woman’s hip was sexy, but actually feeling it in his hand was beyond hot. Now he wanted to know how every curve and angle of her body felt. What her skin felt like. Tasted like. What it felt like to be inside her.