Chapter Twelve
“Dammit!” Judah all but threw his guitar to the side as he struck the wrong chord for what must have been the twelfth time in a row.
He’d started playing to calm his nerves and keep himself busy instead of watching the door, but it wasn’t working.
There was an outrageously attractive woman on her way to his apartment for the explicit purpose of hooking up, and he didn’t know whether to be anxious or appalled at himself or unbearably horny, but he was easily straddling all three.
On top of everything else, Judah never had anyone over but Lev.
He liked his space, his cleanliness, his order to things.
For all that he’d been trying to find a wife, he couldn’t actually imagine sharing a home with somebody, and certainly not sharing a bed.
And yet he hadn’t hesitated to invite Arielle when the opportunity arose, even though she had the distinct air of a bull in a china shop.
What the hell is happening to me?
He popped another breath mint and checked his texts, just in case she’d changed her mind and didn’t want to see him again after all.
He’d been waiting for that all day, because this made no sense and was utterly ridiculous.
Why was she even bothering with a guy who had absolutely no sexual experience?
But no, the last text between them was his address and her thumbs-up, which meant—
A knock at the door obliterated the rest of his thoughts, and he sailed forward to answer it a split second before realizing how overeager it made him look.
She must have realized it too, because the little smile playing on her gorgeous lips widened into something wicked when he swung it open.
“Welcome,” he said, stepping aside to let her in and wincing at how dry his mouth had gone.
Her eyes widened as she took in his apartment, and he was dying to know what she was thinking. Too boring? Too stuffy? Too—
“God, it’s like an actual adult lives here.
I don’t think I know another single guy with a sponge organizer by his sink.
” She slipped off her coat and tossed it over one of the chairs at his small dining table.
“Did you … make dinner?” She looked incredulously down at the table. “This is extremely date-y, Judah.”
He smiled sheepishly. “I’m not trying to turn this into a date; I just … I saw the steaks and thought it’d be nice.”
“You thought it’d be nice, or you hated feeling like this was a booty call?” she asked with an arched brow.
It was incredibly annoying how well she read him. “Can’t it be both?”
She pressed her lips into a thin line and didn’t say anything.
“Okay.” He huffed out a breath and walked past the dining table, dropping onto the small sofa. “I’ve clearly screwed up in some way, but as you well know, I don’t have a lot of experience with this stuff, so can you please tell me why this was so terrible?”
“It’s not terrible,” she said, unconvincingly.
“It’s just…” She took a seat next to him, keeping a few inches’ distance between them.
“I’m good with what we’re doing, Judah. More than good.
I am a person who likes to fool around, and for some inexplicable reason, I really like doing it with you.
I don’t need to pretend it’s something it isn’t in order to feel okay about it.
But I think … I think you might. And you need to know I’m not here to be your rebellious phase or the great regret of your youth or whatever. ”
“You’re not,” he said so firmly it startled them both. “I mean, I know that socially I can be a human disaster, but I promise you, I am not self-flagellating. I know we’re just having fun, and I am very, very good with fun.”
“Good,” she said with a waggle of her eyebrow that sent his pulse racing. “Did you have any particular fun in mind?”
He did, in fact—hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since leaving her apartment the night before.
His gaze traveled over the soft thighs bared by her dress.
“Actually, I, uh…” He coughed, his throat desert-dry.
“I can’t stop thinking about making you come.
” It came out in a rasp, and he coughed again, moistening his lips with his tongue. “Can I?”
That wicked smile returned to that infuriatingly compelling mouth. “I don’t know, Judah. Can you?”
“Arielle.”
“I wasn’t faking it yesterday, you know.”
“No, I know. I mean, I didn’t think—” Heat rose into his cheeks, and he braced his hands on his thighs. “I haven’t made you come. You’ve made yourself—I mean, using me, but still—”
“Ahh.” She draped her legs over his and tugged on his collar. “You want to touch me.”
A sandstorm kicked up in his throat as he nodded, dragging his fingers lightly along her calf. How could skin be that soft and smooth? “Or taste. Ideally, both.”
Her eyebrows rose into the sky. “You sure about that?”
“What if I say please?”
“I’m not sure I’ve ever heard you say please,” she said with a gasp as he slid a hand between her thighs and dragged a thumb over the edge of her panties.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted anything this much.” He meant it. Oh, how he meant it. She was already arching toward him as if seeking his fingers, and it took every ounce of restraint not to rip the tiny piece of fabric off then and there.
“But I’m assuming you’ve never—”
“No. But if you’re up for teaching, I’ve been told I’m a fast learner.”
She swallowed hard, and he knew then she was going to say yes. “I’m going to absolutely destroy your couch.”
That did give him a moment of pause; it was a nice couch. “Let’s go destroy my sheets then.”
For the first time since this whole thing with Judah began, Ari was nervous.
She hadn’t thought it obvious, but she realized some of the heat in his eyes had cooled, his face growing serious as they moved to the bed.
“Ari, I didn’t mean to pressure you. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. ”
“It’s not that,” she said quickly as she sat on the pristine gray sheets. “It’s just … we’re sailing through all your firsts here, Judah, aren’t we? Unless that whole thing in the car was a weird pickup line.”
A brief smile curved his lips. “‘That whole thing in the car’ was the most honest I’ve been with someone in a very long time, Arielle.
Maybe ever. You make me want things I thought I might never want.
And I’m really glad to want them.” He stood in front of her and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.
“So please, tell me how to make you feel good.”
Her entire body buzzed with need at his request, that “please” caressing her skin like a blanket of down feathers.
She knew deep down he wasn’t any different from any of the other guys she’d fooled around with.
He was a good time who’d ultimately settle down with the kind of girl he’d be proud to introduce to his parents: a girl who didn’t earn a living writing about sexually voracious supernatural beings and who’d never walked down a hallway to snickers of “Bend her like Becker.” But the force with which he physically wanted her was a major turn-on, and she couldn’t turn him down if she’d wanted to.
And she definitely did not want to.
“Here’s the thing,” she said, unbuttoning his shirt with painstaking slowness before shoving it to the floor.
“I’m down for more fun, and your learning curve, and given that I know we have the same boundaries, consider my body yours for the taking tonight.
” His cock twitched noticeably at that, and the hand in her curls tightened, tugging at her scalp.
It was like a dual assault on her restraint, and she lifted her legs around his, pulling him close.
“But?” he asked, his voice husky as he looked down at her.
“But I don’t actually have that much experience with guys going down on me.
A lot of guys just … don’t want to, and while I usually have an ‘I don’t go down if you don’t’ rule…
” She put her hand up as if to shut herself up.
“I don’t want you to hate it. And I don’t want you to feel bad if it’s just not my thing because, in the past, it hasn’t really …
I mean, I haven’t—well.” God, she sounded like a bumbling idiot.
But it was so hot how badly he wanted her and how much he’d loved everything they’d done until now, and she didn’t want to break their streak. “Now I’ve ruined the mood anyway, so—”
“Ari.” He moved a hand to the base of her throat, sliding his thumb over the hollow of it. “I said please.”
“You did,” she rasped.
“I’m gonna say it again. Please take off your dress.”
She complied, and the sharp intake of his breath as she whooshed the black fabric over her head and tossed it onto the floor soothed her like a warm bath.
“Now the bra.”
She unhooked it and slid it down her arms, then tossed it after her dress. Her nipples were already at attention in anticipation, and judging by the way his tongue darted out to wet his lips, he’d noticed.
“Please lie back on the pillows.”
She did, slowly scrabbling backward, watching him watch her as he removed his own pants, leaving him in just a pair of black boxer briefs that looked absolutely delicious on him, shamelessly tented as they were.
“Please open your legs for me.”
She did, well aware he could see the moisture on her thighs and the damp red lace of her carefully selected underwear from where he stood. His eyes darkened as he drank her in, and she teased a nipple with one index finger, loving the way he swallowed deeply at the sight.
He did not look like a man who was going to hate eating her pussy.
He looked like a man who was going to positively devour her.
A shiver traveled down her spine as he climbed in between her legs. “Please,” he said, hooking his fingers into the waistband of her panties, “can I get rid of these?”