10. Caius #2
My hands find her hips, pulling her flush against me so she can feel exactly what she does to me. She gasps into my mouth and rolls her hips forward, seeking friction. The movement sends heat shooting down my spine.
"Here?" I manage, my voice barely recognizable. "Right here?"
"Yes." She's already reaching for the hem of my shirt, yanking it up and over my head. Her hands spread across my chest, tracing the lines of muscle, the old scar above my ribs from a bar fight when I was twenty. "Right here. Right now."
I should suggest we go somewhere more comfortable. Her place. Mine. Literally anywhere with a bed. But the way she's looking at me, pupils blown wide with want, kills that thought before it fully forms.
I spin us around, pressing her back against the sturdy wooden shelf. Books shift and resettle above us, the sound obscenely loud in the hushed library.
"Tell me to stop." I kiss down the side of her neck, tasting skin and vanilla and something uniquely Hallie. "Tell me this is crazy."
"It's crazy." Her head falls back, giving me better access. "Don't stop."
My hands find the hem of her shirt, sliding underneath to trace the soft skin of her stomach. She shivers, her breath hitching when my thumbs brush the underside of her breasts.
"I've thought about this," I admit against her throat. "So many times."
"Yeah?"
"Since that summer you came home from college wearing those tiny shorts." I nip at her pulse point. "Since you asked me to teach you how to change a tire and bent over the hood of your car. Since forever."
She laughs, the sound breathless and beautiful. "I wore those shorts on purpose."
I pull back to look at her. "What?"
Pink floods her cheeks, but she holds my gaze. "I had the biggest crush on you. I was trying to get your attention."
"It worked." I kiss her again, slower this time. Savoring. "I noticed. I just thought you were off limits."
"I thought you only saw me as Ryan's little sister."
"Never." I slide my hands up her sides, taking her cardigan with them.
She lifts her arms and I pull it off, dropping it onto the floor.
Underneath she's wearing a simple white tank top, no bra, and the sight of her nipples pressing against the thin fabric makes my mouth go dry. "I've always seen you, Hallie."
Her hands find my belt, trembling slightly as her fingers fumble with the buckle. There's a determination in her touch that makes my chest tight, a boldness that's so unlike the careful, people-pleasing Hallie everyone else sees. "Prove it," she whispers, her voice rough with want.
I catch her wrists gently, bringing them up between us. My thumbs stroke over her racing pulse points, feeling the flutter of her heartbeat against my skin. "Not yet," I tell her, even though it costs me. Even though every instinct I have is screaming at me to give in, to take what she's offering.
Her eyes flash with frustration, lips parting on a protest. "Caius?—"
"Let me." I sink to my knees in front of her, watching the way her eyes go dark. "Let me show you."
I hook my fingers in the waistband of her yoga pants and pull them down slowly, taking her underwear with them. She steps out of them on shaking legs, and then she's bare from the waist down, standing in the biography section of the town library at eight fifty-five on a Friday night.
The thought should make me hesitate. Should make me reconsider. Instead, it makes me harder.
I press a kiss to the inside of her knee, then higher, following the path up her thigh. She's trembling, her hands braced on my shoulders for balance.
"You're beautiful," I tell her, meaning it. "Every inch."
"Caius, please?—"
I give her what she needs, tasting her in one long stroke that makes her cry out. Her fingers dig into my shoulders as I work her with my tongue, learning what makes her gasp, what makes her hips buck forward seeking more.
"Oh god." Her voice breaks. "That feels—you?—"
I press her harder against the shelf, holding her steady as I devour her. She tastes like heaven, like coming home, and I can't get enough. When I slide one finger inside her, then two, she keens high and desperate.
"Look at me," I command, pulling back just enough to meet her eyes. "I want to see you."
She does, her face flushed and gorgeous and completely undone. I curl my fingers inside her, finding that spot that makes her whole body jolt, and watch her fall apart. She comes with my name on her lips, shaking and beautiful and mine.
I rise to my feet, catching her mouth in a deep kiss while she's still trembling with aftershocks. She kisses me back hungrily, tasting herself on my mouth.
"Your turn." She reaches for my belt again, and this time I don't stop her.
She gets it open, popping the button on my jeans and dragging down the zipper. Her hand slides inside, wrapping around me through my boxers, and I see stars.
"Hal—"
"I need you inside me." She squeezes gently. "Right now."
I fish my wallet out of my back pocket with shaking hands, pulling out the condom I've been carrying around like a hopeful idiot for the past week. She takes it from me, ripping it open with her teeth in a way that's so unexpectedly hot I nearly finish on the spot.
She rolls it on with careful hands, and then there's no more waiting. I lift her up, her legs wrapping around my waist, and press her back against the books. The angle is perfect, and when I push inside her we both moan at the feeling.
"Move," she demands. "Please move."
I do, pulling out and thrusting back in slow and deep. She feels incredible. Perfect. Like she was made for this, for me, for us.
"Harder." Her nails dig into my shoulders. "I won't break."
I give her what she wants, setting a rhythm that has books tumbling off shelves around us. Her head falls back and I kiss the exposed line of her throat, tasting salt and skin and the truth I can't hold back anymore.
"I love you." The words fall out between thrusts. "God, Hallie, I love you."
She goes still in my arms. For one terrible second I think I've ruined everything.
Then she pulls my face up to hers, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "Say it again."
"I love you." I kiss her between words. "I've loved you since I was sixteen years old and didn't know what to call it. I love you."
"I love you too." She's crying now, tears sliding down her cheeks even as she smiles. "I love you so much it terrifies me."
Something breaks open. I kiss her deeply, pouring everything I feel into the connection between us. She clenches around me and I can feel her getting close again, her whole body tensing.
"Come for me," I whisper against her lips. "Let go."
She does, her orgasm triggering mine, and we fall apart together in the library surrounded by other people's stories while we write our own.