“That won’t be necessary, Spence, but thank you. I’m well aware my standing in our group.”
bled my efforts and he took this as invitation to remove my skirt, undoing my side zipper slowly. “Oh, God, Sophie,” he exclaimed, making me want to vomit. “You taste incredible.”
I ignored him and the feeling and kissed him harder. My skirt fell to my ankles and I stepped from it as we made our way to his parents’ sofa. He stopped suddenly and held me at arm’s length.
“Jesus,” he hissed, sucking in a breath. His gaze raked my body and stifled a shudder. I stood in front of him, in full lingerie with garters and ankle-strapped heels. He approached me deliberately, his hands running through my hair, then down my shoulders and back before palming my ass. “You’re more beautiful than I could’ve imagined, Price.”
“Thank you,” I said, wishing I could just run.
Work through it, Sophie. You’re just a little off your game.
He kissed languidly up my neck to my chin and across my jaw line. “You smell like,” he inhaled, “cherry bark and almonds.”
“It’s my shampoo.”
“I love it,” he told me.
He laid me on the leather sofa nearest the fireplace and the morning sun was streaming in at seemingly impossible angles. It was beautiful. Too beautiful. I felt ill at all it was revealing to me. “So much light,” I whispered, not realizing I’d said it out loud.
“We can move to my bedroom,” he said. “It’s darker in there.”
“Please,” I said, needing to remove myself from exposure. I felt desperate.
He picked me up, tucking one arm under my knees and the other around my back. He brought me back to his room and laid me on his dark sheets. The room had shutters and dark curtains that kept out every inch of light.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much,” I answered.
“Now, where were we?”
He crawled over me and kissed me feverishly, his hands roaming my body. He lay on top of me and cupped his hand around my knee, bringing it around his waist.
That was when I broke. I don’t know why I did it, what I was thinking, why my usually stalwart barrier was so weak, but silent tears began to cascade down my face and Spencer pulled away.
“Sophie? Are you crying?”
“No,” I insisted, swiping at my face in the dark, hoping he couldn’t see me. How humiliating.
I’d never cried in front of anyone. Ever.
“Oh, Soph,” he soothed. “You are.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, pushing at his shoulders to flee.
“Wait,” he said, pulling me back to his embrace. “Stay with me for a second.” He laid back and tucked me into his side, smoothing my hair behind my ear. “We don’t have to do this, Soph.” I waited for it, but he didn’t retract his words. Instead, he continued. “You forget I’ve known you since we were small.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the image of a simpler time when Spencer and I used to giggle and play in the gardens at my home. “You’re thinking about our games.”
I nodded against his chest. “I’m still sorry,” I grated out again.
“You know, I’m going to confess something to you,” he said, ignoring me, taking a deep breath to steady himself. “I’ve wanted you since I was old enough to discover I could want someone.” My body tensed beside his, but he just held tighter. “Shh, stop. Listen to me.
“I can’t lie to you. You’re goddamned beautiful, Sophie, and I’m so turned on right now I can’t even think straight, but I won’t have you, not like this. I thought you wanted this.”
“I did,” I began truthfully but he shushed me.
“No need, Sophie. Just lay here with me while I try to calm the hell down.”
“Okay,” I sniffed.