“Good night, rock star.” I laughed at his mocked groan. I wasn’t sleepy yet, so I listened to his breathing. Though he’d told me he was tired, it took forever before his breath became slow and even.
Light from the streetlights leaked into his room and rested gently on his face. I could see his old scar partially hidden behind his bangs, and bit back the temptation to trace my finger over it, somehow removing all his pain. A pain that had started way back, when his family first developed cracks in its once smooth surface.
Eventually my eyes drifted shut.
When I woke again, the room was still dark, other than the dim light from the streetlights. It didn’t take much to discover what had woken me up: Nolan was moving restlessly on the bed.
He let out a soft whimper, and my heart broke for him once again. At some point he had kicked the bedding off him, leaving his abs exposed. In the soft light, I could just make out the thick scar cutting across his skin.
“Nolan,” I whispered. “You’re having a nightmare.”
He didn’t respond. He kept tossing and turning, the covers becoming tangled with his legs. He mumbled what sounded like his sister’s name, then whimpered again.
I rested my hand on his chest. His heart pounded hard against my palm. “Hey, Nolan, it’s okay. You’re just having a bad dream.” I moved my hand to his far shoulder and gently shook him.
His eyes opened and for a moment he stared at me like he wasn’t sure if I was real or not.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, still partially leaning over him.
“No,” he whispered. He no longer looked scared, like he had been during the nightmare. His eyes, dark from the dim room, focused on my eyes, then drifted to my lips.
My heart fluttered against my ribs, nudging me to follow through on what the rest of my body wanted me to do. Mistake or not, I leaned down, my chest pressing against Nolan’s. Only difference was, I wasn’t half naked like Nolan. I had my tank top on but my girls were braless.
As the warmth seeped from his body through the thin fabric of my top, my nipples tingled with want and egged me on, like perky cheerleaders. I lightly pressed my lips against his. Nolan didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He just watched me through hooded eyes. I gently nipped his lower lip between my teeth. He sucked in a soft breath.
I pulled away but didn’t get far. His hand threaded through my hair and brought my mouth back to his. This time my kiss wasn’t tentative. This time I completely lost myself in it. Tasting Nolan was pure heaven. His tongue stroking mine was pure heaven. I moaned and deepened the kiss.
His hand slipped away from my hair and skimmed down my back. It continued to drift to the side of my breast. He paused there, and I almost whimpered in frustration. I didn’t know what we were to each other these days, and I didn’t want to think about it right now. Even if it was just for one night, I wanted to make love to him. To let him know how I felt about him. To temporarily forget everything else.
While still kissing him, I shifted so his hand covered my breast. Hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. My new motto—one I needed printed on my tank top. In reply, he brushed his thumb against my nipple. Desire cannonballed its way from my breast to between my legs. My body jerked slightly and I moaned again.
“Oh, God, Nolan,” I murmured in his ear. “I want you so badly. I want you inside me so badly.” I traced the tip of my tongue against the shell of his ear. Please want me like I want you.
Nolan paused, teasing my nipple. Fear shot through me that maybe I’d misread the situation and he didn’t want me the same way I wanted him.
“Are you sure, Forget-Me-Not? If we do this, everything will change between us. Is that what you want?”
I bit my lip to keep from saying that things had already changed between us. They’d changed years ago. I knew what he meant, though. If we had sex, there’d be no going back to what we used to be, especially because there never could be a him and me. Our lives made that impossible. While we wouldn’t exactly be a one-night stand, it would be close enough. Once he left for L.A., there would be no more us.
But I was willing to take the chance, no matter how much it hurt later on. And it would hurt. A lot.
“Yes,” I said. “It’s what I want…if it’s what you want.”
His hand on my breast moved to my face and his thumb caressed my cheek. The intensity in his eyes almost did me in, and I inhaled sharply. The sound was soft and slightly shaky.
“It’s what I want too,” he said. “More than you can ever realize.”
I pulled away and yanked my tank top off over my head. In the dim light, I could just make out the slow rise and fall of his Adam’s apple.