Page 68 of What I Like About You

“Not as long as you’re wearing those pants,” she snarked.

Whipping off his belt, he made a show of dropping it to the ground. That earned him a small giggle, which let him know he needed to work harder. Grabbing at the front plackets of his open dress shirt, he shimmied like he was Britney Spears, shaking it off his shoulders. “You want your own personal striptease?” he asked with a wink.

“No, I want you to get your ass into bed and snuggle with me. I was promised snuggles, and you have yet to deliver.”

That was all he needed to hear to make quick work of ridding himself of the remainder of his suit, until he was in nothing but his boxer briefs. Grabbing the Twizzlers at the last minute, he climbed onto the bed and crawled on all fours up to the head of the bed, slipping underneath the duvet.

“Shit, the lights!” he said, quickly hopping back out of bed and rushing to turn them all off. Once that was taken care of, he slid back under the covers and right up next to the gorgeous brunette who was waiting for him.

“Hi, beautiful,” he said, placing a kiss on her temple.

“I like when you call me that,” she said, wiggling in closer to him. The warmth of her body felt so good up against his. Everything about her was soft and luxurious, right down to her skin. He ran his fingers up and down her arm, causing her to shiver slightly from the touch.

Dalton hit play on the remote control, only after handing her the bag of licorice. They munched and snacked on the goodies, watching as the myriad of colors and costumes played out in front of their eyes. Dalton kept checking to see if Zara had fallen asleep, but every time he did, she’d either stick her tongue out at him or nudge him. He didn’t know if she was just still wired from the dance or if she was fighting sleep to prove a point, but either way, she could not have been any sexier than she was in this moment.

With her back resting against his chest and his right arm wrapped around her shoulders, Dalton felt her pulse pick up a little, and he gave her a little squeeze. Shifting in her spot, Zara snuggled into him some more, tightening the already non-existent gap between them. In the process though, her luscious ass rubbed up against his rock-hard dick, causing it to twitch with excitement. Out of the corner of his eye, Dalton saw the impish grin spread across her face, and he knew that she had done that on purpose.

Well, two could play this game.

Grinding his hips up into her so there was no way that she could miss his erection, he slowly dropped his hand from her shoulder and lightly tweaked her nipple. Her body jerked in reaction, giving him even more of a taste of the delicious friction that resulted as her ass rubbed his cock through the fabric. He let out a low groan, unable to stop himself. She felt too fucking good in his arms, and he wasn't sure that he was going to be able to control himself much longer if she kept wiggling her hips like that.

He lowered his mouth to the smooth curve of her shoulder, placing a kiss there. A sharp intake of breath from her was more than enough to encourage him to continue to pepper kisses along her skin, making his way to her neck. When he got to the sweet little spot where her shoulder and neck met, he gave her a light nip before quickly covering that spot with a long, drawn out, open-mouth kiss. The moan she let out as he did so might have been the single most erotic sound he’d ever heard. And now his entire focus was on making her repeat that noise over and over again.

“Tripp…” she said, her voice all breathy and low.

“Zara…” he responded.

“When you said that you wanted to give me the night we didn’t have back then, did you mean exactly that night?”

“I don’t follow,” he said, moving his mouth to her back and kissing up along her spine toward her hairline.

Another moan escaped her, and he could tell she was having a hard time concentrating on what she wanted to say. For a moment he thought about letting up so she could tell him whatever it was that was on her mind, but then he thought better of it. He was enjoying this teasing way too much to stop.

“I mean…the other night…you said that you wouldn’t have slept with me,” she said, trying to catch her breath.

He pulled back, twisting her around so she was now facing him. The glow of the TV screen highlighted her beautiful face just enough for him to see the flush on her cheeks. Her breathing was still heavy, and her exposed nipples had turned into taut little peaks. Man, he wanted to take them into his mouth and suck on them until she screamed his name. But first, he needed to know what she was getting at.

“What?”

“The other night, on the beach. You told me that even though you said what you said, that you wouldn’t have slept with me that night. Because you thought I deserved better.”

“You did deserve better,” he reassured her.

Pressing her lips together, she briefly looked at her lap before bringing her eyes up again to meet his.

“But if tonight is about recreating that and giving us the night we should have had, does that still apply?”

“The not sleeping with you?” he asked, trying to make sure he understood the question. Did she really think for one second that he was uninterested in fucking her? He took her hand and placed it on the bulge in his briefs, moving it around so there was absolutely no question that what she was feeling was his dick. “Zara, this is what you do to me. Don’t you for one second think that I’m not interested. If I misread something, then I’m so sorry, baby. We won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. So if what you want is to sleep, we’ll sleep. If you want more, then I’m all yours.”

“I want more,” she said, her eyes still trained on him. She gave his dick a firm squeeze, and it sent a lightning bolt of lust straight through him.

“Anything you want, baby, anything,” he said through gritted teeth, the feel of her hand still gripping him fighting for all his attention.

“Good,” she answered, biting her bottom lip again. He couldn’t tell if she was trying to be coy or just shy. Until she finished her thought.

“Because I want to see if you’ll fit in my mouth.”