#Kissing (Rock and Romance #1) (21 page)

Chapter 59

During the train ride into Manhattan that evening, JQ tells me about his classes, some of his friends, and his passion, photography.

We take the subway to his dorm on the edge of campus by Washington Square Park. My mind skips and wanders, recalling the last time I rode this line.

"You're quiet," JQ says when we get off the train.

"I'm remembering when I saw you on the train."

"I almost didn't recognize you." His voice is soft.

"I almost didn't want you to."

He takes my hand and doesn't let go.

Once on the street, the energy of the city, of millions of people coming here to start a new life invigorates me. "But I'm not ashamed of who I was, just thank you."

"Thank you?"

"For being patient with me. For letting me take a couple of years off from my life and figure myself out."

"I'd say you did quite a bit of living."

"Just not with you," I say, lamenting the time lost and wasted.

JQ takes my hand, leading me through a throng of students as we reach the campus.

"A friend of mine told me this saying. It was something like some friends you have for a season, others for a reason, and still others for a lifetime. You fit in the lifetime category, but I was sure we'd meet again. I didn’t know when or how, but I never stopped hoping."

Tears wash away my doubts and smooth my rugged thoughts. I squeeze JQ's hand tighter. He kisses my cheeks below my eyes.

We reach a tall brick building. The light is bright against the dim night, and I blink my eyes a few times to adjust and flush away the remaining tears.

JQ guides me to an elevator. "Don't get me wrong," he clears his throat, "It gave me plenty of time to practice." He grips the nape of my neck, pulling my head to meet his.

I whack him playfully. "I don't need the details."

"No, but I can show you," he says, leaning in for a kiss before the elevator dings.

We get out on the fourteenth floor. The hall smells like Cup of Soup, coffee, and a cloud of perfume hangs in the air. Music, laughter, and conversation seeps from behind almost every closed door. My gaze darts around. JQ must see the anxiety plastered on my face. I take a breath of his peppermint scent when he stops me for another kiss.

"Welcome to dorm life. I'd have moved out, but it's cheaper than trying to find an apartment in the city. At least for now."

He gestures toward the elevator, slides his hand to the small of my back, and whispers in my ear, "Can we do that again in like two minutes, maybe for more than two minutes?"

We can, but the apprehension of academic life that rocked me away from scholarship and school makes me want to run in the other direction.

"You ok?" JQ asks when we stop in front of the door to his suite.

I nod, but don't think either one of us buys it.

The door swings open to a guy standing on a table, orating Shakespeare. There's an audience of three, each clutching a can of beer.

JQ leans in close to me. "They have to take a drink every time he misses his lines."

"How does that work exactly?"

"I played once, imagining it would make sense the more I drank."

"Did it?"

"Nope. Lucky for us, the rule is no interruptions." He gives them a wave and leads me to a closed door. "By the way, the one on the table is Armand, one of my suitemates. Ming was on the floor with the dark hair. Leo is usually at his girlfriend's. I've seen him about five times this semester." He puts his hand on the doorknob, but turns back around before going in. "So, uh, please don't freak out."

I give a little shake of my head, imagining a pigsty, but instead, when he opens the door my eyes land on a larger than life print on the facing wall. It's the back of a woman with her head tilted down over her shoulder. Her medium brown hair parts to one side.

"Like I said, I've had some girls here." He scratches his head. "A lot actually, trying to forget about you, but I think this scares them off." He gestures to the print and then picks up some dirty laundry off the floor and tosses it in a basket in the corner.

I stare, in awe. "She's beautiful."

From behind, JQ clasps my shoulders and then whispers, his breath feathery on my cheek, "She's you."

Chapter 60

Obviously, he wasn't trying very hard to forget about me.

JQ draws a deep breath. "You left me crushed, but I couldn't cut a fifteen year friendship out of my life; the girl that shaped and changed me. The unexpected truth is, without you for all of this time, I realized I was willing to wait for you."

My eyes draw a line from the print to him and back again.

"Please say something. I'm sorry if it freaks you out. Do you remember that night when we went up on that hill and watched the stars?"

"Science project. Of course."

"Yeah, something like that. I took this photo of you earlier, after we went skinny-dipping in the creek. It was the perfect day. One of my favorite days of my entire life. Just you and me, water and stars. We stayed up talking, nearly until dawn. Your mom flipped, remember? My mom had to tell her that's what seventeen-year-olds do from time to time and we'd come home when we got hungry."

"And you told me—"

He nods. "I told you that I love you. I asked you to stay."

"And I ran."

Our eyes meet; his sad, mine remorseful. "I was running from myself."

There's warmth that's different from the heat that's steadily built beneath my stomach whenever we're together, which is every minute of the last few days. "I didn't know… I didn't realize I meant this much to someone, to you."

JQ tucks his hands in his pockets. "The lighting and your curves, it's a beautiful portrait of a beautiful girl on a beautiful afternoon." He clears his throat and picks up his camera. "Except you're not a girl anymore. You're a woman." The lens opens and closes, click, click, click. JQ continues to snap as a silly smile blooms on my face. "I don't ever want to forget this moment either," he says. "None of them."

Eventually, I tilt my head with stars in my eyes from the flash. "I'm not going anywhere this time. You won't have a chance to forget." I step closer to him. "You'll get to see me in the morning when I wake up, all kinds of bedhead."

"I like seeing you wake up," he says, lacing his fingers in my hair.

"And in the middle of the day when I need a nap."

"I can deal with that." We press together, my chest against his.

"When I'm stressed and frustrated because I don't know what I'm going to do with my life."

He leans close, his voice husky in my ear. "I can think of one thing I want to do."

I'd expect Niko to say something like this, but coming from what I always thought of as JQ's boy-next-door lips renders me molten.

He doesn't wait for me to reply, but presses his mouth to mine. If it weren't for the wetness, there'd be sparks as his mouth works around mine. He clutches my head closer and then his hand is down my back, squeezing my butt with strong fingers. Our hips crunch together and he's big and hard and hot against me. I slip my hands under his shirt, running them over the contours of his muscles.

"And you, Jesse Quaid, are no longer a boy." Unable to resist, I tear off his shirt before unbuttoning his pants. He tugs off my top.

He backs me toward the bed and we both trip over books, ripping at each other's remaining clothing. I lean back on the mattress and he crawls toward me, lowering to kiss me again, but stops. His eyes dip, sweeping over me. He bites his lip, edging a sexy smile.

"Don't stop," I say.

"I want to look at you, just for a moment. There's a reason the bed is here," he points, "And that picture of you is there."

My laugh is breathy. "I know a lot of things about you that I like, Jesse Quaid. You prefer peas with butter. You can use power tools and fix a flat tire. That your favorite color is green and you like bare feet as much as me. You prefer sunsets to sunrises. But this side of you, I'm looking forward to getting to know."

Even in the dim room our smiles beam and then his disappears as he tilts his head toward my stomach, knocking his knee between my legs, and parting them before he kisses down, down, down to my thighs.

His touch sends shivers across my skin. He pulls my panties off, inching them lower, before kissing the bare skin above my pussy. He lifts his blue eyes to meet mine and lingers there, holding my gaze as he kisses me.

Then he licks and nips and sucks my folds. My muscles clutch with a zing of pleasure. My back arches as he grips my legs around his shoulders, and I grip his arms. The intensity builds with each trust of his tongue plunging inside me, gliding smoothly against my clit, and then diving back down and deep.

I lose sense of place and time and the hollering and honking on the city streets out the window. The soliloquy in the common room disappears from my awareness as JQ paints pleasure with his mouth.

He reaches for my breasts and cups them, moving his hands gently at first, his lips slowing against me as though distracted by what he found on my chest, but then he finds his rhythm again and the combination sends me close, so close to the edge I moan, long and loud.

His cheeks lift in a smile against my skin, but he doesn't lose pace as his oral caress turns into a demand. He wants me to feel good. He's willing to go all the way. And it's coming, that swelling rush, the pulsating thread that connects me to an orgasm. A strong, hot swelling builds between my legs as he plunges his tongue inside.

Then with one skilled press of his finger against my clit, combined with his tongue lapping against the soft skin of my pussy, I slip from thought into my body, pure animal, and howl with pleasure. "Oh, oh, oh."

At last.

I lay there panting and he climbs next to me, tracing his fingers across my skin. My nipples harden and perk. My chest rises and falls as I catch my breath, triumphant that I was able to give myself over to his capable hands and mouth.

"Hashtag orgasm," I say on an exhale.

He holds me close. "I hope you let me do it again," he says in a low voice.

"Mmm," I say, blissed out. A contented sigh escapes. After a few minutes, I move focus from the sensations in my body back to the room and roll over, resting my chin on his chest. "I hope this doesn't freak you out, but that was amazing. Up until now, I faked it every time. No pressure or anything."

He chuckles, his expression knowing, confident. "It was sexy. I, uh, I'll have to change my shorts before we go."

"I want to lay here for a lifetime basking in that orgasm. It was the daddy of all orgasms."

We chat idly until our stomachs rumble. I slowly dress, relishing the moistness between my legs. We go in reverse, kissing as we pull on our pants, kissing when we put on our shirts, and find our outerwear. The intimacy draws us closer, like the iron of our blood magnetizes us to each other              .

Chapter 61

Holiday lights twinkle in the frosty city night. Students travel in groups, dressed smartly with messenger bags hitched across their shoulders, and streaking across the streets. Could I pull off college?

We stop at a Thai place JQ raves about for a quick bite and then wander through the Village afterward. A group of street performers plays a familiar song called
Faithfully
.

JQ and I didn't go to prom together, but he did ask me to dance one song with him—this song. I was already halfway gone at that point, but whenever I've heard it since, I get all kinds of misty. What are the chances of a live string and brass band playing Journey's
Faithfully
?

JQ faces me and rests his hand on my shoulder, the other on my hip. I meet his eyes and he nods. "Will you dance with me, Josephine Brigitte Speedwell?"

I rest my head on his shoulder. Once more, the city sounds drift to the background. It's just the two of us, floating on a cloud of music.

When the song ends, JQ tosses a bill in the open violin case, and we tread back to the dorm. The bards are playing a video game with lots of sword fighting action. We slip into JQ's room unnoticed. The image on his wall strikes me again with pure wow.

"Do you have class in the morning?" I ask, turning over a Rubik's cube in my hand.

"Tomorrow's Monday, so ten sharp. I usually go for a run first thing. Want in?"

"How's this going to work?" I ask.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, am I turned loose on the streets while you're in class? I'm not supposed to be staying in your dorm, right? I don't have an ID or anything." I play with a loose string on my sweater.

"We'll figure it out," he says easily, twining my fingers in his.

I sit on the edge of his bed, causing a flaming tightness between my legs at the recent memory of my first official orgasm. My pulse flutters. "I don't want to interfere with your studies. I make a very good distraction."

I loop my fingers through his belt, drawing him closer.

"What kind of distraction are we talking about?"

"Let's just say it's your turn." I tilt my head up, flash a sultry smile, locking my eyes with his before undoing his belt and zipper. His pants hit the floor, and I lift his shirt over his head. He removes mine along with my pants.

With one commanding finger, I push him onto the bed before inching his boxer briefs past the little tease of hair beneath his belly button. His cock springs loose. I take it, already hard, in my hand, caressing its length and width before closing my lips around the head. I shouldn't compare, but since Niko was the only other guy I've ever been with, it doesn't appear that I'll have to worry about JQ not being able to perform.

His breath catches, and he grips my shoulders. I straddle his legs as I suck and lick up and down his shaft. I swirl my tongue, grazing the head, and then plunge it deep in my mouth. Heat emanates from him as I claw my hands down his chest. He is so much man.

I clasp the base of his dick. He stiffens further and heat blooms between my legs. I pick up my pace when his muscles tense and his grip on my shoulders tighten. My lips and pussy drip with lust as I move up and down, up and down. When he clenches, telling me he's close, I keep going, not stopping, wanting to taste him and make him come like he did for me.

He's hot and salty and he whispers one word, "Josephine."

I glance up at his relaxed, blissed out expression. Moments later, he lets out a long breath before pulling me next to him. I take back what I said about luck because I am very, very lucky.