Insatiable (The Edge of Darkness, #1)(76)

She looks behind her, then her eyes are on me again. “I’ll see you later, okay? Thanks for bringing my phone.”

I frown. “Eh? ”

She gives me a tight smile as she closes the door, and I momentarily freeze.

I knew I’d fuck this up.

I rub my hand through my hair then grab my phone and type another apology out as I leave. The gate opens for me, and I slip into my car.

My heart is beating so hard.

Before I can drive off, the door swings open, and green eyes look at me. “Hi.”

I stare at her as she sits. “Hi.”

“My phone died – that’s why I couldn’t text back. You really didn’t need to drive away over here. My dad is kind of on edge all the time and isn’t a fan of boys near the house.” She clips her belt in. “Not that I have boys over. He’s just… overbearing sometimes.”

“Yeah,” I reply. “I thought you might have walked home. I wanted to catch you.”

“At eight in the morning?”

I shrug. “Are you… good with me?”

“Of course.”

I’m confused. I blink at her.

She sighs. “You scared my dad. He was caught off guard. He’s usually really nice.”

“So you aren’t mad at me?”

“Of course not. I thought I overstepped. Can you drive somewhere?”

I start the engine. “You didn’t overstep. You could ask me to drive you to fucking Australia and I’d find a way to do it. Where do you want to go? Luciella is still in Stranraer.”

“Anywhere. I can’t stay out for long. ”

I nod, and in comfortable silence, I drive us to Loch Thom and park next to the water.

I don’t move my hand away when she takes it, lacing our fingers and resting our hands in her lap. She looks so innocent and sweet and fucking adorable.

I’m going to miss her when I go to America for two weeks.

Stacey doesn’t let go of my hand as she unclips her belt and turns her body to face me. I do the same. “As much as I should be giving you shit for breaking into the studio and then into my garden, I find it cute that you went to those lengths.”

I tilt my head. “You knew I was in the studio?”

Nodding, she giggles. “I got an alert on my phone. I saw it when I turned it on. You’re lucky Tylar didn’t get one too. She would’ve called the police.”

“I guess I am lucky.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm,” I repeat. “You sure you aren’t mad at me? I honestly fell asleep.”

“I believe you,” she says with a spark in her eyes. “You’re just my friend anyway.”

I narrow my eyes to slits. “Say that again and I’m going to kick you out of this car and drive away.”

“Will you at least kiss me before you do?”

“Maybe,” I say, letting go of her hand and curling a strand of hair behind her ear. “Maybe I’ll just kick you out and drive away.”

She snorts. “You think I believe with the lengths you went to see me, you’d leave me up here?”

“I guess we’ll see. ”

“Okay, friend.”

I open my door and she lets out a scream, scrambling away from the passenger door. As I try to catch her leg, she dives into the back seat. I climb in with her, and instead of dragging her out, I trap her beneath me, both hands above her head. We breathe heavily. We’re both smiling, her giggle making me smile harder.

“Do I Wanna Know?” by Arctic Monkeys is faintly playing on the radio. Her eyes drop to my mouth, fingers intertwining with my own, and as I lower my head slowly, my nose nudges hers.

“I’m not your friend, Freckles. Do you know why?” I kiss her lips. “Because friends don’t do this.” I kiss her again, her top lip, then the bottom, before dragging my mouth across the sharp line of her jaw. “If I was your friend, I wouldn’t think about you every second of the day. I wouldn’t want to feel you.” Taking flesh between my teeth, I suck, and she gasps. “All of you.”

And I mean it. I want her. I want her so bad my cock is fucking sore with how hard it is. I don’t want to just fuck her and disappear like Dez and Base do; I want to share every single first with her and stick around.

No matter what, the progression between me and Stacey will be slow. Progress is progress. I truly believe she won’t vanish because I need to take things in steps.

I pull my face back to look at her. “Am I your friend?”

“No.”

Taking her wrists with one hand, I use the other to move hair from her face, resting it as a collar on her throat. Her pulse is rapid against my palm, her pupils dilating more with each passing second. There’s a thrill in watching my fingers flex around her throat, a thrill I never knew existed.

I lean down and kiss her again, sucking on her bottom lip and then slipping my tongue into her mouth. Stacey chases my lips as I try to pull back, and her wrists get free; she shoves both hands into my hair and deepens the kiss. Tasting her, feeling her beneath me, even smelling her perfume has me parting her legs with my knee and settling properly between them.

I don’t freeze as I feel my dick against her – or as she wraps her legs around my waist and locks her ankles.