I grinned. “If it works, you know.”
His mouth twitched. “That’s not very scientific.”
“You’d be surprised,” I said. “Your body’s pretty good at telling you what feels good and what doesn’t. You just have to listen to it.”
He was quiet for a moment, processing. His knee pressed more firmly against mine.
“I’m nervous,” he admitted.
“I know.”
“Are you?”
I laughed softly. “Terrified.”
His eyes widened slightly. “Really?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You matter. This matters. That’s scary.”
He looked down at his hands, then back up at me. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do,” I said. I reached over and took his hand. His fingers were cold. I rubbed my thumb over his knuckles. “Because I’m not keeping score. I’m not expecting you to perform. I just want to be with you. However that looks.”
His breath hitched.
“If something doesn’t feel good, tell me,” I said. “If you want to stop, we stop. If you want to keepgoing, we keep going. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.”
Bennet stared at our joined hands. “You make it sound simple.”
“It is simple,” I said. “People complicate it. But at the end of the day, it’s just two people figuring out what feels good together.”
He was quiet for a long moment. Then he looked up at me, and something in his expression had softened. “Okay,” he said.
“Okay?”
“Okay.” He squeezed my hand. “I want to keep going.”
Relief and want surged through me in equal measure. “Good,” I said. I lifted his hand and kissed his knuckles. “Because I really, really want to keep going, too.”
His smile came slowly.
I tugged him closer, and this time when I kissed him, it was softer. Slower. No urgency. Just the two of us learning the shape of each other’s mouths.
I put my hand on Bennet’s thigh. The fabric of his slacks was smooth under my palm, warm from his body heat.
“Does this feel good?” I whispered against his mouth.
I felt the shiver pass through him. His breath stuttered.
“Yes,” he said softly.
I kissed him harder. Our tongues touched briefly,tentatively, then bolder. His hand came up to my jaw, fingers trembling slightly.
My hand moved higher along his thigh. Slow. Giving him time to stop me if he wanted.