“Still thinking?”
I laughed, a release of pent-up emotion and exhilaration. “Not as much.”
He smiled against my cheek. “Good.”
I breathed deeply. “Well, for a first kiss, I have no complaints.” Stefan pulled back, his eyes wide, and I nodded in confirmation. “My first kiss from a man, at any rate.”
It had been enough to make me realise I didn’t want it to be my last.
His breath caught. His fingers traced the line of my cheekbone. “Do you want to leave it at a kiss?”
Oh God.
My heart pounded, and blood rushed through my ears.
Then he kissed me again, his hands warm on my nape. I let myself fall into it, until I was drowning in all of it, the feel of his lips, the smell of him, that delicious hitch in his breathing that told whatever this was, Stefan felt it too.
He kissed my forehead. “Youcansay no. It’s okay. I’m not trying to?—”
“But what if I don’twantto say no?” I blurted.
I felt the shiver that coursed through him.
“If that were the case, I’d ask you to come back to my place.”
I swallowed. “Then ask me.”
Chapter Twelve
Kieran
Stefan closedthe door behind us, and the quietsnickof the lock was enough to give me palpitations. I took a moment to drink in my surroundings.
Anything not to think about what was coming next.
Stefan waited while I removed my jacket. I toed off my boots then got a better look at the apartment. It was a very masculine space, clean lines, books, a record player sitting above shelves of LPs. I had to smile at that.
“Most of my students would wonder what those are,” I said, pointing.
Stefan glanced over. “Records?”
“Yes. Or as they see them, ancient artefacts from a forgotten civilisation.”
He snorted. “That’s reassuring.”
I laughed. “I brought a CD into a lecture last term, to play them a piece of music, and one of them actually asked me what it was.”
Stefan raised his eyebrows. “You’re joking.”
“I wish I were. He picked it up and stared at it as if it might start making noise on its own.” I grinned. “Another one asked where you plug it in.”
He blinked. “And what did you tell them?”
“That it required a ritual sacrifice and a working knowledge of 1998.”
That earned me a throaty laugh that I felt all the way through me. I glanced at the shelves again. “They thought I was making it up. Like I’d invented an entire obsolete format just to confuse them.”
Stefan tilted his head to one side. “You do seem the type.”