All the Right Moves

by Taylor, Becca

Above us, I could hear the distant scream of Keaton enjoying the ride, but here in our cart, it was silent.

  I looked at Tenley, really looked at her, and she looked scared. I didn’t think it was from the speed of the ride either. Normally, her hands would be in the air waiting for the moment when the seat rounded the sweet spot where you would temporarily lose gravity. Now, she was gripping the bar as she waited for my answer. Waited for me to quit being a coward and make a damn move, wrong or right.

  “Fuck it.” That was the words I said right before I grabbed the back of her head and pulled her lips to mine.

  Her hands stayed planted on the bar until my tongue touched the seam her lips.

  Let me in, baby.

  My thumb grazed her chin, then gave it a little tug. I needed to taste all of her.

  Her hand moved to my shirt. And as we started to drop, she finally opened for me.

  Moving faster, we rounded the top again, and suddenly, we were floating for two maybe three seconds. At the same time Tenley tightened her grip on my shirt, I tightened my grip on her. I sure as hell wasn’t letting her go. Maybe ever.

  My tongue licked hers. She was everything I imagined—warm, inviting, and tasted sugary sweet from the fried dough she ate minutes ago.

  Nothing mattered at that moment. Not the stupid list. Not the fact I was kissing my best friend. And sure as hell, not the fact I was kissing her in front of hundreds of people.

  I didn’t care.

  The only thing on my mind was I couldn’t wait to do this over and over again. Nothing was better than finally tasting Tenley’s soft lips. No kiss I ever had felt as right as that one.

  Her wet, hot tongue wrapped around mine, and I couldn’t help but groan. It was heaven. At the same time, it was complete torture because sitting with a bar tight against us, we couldn’t move. I couldn’t wrap her in my arms like I wanted to. I couldn’t pull her onto my lap. I couldn’t do anything except for keep one hand on the back of the seat to anchor us and use the other to hold her lips to mine.

  To deepen the kiss, I tilted her head. She hummed. The sound vibrates through me, making me grip her tighter. Her hold on my shirt loosened, and I thought she was going to push me away.

  Maybe she wasn’t feeling it as much as I was—which was everywhere.

  She didn’t, though. Instead, her hands grazed my chest before moving behind me. When her fingers dug into my back, I knew she was just as into the kiss as I was.

  As deep as I was into this kiss, I was trying to keep my mind under control. But my body was fighting me. Rock hard against the metal bar, I needed to calm down. I sucked on her bottom lip one last time before ending the kiss.

  “You did everything right,” I said against her now swollen lips. I wasn’t ready to completely let her go.

  She was breathing hard. I was breathing harder. “Then why were you so mad?”

  “Because I don’t want to share you.”

  From above us, Keaton whistled and followed with a suggestion. “Get a room.”

  I released Tenley only long enough to flip him off, then pulled her under my arm as we made the final spin on the Ferris wheel. The couple before us exited, which meant our ride was officially coming to an end. If it were up to me, I would have stayed in my seat so we could do it all over again.

  From under her lashes, Tenley looked up at me. “If you don’t want to share me, then take me home.”

  I liked her idea better.

  13

  Tenley

  Slow it down.

  IT WAS CLEAR PRESTON was a little anxious by the way he peeled out of the parking lot. I couldn’t help but chuckle at his exuberance when the tires chirped against the pavement. I knew what he was feeling, or at least, I think I knew. I wanted to get home to pick up where we had left off… and fast.

  The two of us jumped out of the Jeep at the same time and then raced to the elevator. Once inside, we were forced to stand a respectable distance apart since our dear old neighbor was sharing the ride with us. We shared a few lingering looks while she talked about what a nice night it was and how the weather would be even better tomorrow. Preston, the nice boy his mama raised him to be, helped her carry her bags to her door, then we bid our neighbor good night. Excited again, he dragged me inside my apartment where I already had the door open. Finally, we were behind closed doors.

  “Do you want a…” Before I could get the word drink out, Preston spun me around. His hands slid up my rib cage and under my arms. A sort of squealed holy crap came out as he lifted me off my feet. That squeal was quickly silenced by his lips. My brain was racing through three thoughts.

  Holy, he was strong.

  Holy, holy, he could kiss.

  Triple holy, surely, he couldn’t keep holding me up like this.

  To keep from falling, I wrapped my legs around his waist. My feet locked as his hands moved under my bottom, and his fingers dug into me. I moaned, loving the way it felt, the way they cupped me, the way they kneaded my skin, and the way he made me feel like I was as light as a feather. His hands were the perfect size to my more than generous assets.

  At some point, he managed to kick off his shoes without losing his balance or his grip on me. How did I never notice he was this strong before? Maybe because I’d never been in the position where he had to carry me or had the urge to pick me up as he kissed the ever-loving heck out of me. Following his lead, I took off my shoes too. As soon as they hit the ground, we were moving.

  I thought possibly we were taking this to the bedroom, but my back hit the sofa instead. As long as Preston didn’t stop kissing me, I didn’t care where we ended up. The bed, the floor, the kitchen table—I would go wherever he wanted.

  When his lips broke contact with mine, I thought I would fade away without them. I wanted to kiss him until I went numb. I wanted to feel that sensation of phantom kisses during the night because he had kissed me so thoroughly. Seriously, why did Preston think he had all the wrong moves when every move he made with me was right? Beyond right. His moves were so right, I was out of breath and ready to beg him for more.

  “Is this okay?” Preston asked with his body semi-pressed against mine.

  Lying sideways, I was pinned against the back of the sofa with my leg draped over his hip. He was rubbing his thumb back and forth across my cheek while the rest of his fingers tangled in my hair. With our eyes locked, I could see it in his eyes that he was serious. He thought I wasn’t okay with this. Preston had doubt written all over his face. He thought I was going to tell him to stop.

  I couldn’t. More than that, I wasn’t.

  This was better than the feeling inside your stomach when you were at the top of the Ferris wheel and suddenly dropped. When he kissed me up there today, instead of sinking, I was floating. But, here, in his arms, with his body pressed dangerously close to mine, was a whole new type of thrill.

  An amazing type of thrill.

  And an equally terrifying thrill too.

  Because what if…

  What if his reaction to me was purely biological? Or chemical? I was never good at science.

  What if he was asking me if this was okay just so he wouldn’t feel guilty later?

  And what if this didn’t mean the same to him as it did to me?

  “If it’s not okay, I’ll stop, Tenley. There’s no pressure.” He never would pressure me. I mean, we had already seen each other naked, twice, and I’d initiated it both times, though the first was unintentional. And here he was, being sweet and understanding, which only made me fall for him a little more. I was about to tell him to keep going when my heart skipped a beat at my realization.

  At my hesitation, Preston started to pull away. Something I didn’t want him to do. I placed my arms behind his back to keep him from moving any farther. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Stay. It’s just...” I didn’t know what to tell him because if I did try to explain, I was going to tell him the truth. I think I’m falling in love with you. Or I have been for years.

 
“I know, baby.” Somehow, he maneuvered his body under mine. Preston was giving me the upper hand. I knew him. He wanted me to feel like I was in control. If I needed to, I could end this whenever I felt uncomfortable. The issue was not stopping, though, because I feared once we started, I didn’t think I was going to be able to slow down.

  “I just want to kiss you,” I told him. What I wanted to say was I want to kiss you everywhere and I want you to do the same to me.

  His hand curled around my head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Leaning down, I touched my mouth to his in a chaste kiss. The next kiss I gave him was on his chin. The stubble was rough against my swollen lips. It made me wonder how it would feel on other parts of my body. His head tilted back when I started making my way around his jaw so I could nibble on his ear. His fingers fisted my hair in a tight grip. “Jesus, Tenley.”

  I threw his words back at him. “Is this okay? I’ll stop if you want.”

  His first response was a deep growl. His second was his hand meeting my bottom in a playful smack that felt far better than it should.

  “I’ll take that as a no.”

  I was answered with a tug of my hair, pulling me to his lips. Again, Preston deepened the kiss. Our tongues were dancing as our hands began roaming. His hands roved my thighs, my backside, and underneath the back of my shirt along my spine. My skin ignited with each little touch until every inch of me was on fire.

  I touched his arms and the planes of his chest, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to touch more. I encouraged him to take off his button-up shirt by shoving the collar down his arms. He sat up with me still straddling his thighs to get it off the rest of way. As I clumsily helped him, he reached behind my back. His eyes searched mine, asking if this was okay too. It was. God, it was. My breasts were heavy, begging for the too tight strapless bra I was wearing to come off.

  With two hands wrapped around me, he unfastened each clasp painstakingly slow. It wasn’t from inexperience either. Was he hesitating? Or just trying to torture me?

  Finally, the fabric fell from my chest. I was free from the confines of Satan’s torture device. I wanted to beg him to take off my shirt too. Only he didn’t; he simply tossed the polyester and spandex to the floor.

  He was taking everything slow, giving me tiny playful kisses, while I was losing all control. Like a magnet, he was pulling me in. My arms went around his head, my fingers tangling in his sandy blond hair and my tongue licking the seam of his lips.

  A grunt left him as he fell back against the throw pillow I kept on the sofa. His lips opened, not to kiss me but to let me play. With my tongue, I circled his lips. The first time, I wanted to feel him and his soft lips. The second swipe was to memorize him and their shape. I traced the dip on his top lip and the fullness of his bottom. The third time, I wanted to taste. I licked the roof of his mouth where I tasted a hint of the piña colada he’d drunk, but the flavor was mixed with me.

  Preston took over after that, claiming, “You’re killing me.”

  He kissed me softly. He kissed me hard.

  He barely kissed me one second, then would kiss me so deep the next.

  He would only use his lips, then he used nothing but tongue.

  He had his legs wrapped around mine; in essence, he was trapping me so I couldn’t move. All I wanted to do was move against him. Feel what I knew was under his pants between my jeans-covered legs.

  Then he touched me like he never had before. My hands dug into his chest, my breath hitched, and a zing traveled through my entire body when his thumb grazed my breast. He did it again, and my nipple tingled.

  I wanted to feel him too. My hands were reaching for his pants, but he stopped me.

  “You don’t have to do that, baby.”

  “I want to.” Did he not want me to? I could feel him hard against my belly. It couldn’t be comfortable for him. I knew I wasn’t exactly comfortable in my tight jeans. And wet in the lace underwear he bought me.

  “Tonight. This. It’s enough. I just want to touch you, clothes on, kiss you, and take this slow. We don’t have to rush.”

  But we did. Our time was running out. We didn’t have that much time left as pretend boyfriend and girlfriend, and I wanted to experience it all with him. As if he knew what I was thinking, he answered me.

  “We have all the time in the world.”

  14

  Preston

  I want to hold your hand.

  OUR MAKE-OUT FEST lasted three nights. Three nights of complete foreplay awesomeness. Three nights of holy shit, I forgot how much fun making out was. Three nights of I needed to invest in more Chapstick to keep my lips in tip-top shape for future nights.

  Did I want more than just kissing? The answer was a big, resounding hell yes.

  I was on my own today. Tenley was meeting some friends, and I was literally counting down the hours until I got to make out with her again. And again. And again. As crazy as I was, I couldn’t imagine what I would be like when we actually did more. I was in a perpetual state of arousal, but I could handle it. I was a man who had some control left.

  Part of me was also thinking maybe I was hesitating too.

  There was no maybe about it. I was one hundred percent hesitating.

  One, I liked Tenley. More than liked her. She was still my best friend, but something had shifted. Whenever we kissed, a voice in the back of my head kept asking why we hadn’t done this sooner.

  Two, it was Tenley, and she deserved better than just a random guy in her life. Yes, at first that was all this was meant to be. A month of randoms. But since the day of Keaton’s beach party, I wanted more. Or at least to give it a try. Only I didn’t know how to bring it up with her.

  Which brought me to number three. I was a coward. I was a spineless jellyfish who was afraid to tell his best friend I had these new feelings for her that I wasn't sure exactly how to explain. Attraction? Desire? Infatuation?

  All I knew was that everything added up to beyond best friend status, but how far past friendship was the question. Which brought me back to the maybe part. Maybe I didn’t say anything until I worked it all out in my head. Until I knew what it all meant, where I wanted this to go, and if she was going to say yes to more.

  After all those heavy thoughts, I needed to go lift weights. Piss on a tree. Swim with sharks. Do anything to gain my man card back because I had clearly misplaced it.

  I texted Keaton because he had enough testosterone to fill a room. You up for some surfing?

  He texted me a Shaka emoji in response.

  Thirty minutes later, I was hitting the waves.

  An hour of surfing did the soul good. It cleared my mind, relaxed my body, and made me forget about the state of confusion I was in. At least until we bumped into Tenley and her friends on the beach.

  Tenley in a sexy striped bikini.

  Tenley lying on her stomach in a striped bikini with her ass exposed.

  Tenley lying on her stomach with her exposed ass and top untied. The sides of her tits on display for everyone to see. I hadn’t seen them since the party. Which was… I didn’t even know how many days had passed. Too many.

  All my caveman instincts hit me at once. Get to woman. Cover woman. Toss woman over shoulder. Bring woman home and finally have her.

  It was a good thing I was carrying my surfboard. I fought to keep Thor’s hammer contained but was starting to lose the battle.

  Keaton and I caught up to the women who were deep in conversation.

  “Ladies,” he said in the cool as ice voice. At least one of us could talk. My tongue seemed to be about ten feet back where we first spotted them.

  “Hey, Keaton,” Tenley said before she looked at me and smiled.

  I nodded, willing my tongue to work, but it wouldn’t. It was too busy envisioning licking the salt from every inch of her body. Tenley tied her bathing suit, then sat up, which was both a shame and a godsend.

  “Introduce us,” one of the girls said with a nudge to Tenley’s
shoulder.

  “Kaitlin, Emma, this is Keaton and Preston.”

  Keaton bent down, then kissed the two girls’ hands. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “Are you guys leaving?” Tenley asked.

  Keaton answered, “Afraid so. I have to get ready for work.”

  The girls stood. “We should head out too if we want to get ready for tonight.”

  Finally, I was able to talk. “And where are the three of you headed?” I didn’t want to seem like I was a jealous bastard, but right then, I was. I shouldn’t have assumed Tenley and I had automatic plans.

  “Sunset Strips,” Kaitlin said. And it was a trifecta. Tenley hit her on the arm, Emma stood there blushing, and Keaton choked.

  I, however, saw red. Hell no was she going to some male strip club to watch some dude swing his junk around even if it was contained in a G-string. And hell-fucking-no was anyone’s junk swinging anywhere near Tenley. Only my junk was going there. My hammer, not junk. My eyes shot to Tenley, who was looking at anything and everything but me.

  “Tenley, do you want to shower at my place or do you want me to drop you home? I’m sure I have something you can borrow,” Kaitlin asked.

  “I should go home first.”

  I immediately jumped in. “I can take you. I’m headed there anyway.”

  “Perfect. We’ll call you when the Uber is on its way. Nice to meet you guys.”

  “See you.” Tenley started stuffing her towel in her bag. She had yet to look at me. Keaton swore under his breath.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I asked him.

  “Nothing. It’s just later than I thought.” He fist bumped me. “Later, bro.”

  “Later.” I looked back at Tenley, who was slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Ready?”

  Looking around, she checked to see if she had missed anything. “Yep.” Still, she didn’t make eye contact.

  I started walking. Fast. So fast that Tenley was having a hard time keeping up. I stopped when we hit the parking lot, and I grabbed her hand in mine.