Page 5 of The Next Chapters
Only seconds ago, their decidedly unsexy beginning of the kiss had made her laugh. It felt so incongruent with the way heat sparked through her veins now as Riley nipped her teeth into Gianna’s bottom lip before soothing it with her tongue.
The tongue she used to trace over the bow of Gianna’s top lip, pulling a shudder up from her fucking core before it echoed through her entire body.
Riley wrapped her arms tighter, pulling Gianna even more securely against her so their bodies were flush against one another. She did this, even as she slid one of her hands into Gianna’s hair and took a loose fistful, pulling Gianna’s head back just enough to break their contact.
Just enough, really, because her lips brushed against Gianna’s as she spoke, “It really goes to show you what an amazing night this was because I wasn’t even thinking about everything that unfolded at work today. Not when I knew I had this – you – coming for me tonight.”
Riley’s voice was so low, pitched to the timber Gianna had learned and memorized the very first time they had sex. That throaty, commanding tone sank somewhere right to her core and gripped her.
The insane thing – really, something that had driven Gianna wild whenever her mind dared to think it in the last decade – was that Gianna had always known, in theory, how compatible she and Riley were when it came to sex. For years, it had been torturous information to have.
Now, she got to reap the benefits.
The double entendre of her words was entirely deliberate; Gianna knew it, and she still felt her body react. She still felt herself clench, heat pooling low in her stomach. “Riley,” she breathed, squeezing Riley’s hips under her hands.
“Come on. Let’s go inside,” Riley murmured, her lips still whispering over Gianna’s in a touch that sent shivers rocketing all over her fucking body.
Even as her body was yearning, ready to go, Gianna used every single mental faculty she possessed to reign herself in. “I… can’t.”
The regret she felt twisting through her was apparent in her voice.
“Wait. What?” Riley pulled back a few inches, then, enough so they could actually look one another in the eye. “Do you have an early shoot or something?” Her confusion was palpable, especially because Riley knew Gianna did not, in fact, have anything on her agenda tomorrow morning.
It was good that Riley pulled back, though, even as Gianna also hated it. But it allowed her to breathe in the fresh, freezing night air. The opportunity to recall her mission.
With that in mind, she smoothed her hands up and down Riley’s sides one last time before forcing herself to put her hands back down against her thighs. “I don’t,” she answered honestly, taking in another deep breath. “But – this is our first date,” she reminded Riley.
Reminded both of them, really.
“And, if you recall, on Riley Jane Beckett’s Ideal First Date, your date does not enter your apartment. And you don’t have sex. Even if you both want it,” Gianna murmured, dipping her gaze back to Riley’s pink, wet lips.
Fuck. Yes. She really wanted it.
“Gianna,” exasperation colored Riley’s voice as she dropped her head back. “You know that’s different.”
Blinking, she blew out a shaky breath and looked back into Riley’s eyes. “Nope. Don’t forget I know everything you’ve ever cataloged from your dates. In your ideal first date, your date would bring you back to your apartment.” Gianna gestured at the door to their left. “In this ideal world, you are both attracted to each other. And the night went well, so… you both want one another. And you’d share a simple kiss, letting the want of the night simmer,” she murmured, her voice dipping…
She couldn’t resist going in for another kiss, then. This time, she very carefully kept it light and simple.
When she pulled back, though, Riley groaned low in her throat. “We both know what’s simmering between us already.”
Still, Gianna shook her head. “You only have one shot to really romance the woman of your dreams. And I’m not fucking it up.”
She very nearly had let the opportunity slip through her fingers. Because of uncertainty and fear and her parents and… everything.
But they were really doing this. So she was going to do it right; she was going to prove to Riley that she was the person who could give her everything she wanted. Who wanted to give it to her.
“Gianna,” Riley murmured again, but this time she simply stared up at her with big, soft eyes.
She couldn’t help but dip down again, kissing Riley once more. This time, lingering for another few seconds, just wanting to be able to breathe Riley in.
Intoxicated as she was with the feeling, she pulled back and met Riley’s sweet smile with her own.
“Okay. You go inside,” Gianna encouraged, nodding at the door. “And I will text you at a very uncool speed for another date.”
“Just like a perfect first date would,” Riley followed up, shaking her head slightly as she sighed and entered the key code to enter the building. She paused before she went in, though, throwing Gianna a stern look. “You have a car?”
Gianna nodded down to the corner, where her Uber had been idling since they’d turned onto the street. “Called for it just as we left Duck’s. Let them know to start the ride even though I’d be a few minutes late.”