𝐈 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮

Jonesy

I stared into the room in silent shock, my gaze drifting from the rose petals that littered the floor to Althea's sparkling eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and she had her hands clasped in front of her chest, anticipating my answer.
  Of course I wanted to be her girlfriend, at that moment I didn't want anything more, but I also felt as if we had some things we still needed to discuss. For instance, whatever happened at the airport that had put her on edge.
  "This is usually the part where you say something, Claypoole." Her voice was light and when I turned back to her, her perfectly carved brows were pulled into a tight frown. "Oh, my God, you hate it. I'm sorry." Her brows shot upwards, creating lines in her perfect face and the slight shine of tears lined the corners of her eyes.
  Fuck, nice one, Jones. "Hey, no, I don't hate it. I absolutely do not hate it." I grabbed her hand, pulling her close to me. I smoothed the frown lines from her forehead and wiped the tears from her eyes before they had the chance to fall and ruin her makeup. "I love it, and I would love to be your girlfriend."
  A wave of relief flooded her face and she wrapped her arms around my neck. "Thank God, otherwise this trip would have become incredibly awkward."
  My hands found the curves of her waist, the warmth of her body sending jolts of electricity through mine. "It's perfect, granted, I wanted to be the one to ask you," I said with a laugh. Althea shrugged, the smile I had grown to love breaking across her face.
  "You still can, actually I insist that you do."
  "Oh, you insist, huh?"
  She nodded, cocking her head. "I'm making a demand actually."
  "Demand, is that right?" Without letting go of her, I walked us over to the bed, flower petals floating around our feet. She nodded again, her eyes sparkling, this time without the shine of tears.
  We fell onto the bed, Althea under me and I bent my head to kiss her neck. She smelled of lavender and honey, and the scent of her skin alone was enough to create butterflies in my stomach.
  "Do you have any-" I kissed the crook of her neck and a small moan escaped her lips. "-Other demands?" Her fingers wove through my hair, each tug slightly harder than the one before with each kiss I planted on her skin.
  "Just don't stop." Her voice was breathy and desperate, as if she wanted me the same way I wanted her. The way I had been wanting her for the past almost three months. Every night since our first kiss I had wanted her. Desperately wanted her.
  After several minutes of our mouths hungrily devouring each other, Althea abruptly sat up. I could see the rapid rise and fall of her chest and the light flush across her cheeks.
  "Did I do something?" I asked, raising myself into a sitting position beside her. She shook her head and tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "What's wrong?"
  "Nothing," She answered quickly. A little too quickly I noted. She ran a hand down the bed before resting them in her lap. "If we kept kissing it would've led to...other things."
  A laugh escaped my throat which I attempted to cover with a fake cough into my elbow. "I thought you liked those other things." I thought back to this morning and last night.
  Althea blushed, no doubt thinking about the same things, and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. "I do, trust me, I want to do those things and more, I'm just not ready right now." I sat back a little and inhaled deeply. Shit. Was she really not ready to go all the way? What was the point of this trip then?
  I didn't want to think that the purpose of this trip was to simply have sex, but the idea had been in the forefront of my mind the past couple days. I thought she was finally going to let me see her, without the college classes, without all the skating and hockey practices. And our friends but they were basically irrelevant, and now was the time she decided to tell me she wasn't ready?
  My face must've portrayed my mixed emotions because Althea gave me a concerned look before a smile broke across her face. "Oh my God, Jonesy, of course I'm ready, I'm just not ready in this instance. I smell like the airport and would really like to take a shower first."
  Oooh. I let out a sigh as relief washed over me. "Thank God, because I thought-" my voice trailed off as she pulled off her hoodie, leaving her in the lace bra she had worn at Gemma's game night party. Despite having already seen her in it, she still took my breath away.
  How could someone be so perfect?
  "It's okay, Jonesy, I know what you were thinking." Althea laughed over her shoulder as she headed to the bathroom. "You coming?"
  I wanted to join her in the shower, truly, to have nothing between us but water; but another part of me didn't want the very first time I saw her completely naked body to be in the bathroom. Not this time.
  I ran a hand through my hair, trying to form an excuse that couldn't be misinterpreted or come off as offensive. Thankfully a loud crash from downstairs saved me from having to come up with one.
  "I should probably go make sure they're not breaking anything." I forced a laugh, heading towards the door. Lord knows none of us would be able to afford to replace any of the artwork and statues if one of the boys knocked something over.
  Althea's face fell slightly but she quickly recomposed herself. "Of course," she said, quickly closing the distance between us to kiss me. She tugged gently on the front of my shirt, pulling my face closer to hers.
  Her lips were smooth and soft. I personally didn't think she smelled of the airport, all I could smell was her. Lavender and honey. The soft scents tickled my nose and I smiled against her lips.
  "Are you absolutely sure you don't want to join me?" She asked as our mouths parted. I bit the corner of my lip. Did two twenty something year old boys really need a babysitter? Sterling was no doubt already filling that role, but on the other hand I still wanted our first time together to be special and nothing about doing it in the shower screamed special.
  I kissed her again, swallowing the soft moan that she made. "Lord knows I want to..."
  Her lower lip jutted out and her brows pinched together. "But..."
  "I'd really rather not let this be the first time I see you naked." I replied softly and chuckled as the color on her face darkened. She turned away with a heavy, wistful sigh before unclipping the back of her bra.
  Without breaking eye contact with me, she slid the white material down the length of her arms and dropped it to the floor. "Well, you will be missing out." There was a devious sparkle in her eyes as she hooked her thumbs into the seams of her panties, threatening to pull them off as well.
  I sucked in a breath, trying to ignore the heat that flared up in my lower belly. She was purposely taunting me, teasing me. Trying to change my mind. And it was working.
  "Althea, stop," I said with a forced awkward laugh. "I really have to-"
  "I know, I know. You have to go." She rolled her eyes dramatically before heading towards the bathroom. It wasn't until I heard the sound of the lock clicking did I let out the breath I had been holding. If only she knew all of the things I wanted to do to that perfect body of hers; she would be thankful we had waited.