He laughed softly at my action and shook his head. “I don’t think I can trust myself to kiss you again knowing we have this place to ourselves.”

“Please, Jackson,” I whimpered.

“Fuck. You have no idea how badly I want to hear those words coming from your mouth, Kaylie. You really don’t fight fair at all, do you?” he asked before giving me what I so desperately wanted.

My body felt alive for the first time in a very long time. My heart was beating so hard that I could feel my pulse in my neck. But he didn’t kiss me like he had last time. This was softer, more delicate. And exploration of my lips with his as he licked the seams and inched away when I tried to deepen the kiss. He waited until I backed off before nibbling on my lower lip, his hands cupping my face. My eyes drifted shut and I enjoyed the beauty of the moment. This one perfect kiss from Jackson after the amazing night he’d planned for me.

“No more,” he whispered against my lips. “Shit, Kaylie. We need to stop before I decide that taking it slow isn’t a good idea with you.”

“Maybe I don’t want to take it slow,” I said, even though I hadn’t planned to do anything more than enjoy dinner and a couple of kisses tonight.

“What do you want from this? Do you want to maybe take a step towards a relationship? Or friends with benefits? Because you might not believe me yet, but I’m really not trying to just have sex with you. And if we do this now, how the hell am I supposed to show you that I’m different with you? That even though I don’t know what this is, it still means something other than just getting off tonight?”

“I don’t know what I want,” I admitted. It was the truth. Until Jackson had stormed into my life, guys and relationships had been the last thing on my mind.

“Then we need to wait. Which means that we need to get the hell out of here. Now. Before I change my mind, strip you bare, and find out if you taste as good all over as you do when I kiss you,” he said before giving me a swift kiss and pulling me towards the door.

I was completely blown away. The campus playboy had just kissed the shit out of me and then talked me out of having sex with him on our first real date.

CHAPTER 8

Jackson

The drive back to Kaylie’s dorm was hell. It took all of my willpower to not turn the truck around and race back to the cabin with her. My dick was stiff, my balls had to be turning blue, and I could still taste her on my lips. Being noble didn’t come naturally to me. It had been a new experience—one I really didn’t appreciate right now, but I hoped like hell would be worth it later.

I’d wanted her in my bed more than once, and I’d figured she’d have had an excuse to run if we’d gone too fast. And wasn’t that fucking ironic? I’d been worried about a girl not wanting to see me again after we had sex. Usually I hoped like hell I didn’t have to see her after instead.

Kaylie kept giving me strange looks as I drove. “What?” I finally asked while she was looking my way.

“Nothing,” she answered. “Just trying to figure you out is all. You really surprised me tonight.”

“Surprised you in a good way like a present you were really hoping for on Christmas morning or in a bad way like finding out you picked up the flu bug from kissing me?”

“Definitely the good kind of surprise. You really went out of your way to make this a good night for me, and I appreciate it. All of it.”

“Even me saying no to sex tonight?” I asked. I was a little worried that she might think I didn’t want her or something crazy like that when nothing could be further from the truth.

She reached over to grab my hand. “Especially that, I think. It’s been a while for me, but just because I’m horny doesn’t mean we need to jump into bed together right away. I probably would have regretted it after. Your putting my feelings ahead of what would have felt really great says a lot.”

I squeezed her hand in response. “Crap, Kaylie. You can’t throw out words like horny right now. You’re killing me here,” I groaned.

“Okay, I’ll be good,” she giggled.

An image of me punishing her for being bad, smacking her ass until it was red, popped into my head. I wasn’t even sure she liked that kind of shit, but I couldn’t stop thinking about having her under my control. I’d enjoyed being kinky with other girls, and I’d always been willing to try something out if they’d asked. It had been more about what they’d wanted than what I was into, as long as I’d gotten off in the end.