Page 58 of Torn
“Maybe you are.”
His eyes close and he takes a deep breath as if he’s inhaling my words and needs them to take his next breath. When he opens his eyes, he reaches out to rest his hand on the side of my neck, his thumb slowly brushing back and forth over my cheek. My heart jumps at his touch, and I freeze, not moving, not wanting to do anything to interrupt the moment.
“When you were little, you used to come running to me when I walked into the room, and you’d hug me like I was your favorite person in the world. You have no idea how that felt.” He swallows hard. “To feel so unconditionally adored.”
I remember that feeling of giddy excitement every time my uncle Tor came in the room, and although my excitement of seeing him hasn’t diminished, it’s totally different now.
“You made me feel the same way,” I admit. “I still feel that way, Tor. But now I think I want to do a lot more than just hug you.”
His hand grips my neck tighter.
I lick my lips nervously and say, “And I think I want you to do a lot more than just pick me up and swing me around and make me laugh.”
I nearly forget how to breathe when he presses his thumb to my lips. “Don’t say things like that, Kenzi,” he whispers, his eyes flashing even darker. “You don’t know who you’re playing with.”
Without even thinking, my tongue peeks out to run acrosshis finger, and his eyes widen, riveted to my lips as I taste him. “I’m not playing. And I know exactly who you are.” I don’t want to hide my feelings anymore, so I embrace this moment of new bravery.
“Oh yeah?” His voice is low and sexy, and it does indescribable things to my insides. “Who am I?”
“Did you forget?” I ask playfully, leaning a little closer to him, his hand on my neck pulling me forward, gently coaxing me even closer. “You’re the man I’m going to marry someday.”
“Fuck.” He exhales the word and pulls my lips down to his, and our secondcollisionis just as amazing as the first—slow, tantalizing, and consuming. His mouth covers mine, his tongue delving deep as his free hand grips my waist, pulling me off the coffee table and onto the couch with him. His hand slides from my hip to the back of my thigh, pulling me until my chest is flush against his, my legs straddling him. An unexpected whimper escapes me as my body settles perfectly against him and his massive hard-on presses between my thighs, causing my entire body to quiver with electric pulses.Wow.
Groaning, he grips the back of my neck tighter, his fingers in my hair, and kisses me deeper, his lips smoldering on mine. My body instinctively seeks his out, my thighs spreading wider over him, wanting to feel more of him.Needingto feel more. Ripples of longing I’ve never felt before tremor through my body as I slowly move against him, unsure of what I’m doing but loving the feeling of him growing even harder beneath his sweatpants. His hand moves from the back of my thigh to the small of my back, holding me firm against him, and I like how possessive it feels. A little voice inside my head tries to tell me my first experience grinding against a man’s body should be with any one of the millions of single men on the planet and not with Tor, but I ignorethe warning. I may be seventeen, but I can feel without a shadow of a doubt our bodies and hearts were made to be together, like scattered puzzle pieces needing to be put back together.
Suddenly he pulls away and exhales with a hiss. “Shit.Fuck!” he swears, causing the dog to jump up. As he pushes me off him, I fall back onto the end of the couch and he sits up, swinging his legs off the couch and planting his bare feet on the floor.
“Kenzi, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking high on pills right now,” he says, running his hands through his hair. “You need to leave.Now.”
“Wh-what? Why?” I’m still lost in the euphoria of his kiss, of feeling him so hard against me, my mind cloudy and humming, still wanting more of whatever just happened. I want a total head-on collision.
“Please. Go.” He points to the door like I’m some kind of squatter who wandered into his house.
“Tor…” I touch his arm, but he yanks away from me.
“Kenzi, you have to go. I mean it. I can’t be around you when I’m high as a fucking kite. I don’t know what the hell you’re doing to me.”
I stand on wobbly legs, completely engulfed in confusion. “I’m… I’m sorry…,” I stammer. “What about dinner?”
I’m in a daze as he walks with me to the kitchen, where he scoops up my keys and hands them to me. “Don’t worry about dinner. And don’t be sorry. This isn’t your fault. It’s me. I’m messed up.”
He practically pushes me to the front door, where I turn to look up at him, clutching my phone and keys, tears falling down my cheeks. “What’s happening to us?” I ask.
His deep chestnut eyes are filled with regret as he shakes his head. “I don’t know, Angel, but I think we need some time apart.”
“Time apart?” The concept of that sounds so out of place tome. That’s a term reserved for people in a relationship that’s going bad and need to get away from each other to regroup and calm down, and to think about whether they want to be together or not. That’s not us. I don’t ever want to consider not having Tor in my life.
“When are you going to Katherine’s this year?” he asks.
I’m taken aback by his question. “Why would you ask me that? I’m not sure I’m going. I planned to stay home this year.”
“I think you should go for the summer. I think we need to put some space between us for a while.”
His words steal my breath.
“You want me to go away?”
“I just think we need to get our heads straight. We’ve been spending too much time together.”