Chapter 6

Nick

It hurt to leave Riley after that, but if I hadn't exited the room, I wouldn't have been able to stop. The sounds she made were so irresistible that I nearly came just from eating her out. My disappearance was necessary; I had to take care of the monster in my pants.

A few times yesterday, I found myself typing out text messages to her. I couldn't bring myself to send them, though. I'm out of my element when it comes to dating, and because she doesn't have any experience, I don't want to overwhelm her with attention.

I'm looking forward to seeing her today, and I'm hoping to talk to her before class starts. Unfortunately, she doesn't come into the studio until a few minutes before the lesson is set to begin. I resign myself to grabbing her before she leaves and start my lecture.

I field questions from the other students and walk them through the first steps of throwing a piece with a design in mind. Most of them take notes while others seem to tune out my monotonous droning. It's disheartening to see that Riley is among the students not paying attention.

When there's nothing else for me to say, I walk around the room to give their designs my final seal of approval. I didn't have to ask any of the students to change anything, which is a first for this course. I'm not sure if it's because they actually took all of my advice to heart or if I'm lowering my expectations.

"This looks great, Riley," I say when I stop next to her.

"Thanks," she murmurs, the usual cheerful lilt in her voice absent.

"Do you mind staying after class?" I ask, doing my best to hide the worry in my voice.

"Sure," she says, giving me a half-hearted smile.

I nod at her and head back to the front of the room to dismiss the students. After answering a few more questions about the project, they start packing up. Within a few minutes, the room is empty of everyone but me and Riley.

She stays at her wheel, so I walk up to her, saying, "Everything okay? You've been a little distant today."

"Yeah," she replies, the smile on her face not reaching her eyes. "I've just been thinking."

"Penny for your thoughts?" I say, pulling up a spare stool and sitting across from her.

"It's nothing," she sighs, picking at the skin on her thumbnail.

"Have you been thinking about us?" I murmur as worry starts to collect in my gut.

Riley nods, averting her eyes from my face. All of my worst fears come rushing in. We've barely even started to get to know each other, and now I might be losing her. I wait for her to say something else, but it seems like her words are failing her.

"Is it because of what we did last time?" I ask, resisting the urge to grab her hands. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or went too fast."

"It's not that," she says with a sigh. "It's just… I don't know. I guess I'm worried that you only want me for sex. Maybe if I had more experience, it wouldn't be a big deal, but–"

"That's not the only reason I want you," I say, cutting her off. "You're so much more than that to me, Riley. Why would you think that?"

She shrugs, not offering an explanation, but I wait. This isn't the time to put words in her mouth. If I want to fix whatever it is I did wrong, I need to hear it from her directly. I'm willing to wait as long as she needs.

Finally, she says, "I know it's stupid, but when you left and didn't message me, I just felt kind of used."

"Oh, no no no," I say gently, giving in to my desire to touch her. She threads our fingers together, and relief courses through me. "That wasn't my intention at all. I thought about reaching out yesterday, but I was worried about being overbearing. I should have known better."

"It's okay," she says, sounding much more relaxed than she was a few minutes ago. "I've just never done anything like this before, so I was feeling a little insecure."

"I'll do everything I can to keep you from feeling that way," I promise her, bringing her hand to my mouth and pressing a gentle kiss to her soft skin.

"You're so sweet," she says with a giggle. "So, did you have another class you needed to get to the other day?"

"No, actually," I reply, feeling sheepish. "I had to get out of there because otherwise I would have tried to take things further."

"I would have been okay with that," she says quietly, her face going red at the admission.

"Well," I say, smirking at the way she's looking at me through her lashes, "If you want, we can go back to my place and I can show you exactly what I wanted to do with you."

Riley's quiet for a long moment, and I wonder if I'm pushing things too far too fast. But then her face breaks out with that radiant smile, and she says, "Yes, please."