Chapter 5

" S o I think that's the first time I've actually gotten through a whole movie with a girl without her trying to put the moves on me," King joked. "I must be losing my game."

"Who said you even had any game to begin with?" Lila teased back as she rolled over to face him. His response was to attempt to tickle her ribs until her triumphant smile signaled that she was, in fact, not ticklish at all. She didn't mind the extra contact, though. Not even a little bit.

It had been two weeks since Jock Jam, and King had surprised her by texting her a couple of days after the party to ask if she wanted to come over to his house to hang out. She'd had a blast hanging with King, Jason, and their other two roommates, Will and James. They'd ended up teaching her how to play 5-Card Draw, and she surprised the hell out of all of them by being pretty good at it.

After that, they started FaceTiming every night, talking into the early hours of the morning about all sorts of things. She told him about her family, how she was the oldest of five kids with super overprotective parents who had initially wanted her to go to the local community college and live at home. He confessed that he hated his first name because he was named after his father, who King said was a terrible person.

King made a point to find her on campus around lunchtime so they could hang out. And this particular night, he'd taken her out on their first official date. They'd gone to dinner at a restaurant that was not The Pub and had ultimately decided to head to King's to watch a movie after. Once they'd picked something off Netflix, he had pulled Lila down to lie next to him on the spacious sectional in the main living area of the house. After two hours of spooning and King alternating between lightly tracing the hem of Lila's top and playing with her hair, she thought she was going to spontaneously combust into a confetti of hormones.

His hand found the exposed skin at the small of her back, and he lightly ran his fingers over her body, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. Impossibly, his eyes darkened as he measured her response to him.

"I think I affect you the way you affect me," he murmured, his hand slowly moving underneath her shirt, tracing up her spine.

"How's that?" Lila's response sounded more like a sigh. She couldn't help the way her body arched into his, and she couldn't stop staring at his perfect mouth. Though it'd been a minute since she'd kissed anyone, kissing King was all she was currently thinking about. That, and his hands tracing lines all over her body.

He looked at her for what seemed like forever then leaned in and kissed her softly, his hand moving from her back to span the bare expanse of her stomach, gently pressing her down so her back was flat on the couch. His lips were even softer than she'd imagined, though they commanded hers with a confidence that she completely expected. At first, he softly tasted her, with soft brushes of his full lips and tiny little swipes of his tongue. Lila thought she could live forever in those delicious kisses, until King took them deeper, off the edge to somewhere infinitely more carnal. It was all Lila could do to hold on for the ride.

He moved his mouth down the column of her throat, marking her with gentle kisses and not-so-gentle nips of the skin. When he found a particularly sensitive spot just underneath her ear, she let out a sound that was apparently pleasing to King, because he quickly maneuvered their bodies so that Lila was now fully underneath him and the space between their bodies disappeared.

"Is this okay?" he murmured before moving his hips against hers so that she could feel all of him.

"Yes," she breathed as he began slowly grinding their bodies together as they continued to kiss. His hand had just grazed the outside of one of her small breasts when the front door abruptly opened, with Jason's boisterous declaration of, "Honey, I'm home!" effectively killing the mood. Thankfully, the front door was facing the back of the couch, so Jason hadn't seen them just yet. King quickly pulled down Lila's shirt and repositioned them to their previous movie watching position.

Jason jumped over the back of the couch, landing right next to their feet. Thankfully the lights were off, so Lila's makeout hair wasn't as obvious. "What are you guys watching?"

"Um, we just finished a movie, and I think we're going to call it a night," King replied.

"Party poopers," Jason grunted as they stood up.

"Sorry, J, maybe next time," Lila replied, mostly to divert his attention enough for her to escape without him knowing they'd been fooling around.

"Fine," Jason sighed. Then he turned to look at her and smirked. "By the way, your makeout hair looks pretty epic, Alexander. Sorry to interrupt."

King stayed silent, and Lila rolled her eyes to cover up her embarrassment as they made their way to King's car, Jason's gleeful laughter loud enough that it followed them out the door. Once they were inside, Lila flipped down the mirror to survey the damage as he pulled out onto the road. Her hair was a little mussed but definitely not as wild as Jason had intimated.

"OMG. Jason can be the worst," she groan-laughed as she flipped the mirror back up. "I barely have makeout hair."

"It would have gotten really messy had we had more time alone." King's gaze flitted over to hers, and the desire in his expression caused a rush of heat to settle low in Lila's belly.

She hummed in response as she tried to gather her words. They hadn't really discussed their experience level, because, awkward, but she felt like she needed to let him know that she was out of her depth and trust that he'd respect her boundaries.

The drive to her place passed quickly, and as soon as King put his car in park, Lila gathered up the courage to say what she felt she needed to say.

"So, um, tonight was fun, but I want you to know that that's the farthest I've ever gone physically with anyone before."

King's expression stayed neutral, but he studied her intently, and Lila desperately wished she could crawl inside his brain so she could see what he was thinking about.

"I'm telling you because I just might need to take things slowly. Assuming that's something you're interested in. Because I'm not in the habit of making out with guys that I'm not interested in. I'm not really wired for the whole ‘one and done' kind of thing."

"I'd never pressure you into doing anything you don't want to do."

"I appreciate that." She did, but she also focused on what he didn't say. He didn't say anything specific about continuing whatever they'd started. Or that this was more than a one-time, PG-13ish hookup. Lila had the feeling that King rarely said anything he didn't mean and was thus very particular with the words he chose to say. Though she didn't regret her honesty the moment before, she also felt like her lack of sexual experience was probably a deterrent to someone as self-possessed as King.

Her inner monologue was cut off when he leaned in to tuck a loose hair behind her ear and then grazed her lips with his. "C'mon. I'll walk you to your door."

Her apartment complex consisted of four identical 3-story buildings arranged in a square, with exterior staircases leading to the various apartment doors. Lila's was on the second floor, so they scaled the stairs that led to her place.

"This is me." Lila motioned to the door. Then King was in her space, his large hand circling the back of her head as he leaned down to kiss her deeply. Too soon, he withdrew, tracing Lila's bottom lip with his thumb.

"Later, La."

"Later, King."

As soon as she was inside her apartment, she texted Wren, who was waiting on a full report, regardless of how late the hour. Wren was convinced that King was interested in more than just a fling, but Lila wasn't so sure. Though what had happened had felt important somehow, Lila couldn't shake the feeling that their last kiss was more of a goodbye than a hello.

And as the subsequent days began to stretch into weeks with no word from King, Lila realized that she was right.