It Had to Be You Georgia Clark (bookstand for reading txt) 📖

Srsly thought she was smarter than this

Darlene drew the kimono tighter. “I don’t know.”

“Fine.” He flipped off the couch and headed for the door. “I’m not going to beg. Anymore. I’ll find someone else who wants to fund their first EP for appearing in a handful of selfies.”

Anxiety gripped her. It’d take years to save twenty-five grand. She needed progress. Forward momentum. “I’ll get changed.”

“No need.” Zach was back on the couch. “Lose the kimono and get over here, minx.”

She rolled her eyes. “At least let me do something with my hair.”

“Like what?” His gaze brushed her fuzzy natural curls.

“I don’t know. Maybe a wig.”

“Would you wear a wig to Netflix-and-chill?”

She shrugged. “Probably not.”

“Then just leave it as it is. I think the ’fro is so much cuter anyway,” he said, sounding genuine.

Darlene felt surprised. Then, flattered.

Zach whipped his phone up. “Oh yes, that’s so cute. Look at you being all shy and adorable.”

“Zach!” She laughed, batting at him.

“Oh, that’s good! Cuteness overload. Blowing every cuteness meter we have! Can’t even handle the cuteness!”

“You are such a dork,” she told him, giggling.

He gave her a crooked grin back. His button-down was undone enough to glimpse a small scruff of chest hair. His hair was sticking up in the heat. Tousled. Sexy. If he really was her boyfriend, she’d lean over and kiss him.

“All right, got some winners there. Now, scooch a little closer.”

She shifted next to him, until their legs were pressed. He smelled like sandalwood soap, mixed with something distinctly masculine. Distinctly Zach. She had the urge to wrap her arms around him and crawl into his lap.

“Lean in.” He held the camera up. In the small screen, their two faces smiled back at her. Like a real couple. Zach pressed his lips to her forehead. She closed her eyes, savoring the feeling. “Aw, so pretty.” His voice was close and soft. She opened her eyes. “The photograph,” he clarified. “I’m a regular Diane Arbus.”

Darlene bit back a smile. “Diane Arbus photographed freaks.”

“Did she? See, Dee, I am just a pretty face.”

Again with the Dee.

They shot more pictures: noses pressed together, both pulling funny faces, pretending to be surprised, then mad. Sweet but tame.

Zach licked his lips. “Okay. I think all we have left is, um…”

She knew what was coming. What she wanted, with surprising urgency, to happen. The idea corkscrewed through her chest, landing between her legs. “I guess we have to. As gross as kissing you is.”

“Oh, so gross,” he quickly agreed. “Really unpleasant.”

“Maybe I should, um, take off the kimono? Just so it looks like a different day.” She stood and let the colorful material slip off her shoulders. He watched with the panicked excitement of a young man getting his first lap dance. Which she was basically giving him. Now in just her cropped tee and hot pants, she gestured clumsily at Zach’s lap. “Where should I…”

“Where do you want…”

“Should I just…”

“Works for me.”

Sitting in Zach’s lap was the most physically awkward thing she’d ever attempted.

Unless she was onstage, Darlene resided in her head. Being in her body, obeying its wishes and demands, felt reckless. Even dangerous. Stop thinking, she told herself. Just feel. She nestled into him, and relaxed. When Zach held the camera out, she almost forgot why. “Are you ready? For…”

She could feel his heart. Which was beating alarmingly fast. “Disgusting PDA.”

“Right. Right, disgusting.”

Their lips were inches from each other. She ran her fingertips down his cheek, feeling the light rough of a day’s stubble. This permission to touch him felt stolen. Criminally exciting. Slowly, she moved toward him. Perhaps their first kiss was an anomaly: so passionate and intense because it’d been a minute since she kissed anyone, and Zach just happened to be the one to break her dry spell. But as soon as their lips touched, it was clear that first kiss was no one-hit wonder.

This time, there was no tentativeness. She sank into Zach, for a slow, lush kiss. His hand rubbed up and down her back. Up and down, each stroke sending her deeper and deeper into woozy pleasure. Zach was so good at this, this back and forth of lips and tongue and shared breath. Always, a consummate improviser.

She was barely conscious of straddling him. All of a sudden her legs were hooked around his waist, and the inside of her thighs were pressing against his hips. White-hot bliss. Everything about them fit. Everything felt right, an effortless bridge sailing into a chorus you want to sing along to at the top of your lungs.

The pace quickened. The kiss turned messy, graceless. His hands were on her ass, pulling her into him, at the point where they both felt the most heat. She groaned and pulled him onto her, needing to feel his full weight. Now they were sprawled out on her sofa, Zach on top of her. Their bodies found a rhythm, grinding in sync. His mouth was on her neck, licking and sucking, kissing her skin until she was moaning, pulling at his shirt. One of his hands was inside her tee, inching up over her stomach toward her breast, and she wanted—she needed—him to touch her nipple—

Zach’s phone dinged. It was on the floor. Definitely not documenting all this.

Darlene paused, breathless.

Zach pressed his lips to her neck. “Ignore it.”

His phone dinged again.

And Darlene just knew it was a girl. Maybe one of many. Who Zach was currently sleeping with. Exactly the kind of thing that’d make her the subject of her book club’s casual, pitying gossip. She pushed him off her.

“Dee, wait—”

They were close, they were this close to—she couldn’t even think about it. Darlene hauled herself upright, facing away from him, trying to drown out the wall of noise her body was making. “I’m not doing this for your entertainment. Don’t give me a reason not to trust you.”

She could hear him sitting up. When he spoke, his voice was uncertain. “So—that’s it?”

Darlene tossed him