Bonham (Pushing Daisies Book 3) by Heather Young-Nichols (read people like a book txt) 📕

her soft, silky hair. “I’m not sure how it happened, but I’m pretty sure you’ve been mine since you ran up to me in the bookstore and put your arms around me.”

A big breath came out of her mouth as her skin warmed. “I still can’t believe I did that.”

“I’m so fucking glad you did, though. And obviously, I don’t want you seeing anyone else but me, which means I’m not seeing anyone else but you. Honestly, I don’t want to at all. I want to spend my time with you.”

“I feel the same about you.” When she leaned in to kiss me softly on the lips, I didn’t want to let go. “But you’re leaving. In two days. How’s that going to work?”

“I don’t know,” I told her honestly. “I haven’t had a girlfriend in a while and we’ve never toured like this, but we are going to figure it out because not doing that isn’t an option.”

Her sweet smile hit me in the heart. I’d known this woman days yet was fairly certain I’d never cared about another person more.

“Is it weird that we’re talking like this when we haven’t known each other long?”

“I don’t know.” Because I didn’t. Maybe it was weird. Most would say it wouldn’t last, but fuck that. I wasn’t going to accept that. “I also don’t care.”

One more kiss and I let her return to her food. We slowly finished eating, talked more about how we’d been as kids. She told me that she was starting to really hate accounting, which wasn’t a surprise.

After we finished eating, we cleaned up, did the few dishes, and I don’t think I’d ever had this much fun washing a couple of plates. She washed, at her insistence, and I dried. It was a good system.

When we were done, I turned off the lights and took her hand to lead her to my bedroom. First, I made sure the door was locked. With Van out of town, no one should’ve come in, but with my brothers, anything could happen.

Though they knew what was happening tonight, they didn’t know that this was Jurnie’s first time. That could’ve been too much for them not to joke about the next time they saw her. The other stuff, yeah, we’d talked about.

The details of what we were about to do would never leave my mouth.

16

Jurnie

My heart thudded against my chest like it was racing my body to get to Bonham’s room first.

Having never done this before, the anticipation was threating to overwhelm me. Though with Bonham, that anticipation probably would’ve been there anyway. I’d never felt more connected to a person and my parents would’ve been horrified to know how deeply I felt for a guy I hadn’t even known a week.

But that happened sometimes, right? Delaney had said yes and that I shouldn’t put a time requirement on my feelings or falling in love. She’d said that I’d miss out if I did. So I tried really hard not to, even though it was crazy to me. Delaney had a friend who’d eloped with her now-husband two weeks after they’d met. There were a million stories about people who’d known they were going to marry their significant other on the first date.

If those could happen, then I could care about Bonham in a way I’d never cared about another person before and I could want to be with him this way. It didn’t need to be logical.

Bonham took my hand and led me to his room, closing the door behind us, even though we were alone in the apartment. I was glad he did. It was like he’d created our own little alcove by doing that.

The room was dimly lit with only the nightstand light on. It smelled like vanilla.

“Is that vanilla?” I asked him.

He nodded with a half grin. “I cleaned earlier and my mom leaves these vanilla candles here all the time. She says boys need the help.”

After giggling, I asked him, “Does she mean because you all smell bad or does she want to help you with the ladies?”

His loud chuckle bounced off the walls. “The first one.”

Bonham went over to the dresser and fiddled with his phone. A second later, soft musical tones filled the room. It was slow music and him trying to set the mood made me giddy. I was already in the mood, but his effort meant everything.

Then he was back standing close to me. Everything about the atmosphere changed and I would’ve sworn that my legs were shaking.

This was all new to me. I didn’t know how to do any of this, but Delaney had told me to let my instincts drive me. Plus, I’d bet everything I had, though that wasn’t much, on the fact that Bonham knew exactly what he was doing.

His hands wrapped around mine as I took a deep breath to calm my erratic heartbeat. The intensity of his eyes when they settled on mine was like an actual touch. I had to look away. Gazing into his eyes made this all too intimate for a minute and we hadn’t even gotten undressed yet. Then he ran his hands slowly up my arms, then shoulders, before stopping on the sides of my neck. He was warm and welcoming. The scent of him, his soap mixed with manly smell that I couldn’t exactly describe, encased me.

When his lips touched mine, I was taken by surprise. It was like he’d already been kissing me and how did he do that? Make me feel like we’d already been doing this when we hadn’t?

I didn’t care at this moment, but clearly, it was a special skill of his.

His tongue swiped slowly against my bottom lip, but I felt it somewhere much farther south. He caught my gasp and took the opportunity to invade my mouth. It was a welcome invasion.

We kissed with an intensity we hadn’t before. This was ridiculous. We’d been naked together already, but damn. This was a