She wiped away the tears that started to fall on my cheeks with her thumbs, and continued softly, “I have no right to ask you, Harley, but I will anyway.”

“I learned my lesson the hard way. And I’m coming to you now, with hat in hand, so to speak, asking for whatever you can give me. I know that I said I didn’t want us to be friends, even. But I would be ecstatic to take that now. Or to be someone you call or text or holler at from time to time. I’ll take anything, anything that would mean that I’ll be in your life in some capacity,” she said.

My mouth dropped open.

“Anything …” she repeated.

I looked into her big brown eyes that were begging me, and got lost in them.

“Kiss me,” I whispered.

She laid a gentle one on me.

“The last time, things started with a soft kiss just like that one, you know,” I said quietly, looking at her pouty lips at first, and then drifted upward to look into her teary eyes.

She gave me another kiss. We both moaned as our lips softly, tenderly, got reacquainted.

“Do you want to take this slow, Aerin?” I whispered, after she drew back. “Like you made us do the first time?”

“You did say we shared kisses, right?” she asked, after a while, by way of an answer. She laid another one on me, harder this time.

“Yes … and some were deeper, longer, hotter than others,” I answered, and licked her lower lip.

“I’ll take anything from you, Harley, like I said” she said, shutting her eyes. “If you want to talk. Or to kiss. I’ll definitely take your … our … kisses.” And then slowly, she opened her eyes.

The desire in her eyes made me tingle.

“I want you, Harley,” she whispered.

“I know.”

“I’m all yours. Anything you want of me. Everything you want of me,” she said fervently. “I want to give you what you need, be what you deserve, and build new memories with you.”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. Another kiss. I needed another kiss.

“Do you …” she started to ask.

“Yes, you know that I do,” I answered her unspoken question hoarsely. I leaned forward and captured her lips in a deep, wanton kiss, nudging her mouth open,  beginning to explore her with my tongue.