Letty sat back against the headboard, pulling her comforter part way into her lap and bunching the familiar material in her hands as she watched Javier take off his shirt. He went slowly at first, darting shy glances at her.
"Are you blushing?" she teased him.
"I think that's you who is blushing." He abandoned his attempt at a kitschy strip show and pulled his t shirt over his head, tossing it at her with a lopsided smile.
Letty wolf-whistled at the now half-naked man in her bed.
His smile grew even as he shushed her. "I can't remember whose turn it is?"
"Yours, you need to drink to catch up with me," she challenged.
Cocking his head to the side and holding her gaze, he twirled the bottle just enough to point directly at her.
He smiled, shy but impish. "I won," he breathed. "I believe that is how this game works, yes?"
His body language read as shy and awkward, but his eyes blazed with such intensity her stomach dropped and all she could do was murmur a yes in response.
Her eyebrows rose as he rose up on all fours and stalked across the bed towards her, his shoulder muscles rippling. It wasn't until he undressed that it was obvious She chewed her lip lightly, her own eyes dropping to his lips then back up to his dark eyes, pupils blown wide in the dim pink glow of the lamp. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to be a teenage girl, nervous about her first kiss with a boy she had a huge crush on.
"I would like to kiss you, Letty. If that would be alright?"
All the snarky retorts that were on the tip of her tongue melted away when he sounded so earnest. She nodded slightly.
"Sit back. On the pillows."
She did as he asked, not so surreptitiously fanning her hair out on the pillow as she might have done as a naïve young teen, fancying herself the star in one of her mother's soap operas maybe. Her breath caught in her throat as he loomed over her, his eyes drifting to her mouth. Letty tried to lick her lips but her mouth was suddenly dry as he placed his arms either side of her head. As he lowered his face to hers she could hear her heartbeat thrumming in her ears. Her lips parted in a silent gasp. He paused inches away from her face.
"Okay?" he breathed.
She nodded rapidly, lifting a shaky hand to touch his bare chest.
With aching gentleness his lips brushed hers. Letty's eyes slid closed, she felt entranced. They must have kissed thousands of times before but it had never felt like this. She tilted her mouth up to his, seeking contact again. He met her with slightly firmer pressure this time and they kissed more sweetly and chastely than she had ever experienced.
He drew back too soon for Letty's liking. She made a low "mmm" and reached for him.
His smile was delighted. "Did you like that?"
She grinned lazily. "Better than vodka."
"Next time I'm going to use my tongue." He wiggled his eyebrows.
She burst into laughter, gasping when his hand shot out to cover her mouth.
"Shh," he whispered urgently, "Don't wake your mom!"
"I need more," she mumbled against his hand, stifling a giggle.
"More? More vodka?"
She slid both hands over his chest looping them around his neck and tugging him down until he was almost on top of her.
"Oh," he closed the last few inches between them and kissed her again, just as gently, moaning low against her mouth as her fingers threaded into his hair.
She had half-expected this to be the end of the role play, that they would just fuck now, but he was still holding back, resisting when she tried to deepen the kiss and carefully keeping his lower half braced above her.
Eventually he pulled back, running a hand through his hair and squeezing his eyes closed. Letty smirked to herself. He may be holding back but that didn't mean all of him wanted to.
"Your turn," he gasped, wriggling back on the bed with considerably less grace than when he had practically climbed on top of her. He held out a hand to help her sit up.
She raised an eyebrow, letting him pull her up and almost into his lap. She wriggled there, waiting to see if he would change his mind and kiss her again, but when he didn't she reached for the vodka and a shot glass.
His hand covered hers. "Spin," he instructed.
Letty rolled her eyes, but complied. The bottle didn't even make a half turn and she cocked an eyebrow at Javier.
He just smiled at her, pouring a conservative measure which she downed before he even had capped the bottle again.
"Take it eas—hey! It's my spin!"
Letty just shrugged and gave him her best truculent teenager stare as she twirled the bottle on the yearbook again. The bottle went right round this time, pointing more or less at her.
She squinted at it. "It's not really pointing at me, I get another drink."
His long finger stroked the side of the bottle and Letty couldn't suppress a smile when she noticed him not-so-discreetly straightening it to point directly at her.
"Strip," he commanded gleefully, waggling his eyebrows and almost bouncing in place. If he was going for an overly eager adolescent boy he had nailed it, Letty thought. Hoping to encourage him, she ripped off her shirt in one move, tossing it at his surprised face.
He caught it, fingers curling around the fabric. "Um, nice," he mumbled, then dropped his gaze before he could stare at her bra any longer, playing with her shirt that he now held in his lap.
Letty leaned forward, hoping to emphasize her cleavage. "Are we done with playing the game?" Can I just drink all the vodka now and fuck you til morning?
"Not yet."
She rolled her eyes. "You know, you're not like the teenage boys round here."
"No?"
"I'm practically begging you to rip my clothes off."
He looked at her directly. "I like to take my time."
She held his gaze and suppressed a shiver at the intensity in his eyes. "Okay then Javi, your turn."
He spun, he drank. She poured for him, no half measures there, he was already behind. She took a swig from the bottle before she capped it again and he watched her.
"Oops. Guess I forfeit a turn." She held it out to him. He spun it with vigor, it was less full now, but Letty reached out and stopped it when it was pointing at him, smirking up at him. "Now your pants."
He shuffled out of his trousers, keeping half an eye on her the whole time. Letty made no attempt to hide that she was ogling him.
He spun the bottle again over her protests that it was her turn. It pointed somewhere in the direction of her desk so she poured him another shot, but before he could take it, she tipped it back, sputtering for real this time, and giggling when he grabbed for it.
"Told you it was my turn!" she teased.
"There have to be consequences," he warned her. "You stole my drink."
She reached for the bottle. "I can just pour you another."
He made a hissing noise of dissent and lifted the vodka out of her reach. "I want you to forfeit something else." He let his eyes trail down her body suggestively and this time Letty couldn't suppress the delicious shiver that ran through her. She did manage to keep from saying oh hell yesss and instead maintain something of her shy teenage girl persona.
"What do you want?" she asked demurely, lying back on her pillows again. He followed her immediately and her stomach flipped pleasantly.
"To touch you." His eyes locked on hers.
"All right." She kept her voice faint, tentative.
He pressed his lips together, his eyes darting back and forth to her face, as his hand came up first to cup her cheek, then trailed slowly downward. His fingertips moved slowly over the top of her breasts, tentative, respectful.
Letty stilled. He was gentle, too gentle. She had never been touched like this and she didn't know what to do with herself. She dug her hands into the blankets, reminding herself to breathe.
His hand skimmed lower, tracing the outline of a nipple that hardened immediately. He moved over her then, kissing just the corner of her lips. She gasped when he palmed her breast. Then he was kissing her mouth, as delicately as before, his hand caressing her like she was spun glass, like she might break.
"You are so beautiful," he murmured, reverence in his tone that was making her itch under her skin.
Her hands formed fists in the sheets and she sank her teeth into her bottom lip, trying not to cry out. She couldn't seem to remember to breathe and the room was starting to spin. For the first time that evening she felt drunk, too drunk and simultaneously still too sober.
She grabbed his wrist and he froze, his eyes finding hers, and she could see the concern there. It was too real.
"Too much?" he whispered.
Yes, it was too much. Too tender, too careful, too raw. She released a breath and tried to laugh it off, holding on to the voice of teenage-her. "I feel like you are going to pin me or something."
His brow furrowed in confusion and he started to lift his body from hers until she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"You know, we'll be going steady and I'll be cheering at your homecoming game." Too late Letty realized that these were probably references who someone who hadn't grown up in America might not understand.
He tilted his head. "Does that mean you wear my letter jacket?"
Her lips quirked. "Something like that."
"I would like that," he said softly.
Letty made a face.
"Too much? Okay. No jackets. No pinning."
She blew out a relieved breath.
"But we are going steady though."
She smiled despite herself. "Yes," she whispered.