My body perked up immediately. “Maybe…”
Ellie
I wokein the middle of the night with a fright. My nightmare told me I had lost Tarek again and this time, I would never get him back. When I saw him sleeping beside me, shirtless, with a bandage against his side, my heart belted. I leaned in to kiss his nose, his forehead, between his eyes. When I dropped a tender kiss to his mouth, Tarek moaned and opened his eyes.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“I’m…”
Tarek tangled his fingers with my hair and bought my mouth down to his.
I sighed.
His tongue still tasted minty from mouthwash, but I didn’t care. Having him hard and warm under me took my mind to places I’d only dreamed of. I tried not to touch his wound as I deepened the kiss, making him moan.
When I sighed and melted into his chest, Tarek pushed the sheets aside and rolled us over, so he towered over me. He framed one side of my face and took my lips. I writhed up against him.
In the middle of the night, Tarek Jonas made love to me as if it would be his last time. He took my breath away and left my body pulsing as though to its very own music—soft, yet wild and all consuming.
Tarek touched me as if I belonged to him, like every part of me was his. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I pressed my face into his neck while taking him deep inside me. I clung to him, wanting him to stay with me, to stay a part of me for as long as I could get him.
Each orgasm had me digging my nails into his body. “Tarek…”
“Mmm?”
“I can’t…” I panted. “I love you. I’ve always loved you.”
He kissed me as his orgasm ripped through him. His entire body trembled, and I held onto him, keeping his mouth on mine, tasting him while trying to keep this memory. We didn’t speak in the end.
Instead, he cuddled me into him.
The next time I opened my eyes, I was alone. It was hard not to read much into why. I had wanted to wake up in his arms, maybe have him touch me like he had mere hours before. But this wasn’t all about me.
It’s not all about me.
Damn, that was such a hard and painful lesson to learn. But in order to show Tarek I’d change, in order for him to stop looking at me with skepticism and anger, I needed to be a better person. Sure, he’s not perfect, but Tarek had done nothing but be nice to me until I proved to him I couldn’t be trusted. He may not have liked me from the beginning, but he’d always been respectful—until…
Once this entire thing was over, I was going to make it my mission to show Tarek how I’d changed. As I laid there in bed, I began slowly putting my world back together. There were so many things I had to fix—from my relationship with my brother to Tarek. My father—well—I didn’t know if there was any fixing anything with him. He’d gone out and caused the death of my mother and shoved my world into turmoil.
But for Tarek—I sighed.
I tried thinking of my life without him, without seeing those green eyes burn with lust and anger. In the end, I realized I couldn’t. I didn’t want to see my life with him not in it. His love meant more to me than the money in my bank account, than all the designer anything in my life.
I climbed out of the bed and wandered into the bathroom. I showered quickly, washing my hair with unscented soap I found there. The old me would never have done that—the soap would be rough on my blonde hair and I wanted to have the perfect tresses. Yet, as I rinsed my hair, it felt cleaner than it ever had.
Once done, I wrapped a towel around my hips, went into Tarek’s bedroom and found one of his shirts. I shrugged into it then gathered my clothes and hurried to find him. I found Tarek shirtless and peering at a computer screen. It was hard to control myself. I gave in and kissed the back of his neck.
Tarek moaned. “Don’t start anything we can’t finish.” He warned.
I giggled. “Point me in the direction of your washer and dryer?”
“Down the hall, third door to your left and down the steps.” Tarek turned to look at me. “Damn, Ellie.”
“What?”
“There’s just something about a woman wearing her man’s shirt that’s so sexy.”
My cheeks heated and I bowed my head before he could see the redness of my cheeks. “You’re my man?”
