With one of his hands on her hip, and the other caressing the weight of her breast, she was halfway to coming again.
Each stroke brought her closer and when his free hand slipped from her hip and reached around, finding her needy clit, she was ready to let go of all the tension, all her worries about this stupid plan of his, and most of all, all the pain that she’d held onto where Tomasso was concerned.
How could he make her feel this good when he was the one who made her hurt so bad?
It didn’t make sense, and it frustrated her that she couldn’t make it make sense. Something she was trying hard to ignore in this moment.
He changed his angle and thrust harder, making her entire body succumb to his will.
“You belong to me. Body, soul, and mind, baby.”
He deepened his strokes, melding her emotions, hopes, and fears all into one. She didn’t know if she could trust anything going on in her head right now. The only thing that made sense was the way her body responded to him, the way he answered every need instinctively. It had to be meant to be, right?
What little brain power she could muster disappeared when her climax crested, pulling her underneath into oblivion. And just before her last conscious thought, she heard him tell her, “You belong here with me in my world.” Just before he cried out in his own release.
Chapter 9
Tomassowokeinthestudy and instantly knew something was wrong. Najah’s luscious warmth was gone.
“Fuck.”
She’d bolted. He’d known he was taking a chance asking her to make things real last night. She was skittish about his father’s announcement. Understandably so. But damn, he’d thought she’d at least try to talk things out before she walked away.
He tugged his fingers roughly through his dark strands, needing the bite of pain to wake himself completely. When he sat up and looked around, he caught sight of the engagement ring that he’d slid on her finger only days ago.
Off her finger, it looked like toy, a worthless piece of glass. It was only Najah’s beauty that gave that ring any kind of brilliance.
He pulled on his pants and his shirt, then plucked the ring from its resting place before looking at it long and hard.
“You can run, Najah. But I’ll always catch you.”
And with that, he made his way to the pool house where he could shower, pack, and leave to go get his woman.
***
Najah had stopped off at her office, trying to work herself into exhaustion so that all she’d have energy for was to fall flat on her face onto her bed. But the exhaustion that dogged her as she crossed the threshold of her Canarsie home was more than physical tiredness. It was the residual ache of knowing what she’d left behind.
She’d left Tomasso sleeping with nothing but a throw blanket covering him. If she’d called into Messy Mandy’s podcast and revealed that tidbit of information, Mandy would’ve laughed her off the air. “Girl your fool behind left a fine-ass man with with a big dick, who sexes like a god, naked and alone on a couch? Honey, what is wrong with you?”
What indeed, Mandy? What indeed?
She stepped inside her foyer, kicking her shoes off her tired feet. She dropped her bag on the foyer table and headed toward the stairs to get to her bedroom when she heard, “You left me naked on a sofa in my parents’ den, Sweetness. I’m kinda gonna need an explanation for that.”
The sound of an unannounced person in her home should’ve brought fear. But her stupid mind couldn’t seem to apply those sorts of fight or flight mechanisms where Tomasso was concerned.
“How did you get in here?”
He raised his brow as if she should already know the answer to that question.
“I know we spent most of our time at my house as kids. But you do realize that I did spend quite a bit of time over here with you and your family too, right?’
Her confusion must’ve still registered because he rose from her couch in the living room and walked to where she stood at the bottom of the stairs.
“Apparently you haven’t changed the locks since the last time I was here, and you still keep a spare key under the decorative rocks near the back door.”
“Note to self,” she muttered. “Change the locks and find a new hiding place for the spare key.”
He smiled, and the knot in her chest that she’d been carrying around since she’d walked away from him that morning slowly unraveled.
