I stripped off my clothes and stepped into my shower, letting the water run before I stuck my head under the stream. I inhaled a deep breath, pulling at the muscles in my neck to loosen them up. When the heat softened my stiff shoulders, I jumped at the creak of the shower door.
“You writers . . .” Joshtsked in my ear as his arm slid around my waist. My eyes clenched shut as his tongue traced along the shell of my ear. “Always in your head.” He wrapped his warm lips around my lobe, my knees melting into jelly when he sank his teeth into my sensitive flesh.
I shrugged him off despite the mewl falling off my lips. “I’m not in my head; I’m fine.”
“Right,” he whispered against my neck as his thumb traced around my rigid nipple. “Like I can’t tell in five seconds when something is bothering you.”
“I’ll always hate that we lost all that time.” I lolled my neck to the side to give him better access. Even when I was mad at Josh, I could never resist him. That was a lifelong habit I was sure I’d never be able to break.
“I wasn’t good enough for you back then.” Josh’s fingers tangled in my wet locks as he yanked my head back. His teeth grazed my shoulder blade before taking a nip. As his lips dove in deeper, his hand tightened in my hair. The pang in my gut that I’d had for most of this afternoon dulled as my attention drifted to the pounding between my legs. “And I’m still not, but you’re still mine.”
Josh cupped my cheek and turned my head toward his. “So, stop worrying about lost time. The only time that matters is right here and right now. There is no way in hell either of us are going anywhere,” he murmured against my lips.
“Is that so?” A smirk twisted my mouth.
“Damn fucking right, Cupcake.” His hooded eyes glossed down my wet body. “Now give me those lips.” His mouth covered mine in a searing kiss. His arm stayed draped around my waist, pinning me from behind as our lips got sloppy and needy.
“Josh,” I sighed as his tongue glided over the seam of my lips.
“What, baby?”
My thighs clenched together as his hand slid between my legs. Magic circles from his calloused fingertips over my swollen bundle of nerves made it hard to stay in an upright position. My eyes fell to his hand and the muscles flexing in his forearm as he moved faster. Simply watching him touch me with those beautiful hands was enough to make me tip over the edge.
His throaty laugh rumbled against my back. “You like my hands, Cupcake?” Josh pumped two fingers in and out as his thumb traced my clit. I held on to the towel bar as my vision faded.
“I’ve been starved for you for years. That’s what I was doing all that time,” he murmured as his other hand slid upward from my waist to my breast. My nipple pebbled against his fingers. “I’m still hungry, Cupcake.”
I grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him hard, my body on fire from his touch and his words. His tongue took long draws inside my mouth, the same languid pace he always took as he moved inside me.
“You’re almost ready to come, I can feel it. Let me have it, baby.” Josh sank his teeth into my shoulder as he spread my legs wider.
“I . . . I . . . No, Josh.” I shook my head as I bucked my hips against him.
He stilled behind me. “No?”
“I want to come with you inside me. Please.” I reached behind and grabbed his cock. He was rock hard and pulsing in my hand as I tried to guide him where I wanted him.
“Fuck, Brianna.” His head dropped to my back, his lips dragging sloppy kisses up to the nape of my neck. “Turn around and hold on.”
I didn’t even make it all the way around before Josh picked me up by my waist and pinned me against the wall, entering me in one hard thrust. The intensity between us didn’t fade. If anything, it ignited more and more each time. Josh’s kisses were hungry and demanding, as if he was trying to devour every inch of me. I was already close, and after only a few minutes, I clenched around him and screamed.
“I love you. I love you so much,” Josh grunted as my orgasm ripped through me.
“I love you, too.” My words came out in a barely audible whisper.
He fisted my hair again as his hips moved harder and deeper. His body stiffened as he filled me. Even after he came, he was still hard and didn’t stop, only slowed to a sensual pace.
“Marry me, Brianna,” he whispered as he shook in my arms.
Wait. What?
I stilled as he set me down on the shower floor. The first time I’d been given this command, I saw red. But it didn’t bother me this time, coming from the man I’d always wanted to hear it from. It was the timing, not the delivery making me hesitate. Did I want to marry him? Of course, I did—ever since I was little. But, we’d only been together—as more than best friends—for a few months. Sure, he was in my bed every night, but it was too soon. I scrubbed my hand down my face as I felt his eyes bore into me.
“Josh,” I whispered as I cupped his cheek, running my thumb along the brown bristles on his jaw. “I . . .”
“Yes.” He nodded with his eyes shut. “Yes, I know. I can’t explain it, Bri. It just came out. I didn’t mean it—I mean, yeah, I meant it, but not—fuck.” He draped his hand over his eyes and shook his head.
I laughed as I peeled his hand from his face. “I used to secretly write my name as Brianna Marie Falco all the time. I practiced how I’d make the ‘F.’” My eyes fell to his chest as my finger scripted an F over his pec. “It was the one notebook I managed to keep hidden from you.”
