“I am. I’d take you with me, but I’m in meetings all week, and there’s an off-site company outing for a whole day. I’ll miss you every fucking minute.” I pecked her lips. “Believe me.”
“I do, and although I’ve lived alone for a while, this house is going to be empty as hell without you.” I shut my eyes as she rubbed soft circles on my back. “And I couldn’t have gone with you anyway. Every single deliverable we have on this project is due over the next week.” She drifted her hand along my jaw. “Before we have to sleep alone and miss each other for the next week, want to get into bed early?”
“Hell yes,” I whispered before I slanted my mouth over hers, backing her against the wall with a bruising kiss. I was already counting the days until I landed back in New York. Not only because of how much I’d miss her, but because of the plans I had for us when I returned.
My mother’s engagement ring was burning a hole in my briefcase. My plan was to ask her to really marry me the minute I got home. I hadn’t worked out exactly how—if I was just going to collapse to one knee the minute I came through the door or take her somewhere. I didn’t want to do it before I left and have to head out of town right after, when all I’d want to do would be to celebrate the rest of our lives together.
I’d always expected to be with Julie forever. Finding out that my best friend was the love of my life was the best kind of surprise, even if it was an obvious given. We’d taken the long way, but we were here, and that was all that would ever matter.
She squealed when I lifted her legs off the floor and carried her into the bedroom.
“That’showmany times you’ve carried me in here?” She laughed against my lips.
“Not enough,” I told her before I set her on the bed and climbed over her.
“What are you staring at?” She shot me a playful grin as she pulled at the hem of my T-shirt.
“Like I keep telling you, I just like looking at you, Jules.” I ran my thumb over her lips and hissed when she sucked it into her mouth.
“Lose the shirt.” Her voice dropped to a sultry whisper as she slid her hand under my shirt and lifted it up my back. I peeled it over my head and threw it behind me.
“God, you’re beautiful,” she breathed out, skimming her hands down my chest.
“Yeah?” I said, hooking my thumbs into the waistband of her yoga pants. “You’re a fucking goddess.” I caught her eye roll as I dragged them down her legs.
“I created a monster with that photo, didn’t I?”
“I’d say so.” I ran my mouth up the inside of her thigh, painting tiny kisses over the wet scrap of cotton between her legs. “I took a shot of it with my phone so I can look at you every night, even though you sprawled on that bed is all I can ever think about.”
“Right there, babe,” she groaned, bucking her hips off the bed when I slid the material aside and covered her with my mouth. I wanted to tear her panties off and devour her like usual, but I took my time to tease and memorize every inch for the next six nights when all I would have was that photo and my hand on my dick, wishing I were back here already.
“My sweet Julie,” I murmured against her soaked skin as I pulled her panties down and dove back in, fucking her with my tongue as she clenched her thighs around my face. I was drowning in her and loving every damn second.
I loved that photo for so many reasons. Not only because of how goddamn breathtaking she was, so much to the point that I couldn’t think or speak for the first minute after she’d shown it to me, but because I knew the guts it took for her to do it. She’d come such a long way from the woman who wouldn’t even get on a video call a few months ago because she didn’t want me to see how she’d changed.
She’d always be the most beautiful woman in the world to me, and now she was all mine.
“Landon, stop.”
I lifted my head, flicking my eyes to hers.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said, panting as her skin flushed from her cheeks down to her chest. She peeled her panties off from where they hung around her knees and sat up. “It’s very right, but—” her hooded eyes danced when they met mine “—I want to ride.”
My brows shot up as I climbed back onto the bed and leaned against the headboard.
“Do whatever you want to me, baby. I’m all yours.”
A slow grin split her mouth as she tore off her tank top and tugged my sweatpants down until my cock sprang free. She held my gaze, licking her lips before swirling her tongue around the tip.
“Fuck. Baby, please. I want to come inside you, not down your throat.”
“You will,” she whispered, dragging kisses across my stomach and up my neck. “I just wanted it like this.” She took my cock in her hand and straddled my hips, guiding me in until I slid all the way inside her.
Julie had been on the pill for the past month, so condoms weren’t needed. I could take her bare every night, and I did, each time more mind-blowing than the one before, even though I swore it couldn’t get any better. She’d never asked to get on top before, and I thought it was because her knees and hips were sore at the end of a day—something she’d never tell me, but I’d notice.
From this position, she was so tight and I could get so much deeper, but I wanted it to be just as amazing for her too. Her body rolled against mine, and the only words between us were low moans as she sank down on me harder with every thrust, her eyes fluttering as she circled her hips.
