Her lips part on a sigh. “Is it wrong that I love the way you say my name?”
That sigh…
That’s it, the straw that breaks the self-control camel’s back.
We surge together, our polite veneers disintegrating in the heat that’s always just beneath the surface with us. Our tongues tangle, then spar, then dance as our hands begin to wander. She tastes like dopamine and adrenaline, like a long-awaited finish line, finally in sight, and a dare I can’t wait to take.
Her fingers dig into my neck, my back, urging me closer. I slide my hand higher on the wood as I obey. The rough doorframe pricks at my palm, biting into my skin, but I barely feel it.
I’m too lost in the way her hips rock against me through our clothes, circling, teasing, until I’m so hard it hurts.
But it’s a good hurt.
Damn, it’s good.
So good…
I fist my hand in the thin denim at the base of her spine, urging her even closer, groaning into her mouth as she wraps a leg around my hips. She grinds harder, faster, and I swear, I can feel her heat through my jeans.
I can also feel how quickly this could turn into another scandal if we’re not actually alone…
I pull back with a sharp inhale, cupping her jaw in one hand as I fight for control.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, her lips swollen, and a “need you inside me” look in her eyes that has my balls dragging between my thighs.
“Nothing. Not one fucking thing.” I hold her gaze, willing her to see how dumb it is to keep pretending this connection is fake. “Come home with me. Let me show you what I can do to you in an actual bed for once.”
She bites her bottom lip, her forehead furrowing.
“Stop,” I say, prying it free with a gentle tug of my thumb. “There’s nothing to stress about. Just come home with me. Let me make you come and bring you coffee in bed in the morning before I leave for practice. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Or weird. I promise.”
“I can’t,” she says. “I’m sorry, I just… I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Boundaries. We set boundaries.” She swallows, her throat working as she nods. “And I think we should stick to them. At least for now.”
“For now?” I probe.
“Until we both get what we came for,” she says, a pleading note creeping into her voice as she adds, “I can’t afford for you to decide you’re done with this before the wedding, Baylor. I really can’t.”
“Charlotte, I would never?—”
“I know you probably wouldn’t,” she says, ducking out from under my arm. “I’m probably being stupid, but three more friends sent me that article today and…” She paces away, shaking her hands at her sides like she’s trying to fling something unpleasant from her fingers. “I can’t stand it. I really can’t. I can’t stand being the cliché, the pathetic middle-aged loser tossed aside for a younger woman and left to rot like some… Like a pumpkin in the Louisiana heat. All saggy and rotten, with a puckered old lady mouth that will never smile again.”
I laugh, then wince, the suffering of my cock forgotten as I realize she isn’t kidding. Not really.
“You can’t let this get in your head like that, Charlotte,” I say. “It’s not true, and he doesn’t deserve that kind of power over you.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not old. Or a lady.” She turns back to me, her hands threading into her hair to form twinfists. “It sucks, Nix. It sucks more than I ever thought it would. I always thought that I didn’t care all that much about getting older, and I certainly wouldn’t let anyone elsemakeme care. But now…” She exhales a ragged breath. “When everyone treats you a certain way. When society, your friends, your ex, a lifestyle magazine, and everyone else and their mother have decided youarea thing—isn’t it crazy to insist you’re something else?” She presses her lips together for a beat before she whispers, “Am I crazy?”
Aching for her, I shake my head. “No, you aren’t. You’re just different. And smart. Two things it’s really hard to be sometimes.”
“Yeah. It is.” She sniffs, swiping at her nose with the back of her hand before her arms drop limply to her sides. “Thanks for listening. I feel better.”
“You’re welcome. Anytime.”
“But I’m not sleeping with you tonight,” she says, her eyes narrowing on my face. “No matter how perfect you’re being. No more rushing into hot, spontaneous, mind-blowing sex.”
