She pulled him then, back with her onto her bed, down on top of her, still kissing him, their legs now entangled, her hands now exploring the expanse of his back and his arms, her fingers then in his hair. She shifted, opening to him and wrapping her legs around him, and he nestled against her, feeling her heat through his briefs and damn, he had to get them off. So he stopped kissing her—which sucked—and rolled away from her to shuck them swiftly down his legs, while she rolled in the other direction to access that critical drawer she’d mentioned.
It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for, but that moment of separation, of temporarily not touching her, and of her not touching him, was enough to make him realize, fully, completely, without a whisper of a doubt, that this was really happening.
Two naked people on a bed in a romantically lit bedroom, one of them reaching for a condom...
Yes. Yep. Oh, yeah. This was happening.
And Rio wasn’t entirely sure what this somewhat odd urge was—this sudden desire to slow things down instead of rushing toward the really awesome part where he already had the condom on and was deep inside of her. But it was real, and he realized he had something he needed to say.
“Just so you know—” Rio had to clear his throat more than once “—I’m in love with you, too.”
Casey looked up, and for a moment the expression on her face was almost impossible to read, but then she blinked and laughed a little, and pulled him toward her and kissed him. She had a condom in her hand—she’d gotten it out of the wrapper—and she gave it to him.
His mission was clear, and he accomplished it swiftly.
But he discovered he had more to say. “So, you know, like, maybe... marry me...?”
Chapter Eighteen
A marriage proposal.
It was too ridiculously, perfectly Luc.
Because, yeah, in her crazy-ass wildest dreams, Casey could imagine Luc—her imaginary, fictional soulmate Luc—saying exactly that. As if I’m in love with you, too wasn’t enough of a fantasy moment right before they made love for the first time.
Still, she faltered, just a little, because she wasn’t quite sure what to say in response. Even for love-blinded-Casey-before-she’d-been-lied-to, that excited utterance of a Marry me would’ve come across as a little extreme.
And Luc, being Luc, immediately picked up on that, and quickly said, “Whoa! Sorry! Too soon! What the hell, Rosetti?”
So she laughed, not just because he was laughing at himself, but because it was kinda funny. He was funny and sweet—or he would’ve been if he were really Luc.
If he were really Luc, she’d tell him in a few months, when he asked again, that she almost said yes to him tonight. That she knew in this very moment that she was going to say it eventually. That everything about him, from the day they’d first met, had been one, enormous, unequivocal yes.
Except for the part where he’d lied about everything, and no, damnit, she wasn’t going to go there. She was going to have sex. Great sex with this impossibly fit man, to whom she’d been attracted from that very first moment she’d looked into his eyes in that grocery store parking lot.
And as she gazed at him now, the anticipation that filled her was powerful and she willingly embraced it. She surrendered to it. It was that easy. All she had to do was... breathe.
It didn’t feel like she was about to have sex with a stranger, and it was nothing like having sex with Todd—she’d never been able to get out of her own head when she hooked up with him. At least not since they’d broken up. But here and now—with Luc, fictional though he was—she could push it all away. All over-analyzing, all thinking.
There was only here. And now.
And him.
“Come here,” she said, and he obeyed but he was still apologetic, so she shut him up with another kiss, pulling him back down on top of her, between her legs, and reaching to find him and guide him. He had that Navy SEAL team-player thing down, so he immediately helped by adjusting his hips and propping up his upper body, but otherwise letting her keep control, which was nice. His movement broke their kiss, but it worked the muscles in his arms and shoulders, and gave them eye contact, and oh, god, Casey loved his eyes. And always, before this, she would’ve forced herself to look away, but now she didn’t. She let herself look at him, let herself love his eyes, and she let herself go, falling into him and losing herself, even as she pushed her hips up to fill her body with his.
And when his eyes turned even more beautiful with the intense pleasure and desire that played across his familiar face, she wanted to freeze time, and stay right here, in this one incredible moment, forever.
But life didn’t work that way.
And in truth, her body didn’t want to freeze. Her body wanted movement, both unison and counter—and really, more counter than unison. Her body wanted friction.
And ah, god, he moved with her and against her, slowly at first, then faster, his gorgeous eyes never leaving her face. He watched her, intent, as if he were trying to read her mind, to discover what she liked, what made her catch fire, so he could give her more of that.
“More of everything,” Casey told him. “Oh, god, this feels so good...”
She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him even more fully inside of her—and she could see from his eyes that he liked that, that he was as close to release as she was.
And the tendril of regret that laced through her was only that this would be over too soon. But even that was okay, here in this moment of now, of need, of make-believe that felt... so... fucking... real.
