She gives me one more orgasm, pushing up on one hand, as if she might fly from the bed as her inner walls flutter and spasm, and I lap it up, tongue licking between her slit as I gently drag my fingers out of her, only to shove them beneath the elastic of my underwear to grip my cock. Give itsomething, so I can hold off a little while longer.
By the time I’m sitting on my knees, she appears to have caught her breath, though her skin is flushed and glistening with a fine sheen of sweat, limbs limp and completely wrung out. I’m inordinately proud of myself for making her that way.
I crawl up the bed to stretch out next to her, leaning on myleft elbow to stare down at her. “River.” I wait impatiently for her eyes to open. “We have to talk.”
“I can’t right now.”
If I weren’t anxious about finally declaring my feelings, I might find her sex-addled mumbling cute. “Nadine.”
She slowly turns to look at me, back to her bratty self. “Don’t use that tone with me.”
“You weren’t listening.”
“I was listening fine. I just can’t talk.”
I roll my eyes. “You were talking fine before when you said you loved me.”
She snorts dubiously. “What?”
“You said you loved me. Actually, to be accurate, you said ‘I fucking love you.’”
She rears back deliberately, taking me in, eyes drifting back and forth between my own. “You’re lying.”
I huff. “No.”
“I didn’t… I…” When I nod seriously, she trails off, her throat dipping on a swallow. “I did?”
“You did, and while I understand you were in a state of sex-fogged euphoria from my pussy-eating skills, I need to know if it was real or not.”
Her lips part, jaw working, but she stays silent. Seconds turn into a minute. Turns into a whole goddamn year.
And my rapidly beating heart slows to a crawl, until my lungs burn with the effort it takes to breathe. “It’s fine. I get it. You?—”
“I love you,” she says, cutting me off. “I do. I love you, Camden.”
Then I’m the silent one, and she smiles at my gaping.
“Are you that surprised? I thought this might have been a ploy for your arrogant ass to make me be the one who says it first.”
No. Definitely not a ploy.
“More like reassurance,” I finally say, once my organs andbrain are back to working order. I duck down, tucking my face against her throat. “Because I love you. I love you, River.” I wrap my arms around her and roll so I can squeeze her tight to me. Never let her go.
She wriggles, and I permit her to sit up. It’s better this way. Because I can look into her eyes, watch her lips form the words when she says, “I know your heart, and I’ll take care of it.”
She places her palms against my chest, and my nose stings with emotion. This woman. With a heart so big, she’s promising to take care ofmine.
I am undeserving.
Yet I want to be.
“I love you.” I thread my fingers into her hair, pulling her to me, kissing her mouth. Speaking my vow against her lips. “You won’t regret me.”
She melts, her mouth pliant, spine soft, muscles loose. I glide my hands over her, from her head, down her shoulders, along her sides, to her ass and back, the emotion I’d spilled all over my bed fading as my baser instincts take over.
The demand to fuck and rut, to claim the woman I love. Mark her as mine in as many ways as possible. “You ready, honey?”
She nods. “Make love to me.”
