Her gaze locks with mine, and Christ, the vulnerability there nearly undoes me. I release her wrists so I can watch her reaction as I thrust deeper, harder, my control slipping with each passing second.
“Jesus, I’m sorry,” I breathe against her neck, my hips snapping forward with increasing urgency. “I wanted to take my time with you, Harp. I swear I did. I wanted to go slow and make this perfect, but I can’t—fuck—I can’t hold back.”
Her nails bite into my skin as she meets each thrust. “Don’t you dare apologize,” she gasps, bowing beneath me. “I’ve been waiting for this too.”
The sight of her, flushed and wanting, her body taking all of me, nearly shatters what little restraint I have left. I hook one arm under her knee, changing the angle, and she cries out, her head thrown back in pleasure.
“That’s it, baby,” I encourage, watching her face as I hit that spot inside her that makes her whole body tremble. “God, I needed to fuck you. I needed this so bad.”
“Then take it,” she whispers, and something in her voice breaks me. “Take me.”
I lose myself completely, driving into her with everything I have, my hips slamming against hers. The headboard bangs rhythmically against the wall, but I don’t care who hears. All I care about is Harper, her gasps, her moans, the way her body welcomes mine like I never left.
“Fuck, Harper,” I pant, my movements becoming erratic as my release builds. “I’m close—I can’t?—”
Her legs wrap tighter around my waist, pulling me deeper. My body is on fire, burning with need as I pound into her, my grip on her hip bruising.
“Yes,” she moans, her back arching off the bed. “Please, H. Oh, my God, please.”
It’s too much. Her voice, her body, the fact that she’s here in my bed. She was waiting for me. I bury my face in her neck as I come undone, groaning her name against her skin as I empty myself inside her, my hips jerking with each pulse.
“Ahh, God, Harper. Fuck.”
She follows me over the edge, her body clenching around mine as she moans my name into the dark, coming apart for me with a shudder I feel all the way to my chest.
For several moments, all I can do is breathe against her neck, my weight braced on my forearms to keep from crushing her. When I finally find the strength to lift my head, she’s watching me with those soft brown eyes. She looks happy and warm and perfect, her beautiful pink cheeks flushed with satisfaction.
“Shit,” I bury my head in her neck. “I didn’t mean to lose control like that. I swear I was planning to be more gentleman-like.”
She laughs softly, her fingers tracing patterns on my back. “I didn’t exactly come here for gentleman-like, H.”
I shake my head, unable to stop the grin that spreads across my face. “Still. I’ve been thinking about this moment for over ten years. And what do I do? I pounce on you like some desperate teenager who can’t hold it together for five minutes.”
“You’re apologizing for giving me two mind-blowing orgasms within five minutes of getting home?”
I chuckle softly. “Well, when you put it that way…”
“Yeah, I’m not complaining,” she whispers, her voice still breathless. “Not even a little bit.”
I’m still inside her, still connected, and I don’t want to move. Don’t want to break this perfect moment where she’s mine again. But I ease out slowly, both of us gasping at the sensitivity, and roll to my side, pulling her against my chest.
“I need you to know something,” I murmur against her hair. “That wasn’t just…I didn’t just need to get off.” I swallow hard, trying to find the right words. “I lost control because it’s you. Because I’ve wanted you for so long that having you here, finally in my bed, wearing my shirt…fuck, it broke something in me, Harp.”
She traces her finger along my collarbone, her touch sending shivers across my skin. Her eyes glisten as she traces my jawline with her fingertip. “I never meant to wreck you like this,” she whispers, the weight of ten years hanging between us. “But God, H…I wouldn’t take back tonight for anything. Not when I’ve been aching for you all this time.”
“Fuck, I’ve missed you so damn much, Harper.” I tug her tighter against me, wrapping my arms around her with zero intention of ever wanting to let go. She makes me feel like I’m somebody in this world other than a hockey player. Like I belong somewhere other than just on a slab of ice. Like I have a real honest to God purpose.
She feels like home to me, which is why I release a contented sigh and close my eyes, inhaling her scent, reveling in a dream come true when she says, “I’ve missed you too.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
HARPER
Iwake slowly, wrapped in comfortable warmth.
For a few seconds, I don’t know where I am, only that there’s a solid chest at my back and an arm draped over my waist like it belongs there, like it’s been there for years instead of hours. Harrison’s breath fans across the back of my neck, steady and deep, and I stay still just to feel it.
To feel him again after all this time.
