He pressed a kiss to the curve of my shoulder, simple and sure, before his hold on me eased just enough to let me breathe again.
Within minutes, Roan’s breathing evened out completely, following Jay into sleep. As tired as I was, I stayed awake a little longer, feeling the steady weight of them both there—one beside me, one behind me—three hearts still beating after everything that night had thrown at us.
We were going to be okay. Jay would get better. We’d kick the crap out of the next team, then the guys would take home a championship and the title.
I refused to entertain any other result. Roan shifted against me, the weight of his hand against my abdomen tightening as he pulled me more firmly into him. He didn’t wake. I put a hand on Jay, wanting to feel him breathing, himthere, and I swore he sighed in his sleep. His relief seemed to flow right through me. Ilingered there for a while and then finally my eyes drifted close, and sleep swept me away.
Chapter
Thirty-Five
WREN
Iwoke to warmth and quiet. For a few long, drifting seconds, I didn’t open my eyes. The world was all soft around the edges with weak sunlight filtering between the mini-blinds, the hum of the wind outside, and the slow rhythm of breathing that wasn’t mine.
Jay’s breathing registered first because I had my hand on his chest. It rose and fell steadily. Then the soft caress of Roan’s breathing teased my nape. He was awake. I could feel it before I heard him shift, the subtle change in the air between us, the careful way his hand moved against my hip.
“Morning,” he murmured, voice low, still rough with sleep.
I made a small sound that might’ve been a reply, or just the start of one. My body didn’t want to move yet. To be fair, my brain didn’t want to move either. The exhaustion had sunk deep, the kind built on a house of cards staged on a foundation of stress, overcommitment, and emotional duress.
“Hey,” he said again, softer this time, closer. His nose brushed the back of my neck, and then the faintest press of his lips followed—barely a kiss, more like a promise of one.
That was enough to nudge me fully awake.
I twisted slowly, easing my hand off of Jay carefully so I wouldn’t jostle the bed too much or disturb him. The light caught Roan’s face just right from messy hair that was adorably scruffy, the stubble shadowing his jaw that added a grittier, bad boy vibe to his look and stunning eyes, the clearest I’d ever seen them.
“Morning,” I managed, voice scratchy, small. “How long have you been awake?”
“A while.” He smiled a little. “Didn’t want to wake you. You looked… peaceful.”
I snorted softly. “I don’t think I’ve felt peaceful in weeks.” I almost saidever, but that seemed a bit hyperbolic. The past few weeks, on the other hand, had been rough.
“Then maybe it’s about time.” He curled his arm around my neck, rolling me over so we were face to face. The gentle brush of his calloused thumb against my cheek, captivated me, My body reacted before my brain fully processed his action, leaning in toward him as I tilted my chin a little higher to give him better access.
The space between us shrank until there wasn’t any at all. The first touch of his lips to mine was a slow, almost tentative kiss. He tested if I would welcome the contact while not demanding. The man undid me utterly with how thoughtful he was even in passion. There was definitely passion. When I sighed against his mouth aware of the softest pressure, he deepened the kiss with a sweep of his tongue.
The world around us stayed quiet as he teased his tongue against mine and began to sweep his tongue in and out, The gentle thrusts echoed the way his hips pressed against mine. The thin barrier of his briefs were nothing to the weight of his erection as it seemed to pulse against my belly.
Behind me, Jay’s soft breathing hadn’t changed though the light seemed to dim, then grow stronger before it dimmed again.A storm front moving in, maybe. That thought drifted past the inferno Roan stoked and became so much ash as he shifted his grip to wrap his hand around my throat.
My pulse tripped, dashing down a flight of stairs until it was racing. The massage of his lips against mine demanded even as it coaxed. The trembling that haunted me the night before hadn’t fully disappeared, yet it seemed to shift and change as he explored my mouth.
His kiss was so thorough, I forgot where his mouth ended and mine began. We breathed together, a dance of lips, teeth, and tongues. Every deliberate movement took us deeper, then it was just us communicating.
He traced the shape of my lower lip with his before daring me with teasing little licks that I had to answer. It was like we communicated in some unspoken language and it rolled through my body like a building storm. The weight of his cock, thick and ridged and right there had me writhing against him.
The necklace he formed with his hand flexed against my throat as I rotated my hips, seeking to add another layer of tension to this dance between us. I dug my nails into his bare shoulders as he slid a finger under the gusset of my panties, then he was delving deeper against the liquid softness.
A rush of heat spilled into my system and he bit down on my lower lip, the sting riveting me in place as he thrust one, then two fingers into me and traced his thumb against my clit. I obeyed and began to rock my hips, riding his hand as he laved his tongue over the bite before he deepened the kiss once more.
I was all but purring into his mouth as he bumped his hips up once and I slid a hand down to wrap around his cock. It poked upwards from his waistband, all hot and silken and utterly hard. Alternating between squeezing and stroking, I answered the motion of his fingers with my own.
Groaning, he pushed three fingers into me, stretching me even as I caressed a thumb of the blunt tip of his cock where beads of pre-cum leaked. The moisture added to the ease of my strokes and it was my turn to bite at Roan’s tongue. The lightest scrape of my teeth and there was a rip as my panties tore and then he replaced his fingers with his cock.
He urged me upwards as he pushed just the tip in. Hiking my leg higher, he eased his access and then I groaned as I surged toward him. The first rush of him filling me, stretching me, coiled the tension in my belly even tighter.
Still, he didn’t release my mouth. Instead, he mirrored the thrusts of his cock with his tongue. He had one hand on my hip while the other stayed firmly around my throat. It should feel controlling, dominating, and overwhelming—but all I experienced was adoration, desire, and fuck—pleasure.
