It was as though everything she needed, the only thing she needed, right in this moment, was something only he could give her. She needed a man who could fully appreciate the want inside of her.
And he, in turn, needed her. She wasn’t looking for a guy to show off to her friends. A guy she could take out to the clubs. She wasn’t looking to land a pilot.
The things other woman chased him for seemed to be the things Penny needed to look past.
Because she hadn’t been going to take him seriously. She’d fought it.
She hadn’t stood a chance.
Sure as hell, this was ninety-nine percent physical but he felt something else. Something in her soul tugged at him.
Ever since that fucking blast! He’d been harassed by gnawing anxiety, frustration… and a blood-sucking worthlessness. The notion that he wouldn’t fly again, that he was no longer the go to guy, had taunted him.
And then he’d caught Penny watching him.
Not knowing who he was. Not knowing anything about him. She’d watched him.
She’d watched him with that innocent but ferocious hunger.
And in doing so, she’d chased away those taunting voices of irrelevance.
She needed him. Something had gone very wrong in her life, leaving her lost and second-guessing her own worth.
And a woman like Penny… needed to feel treasured, beautiful… lusted after.
Being inside of her, engulfed by her warm, tight heat, he felt connected on an almost spiritual level. Which made no sense at all.
It made him wonder. About fate, destiny, all that crap he’d never really thought of.
He was pretty sure she’d come more than once already, and yet she wouldn’t stop to catch her breath.
Chaz put a hand on her hip and raised himself up off the bed, meeting her but slowing her down at the same time.
She sat straight up on top of him now, her head dropped back, too heavy to hold up. Chaz, clutching one of her thighs, drove their motion. And then…
“Oh, fuck, Penny.” He barely managed to get out, “Condom.”
It took a minute for his words to penetrate her thoughts.
“No.” She fell forward and moaned, “Oh, shit. Do you have any?”
Every single day of his life, since turning sixteen, he’d kept condoms in his possession. In his wallet, his shaving case, his dresser.
Except for now. When his mom had collected his belongings from the barracks and then picked him up from the hospital, she’d failed to grab the box of condoms out of his bathroom.
Chaz slid his hand up from her sweet little tush and then rubbed her back. “I don’t.”
At which point, she collapsed heavily on top of him.
He was still hard, inside her, but the pain in his shoulder had decided to make itself known again.
She raised one of her legs and rolled off but when she went to get up from the bed, he stopped her. “No, stay here a minute.” He didn’t want this to end. He was inexplicably fearful that she’d throw her clothes on, run out the door, and never talk to him again.
Which was not something he was used to.
She hesitated. “I’m not on the pill.”
“That’s not what I mean. Come back here.”
