Her throat moves with her heavy swallow. “You don’t have?—”
I pull her to me and kiss her, tasting my own slick like I’ve done countless times since Rhett first ate me out. Her breath catches as I ease her own bra off, my movements more cautious than hers but no less relentless. Her nipples are pink and stiff. I carefully lower my head, tracing each of them before pulling one into my mouth. Her breath catches, her hand digging into my thigh hard enough to bruise. It makes me brave enough to run my tongue lower, down her side and across her hip bone, easing her jeans down her thighs and completely off as I do.
Her breath hitches as I run my tongue along the sensitive line where her thigh meets her pussy. She doesn’t taste anything like me.A faint bit of peach but mostly the clean taste of skin, like anywhere else on her body if licked over the last few minutes. I carefully trace her clit. She shudders in a breath, her hands fluttering by her sides.
“Do you?” I ask, trying to be bold like Rhett even as my nerves rise.
Her eyes are wholly glazed when she opens them, slowly focusing on me. “W-what?”
I preen at the unsteadiness of her voice.
“Do you twist your hands into his hair and cut up his scalp?”
Her eyes flair hot, and then her hands are slowly moving over my shoulders in silent answer.
I lower back to her clit and explore her the way Rhett did me, finding every inch of skin and angle of my tongue I can until her nails are scratching up my back, drawing long welts along my sides and down my shoulders. She arches as she gasps, the sound so quiet I almost miss it from my own heart racing in my ears. Her entire body locks, and I pull her clit into my mouth, trying to extend the orgasm as long as I can. Eventually, she relaxes back into the floor, her hands falling away from my shoulders.
I ease back onto my knees as her eyes flutter closed. What are the rules now? Do I clean her up the way Rhett does with me? Am I supposed to say something? Nerves lock my tongue and my legs equally.
After nearly a full minute, she blows out a breath and slowly sits up, casually grabbing her shirt. There’s tension in her shoulders, though, and in the careful neutrality of her expression. I stop her with a careful hand on her wrist, the same way I touch Paxton to keep either of us from completely losing our minds. The thought has a lump rising in my throat that dries out my voice, making it crack.
“You can stay if you want.”
BILLIE
Sunlight spills through the window, pulling me from sleep. My head aches, reminding me that I’d had two entire glasses of wine on an empty stomach the same day I flew across the country. The bed is empty, the covers pushed back on the other side, theorchid scent faded but clinging to the fabrics. I ease onto my elbow, grabbing the shirt I’d intentionally brought in here last night and dropped within reach of the bed. Carys pads back into her bedroom, a simple navy henley and light wash flare jeans hugging her curves, as I ease the shirt over my head and pull my hair free of the collar. The entire time, I don’t peel my gaze away from Carys, soaking in every inch of her body. Her cheeks flush as she catches me staring at her.
“I need to get bookkeeping done,” she says after a full minute. “You’re welcome to stay here if you want. Or we could get lunch or breakfast or…”
She trails off as I shake my head.
“I don’t really want anyone to know I’m back.”
It’s a selfish request all things considered, but I don’t apologize for it. Being with her vindicated something deep inside me I wish wasn’t there, a piece that takes satisfaction in knowing I’ve gotten to have her, too, while he doesn’t know about it, while he was in another city with only the bond to give him an idea that something was happening. The rest of me wants to carve that selfish portion out of my chest with a butter knife so the pain keeps it from ever wanting to resurface.
The selfish portion wins.
She stares at me for a long time.
“You want to keep this a secret?” she asks, her voice neutral. She gestures between us, making it clear she means more than just me showing up at the shop last night.
“Yes.”
She breathes deeply and crosses her arms, her knuckles whitening from her grip. Then she nods once, grabs her phone from her nightstand, and walks back to the door of her bedroom. Her fingers fly across the screen.
“I’ll leave the extra key on the kitchen counter.” She looks back at me, her green eyes brighter than the forest in thesummertime. “I’m staying at Rhett’s tonight before the long road trip, but you can stay here if you want.”
“All right.”
She soaks me in, her scent surrounding her again. And then she’s gone, the door to her apartment closing behind her with a soft, hesitant click. I drop back against the pillows and cover my face.
Chapter Thirty-Three
RHETT
Carys sits on the island’s counter, her feet dangling several feet off the ground, her arms wrapped around her stomach, when I drop my bag just inside the garage door and cross the room to her.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, pulling her into my arms. She breathes in a shuddering breath without reaching for me or wrapping her arms around my waist like she always does. I slowly ease away from her, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Carys?”
