He huffed a laugh against her skin—even now, she could make him smile—and shifted his weight, hitching her leg higher over his hip. The new angle let him sink deeper, and Lily cried out, shuddering all around him.
"Right there," she gasped. "Don't stop, don't you dare stop?—"
Alex was beyond stopping. Beyond thinking. There was only Lily—her taste, her scent, the way she felt around him, beneath him, the sounds she made as he pushed them both toward the edge.
He could feel his release building, coiling at the base of his spine, but he refused to go over without her. He snaked a hand between them, finding her clit, and rubbed in tight circles as he continued to thrust.
Lily's moans pitched higher, her movements becoming erratic. "Alex, I'm—I'm going to?—"
"Come for me," he growled against her ear. "Let go, Lily. I've got you."
She shattered with his name exploding from her lips, her whole body tensing as her orgasm crashed through her. Her walls clamped down on him, and Alex followed her over the edge with a groan, spilling himself inside her in hot pulses that seemed to go on forever.
They stayed locked together as the aftershocks rolled through them, both breathing hard, neither willing to break the connection just yet.
Finally, Alex found the strength to roll to the side, pulling out of her with a wince that was echoed by her soft sound of loss. He gathered her against his chest, her head tucked under his chin, their legs tangled together in the sweat-damp sheets.
"So," Lily said eventually, her voice hoarse, "that felt like goodbye sex."
Alex's chest tightened. Trust her to name the thing he'd been avoiding.
"It wasn't," he said, but even he could hear the lie in it.
Lily was quiet for a moment, her fingers tracing idle patterns over his heart. "You know, for a scientist, you're really bad at facing evidence."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you've been pulling away all morning. Physically present, emotionally checked out." She lifted her head to look at him, and the knowing sadness in her green eyes made something crack in his chest. "You're already bracing for impact, aren't you?”
Yes, he wanted to say.Because the alternative is asking you to stay and watching you say no.
"I don't know what you want me to say," he managed instead.
"I want you to say something real." Her voice was soft but steady. "We've been sleeping together for a week. I've told you things I've never told anyone. And every time we get close to talking about what happens next, you shut down."
"There's nothing to talk about. We both knew this was temporary."
The words came out harsher than he intended, and he watched Lily flinch like he'd struck her.
Nice work, Carmichael. Really stellar emotional intelligence there.
"Right," she said, pulling back slightly. "Temporary. Of course."
"Lily—"
"No, you're right." She was retreating now—not physically, but he could feel the walls going up, her sunny armor sliding back into place. "We had an arrangement. Great sex, no strings. I guess I forgot for a minute.”
That wasn't what this was, and they both knew it. But correcting her would mean admitting the truth, and Alex wasn't brave enough for that.
Coward, the voice in his head hissed.Complete and utter coward.
"The video really is incredible," he said, grasping for safer ground. "Your audience is going to love it."
Lily's smile didn't reach her eyes. "That's the goal."
She extracted herself from his arms with a casualness that felt forced, reaching for his discarded t-shirt and pulling it over her head. The sight of her in his clothes—something that usually made his chest warm—now felt like a knife twisting.
"I'm starving," she announced, her voice artificially bright. "What's for dinner?"
