She was going to come.
"That's it, baby, you can let go," I said before pulling her peak into my mouth again.
She threw her head back and moaned. I could not believe this was happening. As she continued grinding against me, my own release came barreling through me. I was going to come in my pants like a horny teenager.
As I did just that, her phone vibrated on the table.
26
ELEANOR
My breath was still coming in uneven little bursts when the phone buzzed on the coffee table.
The sound was impossibly loud in the quiet room.
I froze. Alex froze on top of me.
For one suspended moment, all I felt was the heavy, warm thrum of what we’d just done. The heat in my cheeks. The lingering tremble in my thighs. The press of his forehead against mine as we tried to catch our breath.
Then reality crashed back in.
The vibration continued.
And the spell shattered.
I reached for my phone with a hand that wasn’t entirely steady.
Ava:Mom, can you come get me? I’m tired.
A cold ripple went through me, washing away the last lingering sparks of pleasure. Not regret, never that, but something sobering.
A reminder of who I was first.
Always first.
I sat back, pulling in a breath, trying not to let the sudden drop show on my face. Alex pushed himself upright too, hair mussed, cheeks flushed, eyes still soft and full of concern.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
No.
Yes.
God, I didn’t know.
I swallowed. “I have to go pick up Ava.”
“Of course.” His voice was gentle, steady, but I saw the change in his eyes. The recognition. The pulling back.
Not rejection.
Just . . . understanding.
I stood, smoothing my shirt like it mattered, trying to silence the chaotic swirl in my chest. I had fun. More fun than I’d allowed myself to hope for. I didn’t regret a second of it.
But the second the real world intruded, everything inside me twisted. Desire tangled with guilt, excitement muddled with fear, Ethan’s face flickering uninvited in the back of my mind.
What did this make me? Who was I allowed to be now? What if I was moving too fast? What if I wasn’t?
