“Maggie.” He touched her chin and tilted it up. She hadn’t realized she’d dropped her gaze to his chest. And when she met his eyes, his expression was almost pleading. “I didn’t kiss her back. I pushed her away and I told her it’syouI love. That it’salwaysbeen you. And it always will be.”
“I shouldn’t have run. I’m sorry. I saw her kissing you and all I could think was—of course. Ofcourseshe’s what you want. Ofcoursemy aunt was right. Ofcourseyou’d choose someone like her over someone like me.”
Ethan’s brows slashed together. “Every time you say something like that, I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. I wish you could climb inside my chest and feel how my heart beats for you.”
“I’m trying. I’m trying to love myself. I’m trying to push past all the stuff I believed for so long but shouldn’t have.”
“You don’t have to do it alone. I’m here.” He lowered his head and kissed a spot behind her ear before whispering. “You never have to earn love from me. You have it. It’s yours. You just need to take it.”
She closed her eyes, his words squeezing her heart. A silent hum zipped over her skin at the soft kisses trailing down her neck.
When he lifted his head, she cupped his cheeks. “I love you, Ethan Moore. I’ve loved you for so long.”
Fire burned in his eyes. Then they were kissing. She wasn’t sure who initiated it. She didn’t care.
Their tongues tangled and they kissed like it was their first and last. Like this was the only kiss that mattered.
His hands slipped down to her ass, and he lifted her against his chest. She wrapped her legs around him, hugging him tightly with her thighs. He stepped backward and set her on a dresser, and she could feel him right there between her legs.
He grabbed the bottom of her top. “Lift for me, honey.”
She lifted her arms, and he tugged the shirt off. Then his mouth trailed down her neck with soft kisses as his hands reached behind her. The click of her bra unsnapping was loud in the quiet room. Then air brushed over her sensitive breasts.
“So damn beautiful.” Three whispered words before his head lowered and he cupped her breast and took her nipple between his lips. It was like fire, and she felt the burn deep in her belly. Itmade her throb and yearn for him. She whimpered, her fingers weaving into his hair and tugging as he sucked and swirled her nipple, the man’s effect on her almost magical.
“Ethan.”
He switched to her other breast, casting the same spell.
She grabbed at his shirt and pulled it over his head before dropping it to the floor.
His bare, muscular chest glimmered in the soft glow of the room. She ran her fingers over the hard ridges. There was so much power in his body. And God, she loved him. All of him. She lowered her head and kissed his chest. Gently. Barely a graze. She did it again.
A sound slipped from his chest, something between a growl and a hum. When he cupped her cheek, she looked up to see him staring at her like she hung the moon and the stars. No one had ever looked at her like that before. And for some reason, she almost wanted to cry.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
She cupped his cheek, running her thumb over his lips. “I’m so much more than okay.”
His eyes darkened. Then his fingers went to the waistband of her yoga pants. She pushed her body up, and he removed them with her panties, his eyes not leaving hers. Once they were off, she helped with the button and zipper of his jeans.
The second he stepped out of them, he returned to her, standing between her thighs, his tip pressing against her core. Desire hummed throughout her body.
She nipped at his bottom lip before sliding a leg around his waist and urging him a bit deeper.
He cursed. “I’m not wearing anything.”
When he started to step away, she tightened her leg around him. “I went on the pill.”
“You did?”
“Mm-hmm.” Another nip of his bottom lip. “I want to feel you. No barriers.”
He growled, his mouth dropping to hers before he pushed all the way inside her. Stretching her. Filling her. Making her his.
The combinationof Maggie’s walls hugging his cock and her soft, warm body pressed against him like silk made Ethan so fucking wild, he wasn’t sure how he was still standing. And the taste of her, fuck it was sweet and so damn intoxicating, it was like a drug.Shewas like a drug.
It took him a moment to move. To slip out of her before thrusting back in.
