His name was a breathy whisper that he replayed in his head again and again.
One more stroke of her clit and her walls clenched around his cock, and then he watched her break. He watched that tightscrunch of her eyes, the separation of her lips as she cried out and exploded.
Her body pulsed along his cock, and even though he didn’t want this to end, she made him fall right over the edge with her. He growled and tensed and lost himself in her.
Long seconds passed in stillness. Quietness. Then finally, he breathed again.
He looked at her—really looked—and suddenly, he knew there was no turning this off. There was no walking away or forgetting.
He slipped out of her, giving her one more kiss to the temple before pulling the sheets over her and going to the bathroom to clean himself up. When he returned, she was exactly where he’d left her, eyes closed, features so soft she almost looked angelic.
He crawled beneath the sheets and she nuzzled into his side. For a second he wondered if she felt it too. The incredible need for this to be more than one moment. The ache for this to be the start of something neither of them could walk away from.
“That was…amazing,” she breathed, voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. “But it was also reckless. And dangerous. And should probably never happen again.”
It took a lot to make his stomach drop. But his stomach hit the fucking floor at that comment. “Why dangerous, Sunshine?”
“Because you would be far too easy to fall for.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Yes.” One quiet word. That was it.
He swiped his thumb over her hip. “Not all love hurts. Sometimes love heals. Sometimes love feels good.”
She looked up at him. “Have you ever loved a woman so intensely that it actually felt good?”
“Not yet.” But he had a feeling he was starting to fall.
“Do your parents have a love that heals?”
He could have laughed. “No.”
“Then how do you know?”
She wasn’t ready for the truth.
She wasn’t ready to hear thatshewas the reason. That he felt something for her he’d never felt before. “I just do.”
She sighed, clearly not believing him, before nuzzling back into his shoulder.
She didn’t believe himyet. Not tonight. But soon…soon, he’d convince her.
12
Aheavy weight across her midsection pulled Polly from her sleep. It took her about five seconds to realize the weight was an arm. Then another two to realize who it belonged to and why.
Her eyes flashed open.
Shit. Big, she’d-done-something-dumb shit.
She’d had sex with Joel Dawson.
Goodsex. She wrinkled her nose. Maybe even the best sex of her life.
She turned her head and, yep, there he was. And damn her soft heart for aching at the sight of him.
He looked so peaceful when he slept.
