The emotions he stirred in her were just as overwhelming as the aching need throbbing in her sex. Pain and power mixed together as a heady aphrodisiac, stealing away her breath and washing out all thought. Her world shrank to this moment. To only the soft, wintry scent of his skin mixed with shea butter sunscreen and the low, pleasured groans rumbling from his chest. The way his wide cock stretched and filled her, making her tremble with every thrust. His name became a prayer, uttered on repeat with wonder and worship until it tore from her throat in a scream, and she shattered around him.
With his sweat-slicked brow nestled between her shoulder blades, he followed right behind. He groaned against her skin, his breath hot and ragged. In an instant, he released her wrists and threw his arms around her waist, tugging her down with him as he flopped on his side against the dock.
His heartbeat roared against her back, wild and untamed, but Kieran threaded his fingers through hers and brought one wrist back to his lips, covering her with kisses and care. “Are you okay?” he asked, his quiet voice a far stretch from the dominant lover he’d been before.
Lily inhaled and blinked, settling into her body as the aftershocks of her orgasm faded. She inventoried everywhere he’d touched, from her scalp to her wrists, and none of it hurt. A heavy blanket of pleasure remained, wrapping its warmth around her.
“I feel amazing.” She wiggled one leg between Kieran’s, intertwining them.
He settled their clasped hands in front of her chest and cuddled closer, kissing her shoulder. “Me, too.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled, filling her lungs for what felt like the first time. “Should we go to bed?”
Behind her, he shook his head. “Not yet. I’m exactly where I want to be.”
Lily grinned and tightened her grip on his hand. Lying under the stars with Kieran, the waves lulling beneath them, with him still buried deep inside her—yes, she was exactly where she wanted to be, too.
ChapterEighteen
After a perfect day at the beach with Lily, returning to work was a blessing and a curse. Kieran took comfort in routine, and that’s all work was. But with Lily in the same building, work was also torture. Before, he’d been able to mostly keep his hands to himself. After last night, though? Every flyby was a missed opportunity to curl his arm around her waist and pull her back into his embrace. Every conversation with her was a study in the movement of her lips and imagining how each pout and flick of her tongue might feel against his mouth…or better yet, his cock.
A tan hand waved in front of his face. “Hoooola.Earth to Sullivan. You in there?”
Kieran shook his head and resumed his self-imposed task of folding freshly laundered hand towels. Except, when he reached for the pile, there was nothing left to grab. He must’ve folded all the towels on autopilot and continued to stand in the back corner of the training room like a glassy-eyed idiot. “Sorry, just spacing out.”
Sebastián hummed his disbelief. “Spacing out? Is that what you kids call it these days?”
“You kids?” Kieran picked up one of the hand towels and flicked it like a glove in his best friend’s face. “I’m older than you.”
“Yeah? Tell that to the tent you’re pitching down there.” Sebastián jerked his chin, his gaze dropping. “That good with Parker, huh?”
What the fuck? He smoothed his hands down his shorts, and he sure as hell did not have a boner. He scowled and shoved Sebastián back a foot. “Keep it down, asshole. Low-key, remember?”
“You didn’t answer my question.” Sebastián lifted a brow and gathered a stack of towels in his arms. “You taking these to the front desk?”
Kieran huffed and grabbed the other stack. “Yeah, Rachel’s out.” They usually kept the towels up front for anyone who forgot one. “And yeah, we had a good time. Fireworks and all that.”
Sebastián waggled his dark brows. “I saw the video. Didn’t film long, did she?”
No. He’d made sure of that. There was nothing more beautiful than the bend of her body under the fireworks’ glow. Her moans while he ate her out had blended with the booms and crackles of the show, a symphony only for his ears. And the sex… She’d been vulnerable with him last night. Raw in a way she hadn’t been even when she’d told him about her stepfather and her ex. Last night had been about showing her she had nothing to hide. Not from him. Not ever.
Sebastián grinned, clearly satisfied by Kieran’s answering silence.
Before they could get back to the desk, Rachel met them halfway. Something in her expression twisted his stomach.
“Rach, what’s up?” Sebastián asked. “Somebody at the desk giving you a hard time?”
“No,” Rachel answered, shaking her head. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “A guy showed up asking to talk to Lily. Seemed nice enough. I figured he was a friend, so I called her up. She followed him outside, but I swear, she looked like she’d seen a ghost.”
Lily had several guy friends. Why would they show up and take her outside when they had an office for privacy?
“I’ll check it out.” He picked up his pace to the desk and set down his pile.
Sebastián followed suit. “Right behind you, Sullivan.”
They gathered at the window next to the lobby door.
Lily stood on the sidewalk, her arms straight against her sides. Her face was blank in a way he’d never seen before. Like a porcelain doll, painted and beautiful but lacking warmth. Even on the day they’d met, there’d been more life there. A spark of tenacity.
