I pull back to look at her. I see the woman who makes me want things I swore I didn’t need. The woman who keeps stepping closer to the cracks I’ve forced shut. Something settles in my chest when I cup her face. My lips brush hers in a kiss that feels like a promise.
“This doesn’t stay fake anymore,” I tell her, my voice rough. “Not tonight. Not ever again.”
She reaches for the hem of my shirt and pulls it over my head.
“Good.”
CHAPTER 24
PROMISES, PROMISES.
Scottie
I toss Tucker’s shirt aside and he tracks its movement.
When his eyes are back on mine, he has one brow raised and a smirk on his face. This was not what I had planned for the night, but I’m glad I took him up on his offer for dinner. I didn’t expect to ask Tucker about San Francisco, but the words just rolled out of me. Now I’m sitting here, with him standing between my legs, and begging him for more.
He hasn’t moved since tossing his shirt to the side, and my body feels like it’s on the edge of combustion. He stares at me, trying to figure out if I mean the words I’m saying.
“I don’t want to pretend anymore,” I say, hoping he understands.
A muscle in his jaw tightens before he steps closer. The space between us disappears, and the rest of the world fades into static, and I suck in a sharp breath the moment I feel his cock press against me.
I shouldn’t want this the way I do.
The night in the apartment left me feeling the same way I did after waking up in the hotel room alone, like he regretted it. I brushed it off to the heat of the moment and loneliness.Something I’d laugh off later and call it a mistake so we didn’t have to call it real.
But there’s no way it wasn’t.
He looked at me then the same way he’s looking at me now, like he’s starving. He says my name like it belongs on his lips. I’ve tried to pretend, along with the rest of the facade, that I don’t crave it.
The way his hands touched me.
The words he said.
The intense feeling of his eyes on mine the entire time.
But I’m already gone.
This time, I’m not slipping or worried about what’s going to happen after tonight. This time, I’m choosing him.
“I’m glad we’re on the same page. Because I’m fucking done acting like I don’t want all of you,” he growls. “I’m also done pretending I don’t want to sink my cock into your tight pussy again and hear you scream my name when I make you come over and over and over again.”
The gasp that escapes me is answered by the way his eyes darken. He closes the distance, stealing the breath from my lungs as his hands settle on my hips in a grounding way. He kisses me again. It’s deep and sure and hungry. I kiss him back, as both of our hands roam each other’s body, memorizing each other.
This isn’t adrenaline.
This isn’t fake chemistry.
This is want.
I hook my legs around his waist, and his grip tightens before his hips jerk into me. I moan at the intense feeling of pleasure of feeling his cock against the throb between my legs. My hips roll on instinct, chasing the feeling through my jeans, but it’s not enough.
“Tucker,” I groan.
“Patience, baby,” he whispers against the corner of my mouth. “Let me have this time to savor you before I worship you.”
My head falls back, and he kisses the corner of my lips, down my neck again until he reaches my chest, just above where the line of my tank top sits. He pulls the straps down before pushing the rest of the shirt down, revealing my thin lace bra.
