After dessert, we headed home, but I was still stuck in my head and she seemed to be feeling the same. Once we were in the foyer, I suddenly became very aware of how empty the house was and how it would be only the two of us here tonight.
I opened my mouth to ask if she’d like another drink, but she beat me to the punch. “Thank you for dinner. I should head to bed, but I had a great time.”
“I’ll walk up with you,” I said. “I had a good time too.”
We headed upstairs side by side, all that tension from earlier rushing back, but stronger now after hours spent laughing and talking like we hadn’t once loved each other so much that losing her had ruined me.
She paused outside the master bedroom and I slid my hands into my pockets to keep from doing something stupid. Especially when she turned to smile at me. “Good night, Zach. Thanksagain. I’m sorry I dumped my trauma right over our amazing burgers.”
My chest tightened with pain, but I shook my head. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
She hesitated like she wanted to say something else, but then she seemed to decide against it, simply stepping closer and pressing a gentle kiss against my cheek. I should’ve left it at that, but as soon as she pulled away, I caved in completely.
“Adeline.”
She turned back and I crossed the space between us, circled my hands around her waist, and pulled her into me, immediately dipping my head to claim her lips for a kiss I’d been fantasizing about for years.
She froze in shock, but it was only for a moment before she melted into me, the kiss turning desperate almost right off the bat. It was messy and emotional but so long overdue that it knocked the air right out of my lungs.
A soft sound came out of her, a breathy moan that nearly made me lose it right there on the spot. Without even thinking about it, I backed her toward the master. Her fingers twisted into the front of my shirt like she was making sure I would follow.
Maybe it was immature not to stop and check if she was sure about this, but I didn’t care. We stumbled into the bedroom together, tripping over each other like teenagers. I nearly walked us directly into the wall. She laughed against my mouth and I suddenly remembered every single thing I’d spent the better part of the last decade trying to forget.
Kissing her was like coming home after being lost in a blizzard for eight long years.
We finally fell into bed together, her legs wrapping around my waist and the heat of her radiating into me despite all the layers of fabric still between us. I’d dreamed about this so manyfucking times. I just hoped I didn’t lose control before I got to make any of those dirty dreams come true.
CHAPTER 30
ADELINE
Before Zach and I had started dating, we’d never touched each other. On occasion, he’d hook his pinkie finger around mine, just to let me know he was there, but outside of that, we’d pretty much only hugged.
We’d been strictly platonic until suddenly, that morning, we’d become everything but. Back then, I hadn’t been nearly as experienced as him, but he’d taken great pleasure in teaching me every little thing there was to know.
Although I’d been shy at first, self-conscious of how much he turned me on and embarrassed about some of the reactions he’d elicited from me, he’d eventually coaxed me out of my shell. Slowly but surely, he’d helped my confidence grow and encouraged me to explore anything and everything with him.
For months, we’d spent days at a time locked in his apartment, sometimes worshiping each other and making slow, sweet love, and sometimes, well, it hadn’t been slow or sweet at all. That year we’d spent together was still the subject of every one of my rare fantasies, but over the years I’d spent with Louis, I’d lost touch with my sexuality.
I’d lost touch with that confidence Zach had instilled in me and I’d definitely lost touch with my own pleasure.
Even back when Louis had been interested in me, it had mostly been for baby-making purposes, and that didn’t require pleasure on my end. He’d also been stressed, busy, and generally just too wrapped up in himself to consider either romance or spice in the bedroom.
Because of all that, I’d honestly thought I’d lost my spark. It’d been ages since I’d even felt the need to touch myself and years since I’d last been touched by anyone else, which was why it took me by surprise that my body reacted to Zach as viscerally as it did as soon as he kissed me.
With those soft but firm lips sealed over mine, his tongue hungrily exploring my mouth and his hard body pressed against me, I moaned before we even tumbled onto the bed. My hands roamed up and down the strong planes of his back. My panties were drenched within seconds of him pinning me to the mattress.
“God, Adeline,” he groaned into my mouth, kissing me once more before letting his lips trail to my throat. “I can’t wait to taste you again. To feel you again.”
He pressed kisses to my neck and collarbone, holding himself up on one elbow above me. His free hand dragged along my mid-line, over my clothes, but still making my heart race. I was already breathless, arching into his touch even though he kept his palm fractions of an inch above my body.
“Zach,” I moaned again, sliding my fingers into his hair and shutting my eyes. “I’m… I…”
How am I supposed to tell him that I don’t look the same? How do I prepare him for any of it?
He lifted his head to look into my eyes, his own half-lidded and blazing with need. In fact, his entire handsome face was lined with it, those chiseled features almost angry and his lips parted. I still knew this man well enough to know that meant hewas halfway gone already, out of his mind and about to drive me out of mine in turn.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, breathing heavily as he held my gaze. “Do you want me to stop?”
