She shakes her head. “He already left.”
My heart drops down into my stomach.
Oh.
He’s already gone.
I didn’t get to say goodbye.
I didn’t get to sayanythingat all.
I blow out a breath, and then we head downstairs to bid Ford’s siblings goodbye—sans Archer, obviously, and also without Mr. Bradley. I wonder where he went. Maybe he’s still in his office with the lawyer.
The Vegas crew’s car arrives, and they head out. Our car is next, and we say goodbye to Liam and Ivy.
I stare at the mansion as we pull away, regret filling me that this may be the very last time I ever visit this place. It cracks my chest in two, and I’m not sure why. It was never meant to be mine, even though it feels like such a deep part of my past.
When we land in Tampa, itfeelslike I’m going back home. It’s a weird feeling since Chicago was home first, then Vegas.
But now, being with Ford, walking into the penthouse that overlooks the bay…this feels like home. This feelsgood.
This feels like my future.
It feels like we made it over the first obstacle, and now we can do anything.
I move to drag my suitcase to my bedroom, but Ford’s voice behind me stops me as I hear the door click shut behind him.
“Wait.”
I’m standing near the kitchen counter when I turn back toward him, and he abandons his suitcase by the door. My brows push together as he strides across the room toward me. “What?” I ask.
He stops mere inches from me, and he takes me in his arms. His eyes bore down into mine, his full of heat and need and something much stronger. His lips move down to meet mine, and I reach up to cradle his jaw in my hands. He deepens our kiss, his tongue brushing against mine, and then he pulls back suddenly. His eyes move down from my lips, tracing the curves of my body, branding me with heat in each place they land as I wait for his next move.
I’m wearing a skirt paired with a knitted ugly Christmas sweater, and suddenly I feelhot. Like I need to take the sweater off. But I don’t dare move.
He makes the first move instead as he moves toward me and lifts me up, setting me on the counter. He moves in between my legs, and I have just a tiny bit of height on his six-three frame when he usually towers over me by eight or so inches. He presses a kiss to my neck, and then he sucks on the skin there. I lean my neck back to give him more space to work with, and he trails his mouth from my neck back to mine, kissing me tenderly as I wrap my arms around him.
He trails his lips down again, this time from my neck to my collarbone and over my sweater. Down, down, down he goes, until he’s kissing my hip over my skirt. And then he reaches under said skirt and lifts it up. He tugs on my panties,and I lift one side of my ass off the counter at a time so he can work on slipping my panties off.
His eyes meet mine, and his are full of need as he tosses my panties to the ground. He presses kisses along my thigh and pushes my thighs apart, exposing my pussy to him.
Then his mouth is on me.
I gasp as I feel his tongue dipping first into me before moving back toward my clit, and I lean back on my palms and close my eyes, my head tipped back as I give in to the pleasure.
He pushes a finger into me as his mouth covers my clit, and he picks up a punishing, pounding rhythm as he swirls his tongue around. I gasp, and my body clenches tightly as he drives his fingers in, his tongue working my clit as he hums against me, sending shockwaves of pleasure through me.
His mouth is pure heaven as I feel my body give way, and I rock against his face as I start to come. I moan, the sound strangled as the force of pleasure whips through me, my legs clamping around his ears as he forces his way through to ride it out with me.
When the scruff on his jaw tickles against my thigh, I open my legs again, thrusting my fingers in his hair as I pull him back a little to stop, my body too sensitive to go on.
“Holy fuck, Ford,” I murmur as he tilts his head back, so our eyes meet. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to taste that cunt,” he murmurs.
Holy hell. I practically come again just from those words.
He groans, and then he reaches into his jeans, and he pulls his cock out. The tip is dripping, and he only pumps himself twice before he starts to come. I watch with rapt fascination as he grunts through his release, and I don’t know that I’ve ever watched a man jerk off before, but it’s oddly the hottest thing I think I’ve ever seen.
