“I know, babe,” I said, kissing her throat as I started to move. I didn’t want to rush this. I gave her long, deep strokes that had her moaning into the darkness of my bedroom.
I braced her knee up by my hip, burying deeper, and she broke apart. She clawed at me, panting my name like it was the only thing she remembered. I wanted to wring every single ounce of pleasure from her.
“That’s it,” I growled, fucking harder now, the sound of our bodies slapping together filling the room. “Take it. Take my cock like you were made for it. You gonna come for me, Kate?”
“Yes—fuck—don’t stop…”
“Look at me,” I demanded, gripping her jaw until her eyes snapped to mine. “I want to see it. Want to see you come undone around my cock.”
Her whole body went taut, trembling around me, and then she shattered with a moan that would change me forever. Clamping her legs around me so hard I could barely control myself. She gasped myname, her back bowing, legs shaking as I fucked her through it. “Oh God… Jordan…”
“Good girl,” I rasped, pounding into her harder, chasing my own release. “So perfect. So fucking perfect.”
I hitched her leg over my shoulder, allowing me to drive into her deeper. I thrusted once, twice, and that was all I needed for me to lose it. I groaned into her throat as I spilled inside the condom, body shaking, chest heaving, like she’d just torn me down to the studs.
For a long moment, neither of us were able to move. I could barely catch my breath. Her pulse thudded against my lips where they rested between her neck and shoulder. I was still inside her, still gripping her like if I let go, the whole moment might disappear.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, half laughing in breathless disbelief. “That was…Fuck.”
She gave a shaky laugh, brushing my hair back from my forehead. “Yeah.”
I looked at her then, really looked. Her flushed cheeks. The way her lips were swollen from kissing me. That little crease between her brows, like she was just as wrecked and confused by how good this felt as I was.
And it hit me, hard.
I didn’t want her walking out the door and pretending this was just a one-off. I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night wondering if I’d imagined how much she’d just given me.
I cupped her face, my thumbs skimming her cheekbones. My voice came out rougher than I meant.
“Stay tonight.”
Her eyes searched mine, and for a second, I thought she’d say no. That she’d retreat behind whatever wall she’d built to keep herself safe. But then she nodded, and relief slammed into me so hard I had to close my eyes for a second.
I kissed her once more, more tender this time. I had nothing to prove. I just needed to show her I meant it.
When I finally eased out of her, I reached blindly for the condom, tugged it off and knotted it, dropping it aside before sliding down on the mattress. I lay down beside her and pulled her into me, one handin her hair, the other splayed over the warm, bare skin of her back. I wasn’t ready to let go of her, of whatever the hell we’d just started.
Neither of us spoke. But I swear, I could feel her heartbeat slowing with mine. And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like I was standing on the edge of something I’d lose.
Tonight, she was here.
Chapter Thirteen
Kate
I woke slowlywith that kind of half-conscious drift that tricked you into forgetting the world existed outside the sheets. For a second, I stayed still, curled up in the warmth, letting last night unfurl behind my eyes.
The sound of his voice in the darkness of his bedroom. The heat of his lips on my neck. The way he said my name like it meant something. It was all still there, vibrating through my very bones. ?
I reached for him without thinking, and touched nothing but cool linen. My hand stayed there for a moment, flat on the space he’d left, willing it to warm under my palm. My heart sank. Somewhere in the flat, I could hear movement. The rustle of clothes in a bag, a zip being closed. Then the scrape of a chair leg against wood.
My eyes stayed shut. Like if I kept them closed long enough, I could rewind to last night. Will him back into bed tangled up beside me, still half asleep with that stupid, devastating smile on his face.
Here we go,I’d thought to myself. This was the part I’d rehearsed a hundred times. The quiet letdown. The kind smile. The polite goodbye that saidthanks for last night, but I’m not looking for anything serious.
God, I hated how quickly my mind had defaulted there. That waswhat self-preservation looked like, right? Assume the worst. Beat him to it.
I was such a bloody idiot.
