Page 52 of Claimed By the Silver Fox

I need no more invitation. I graze my fingers along her bush, and then move them down between her thighs, cupping my hand between her legs before I push my fingers inside of her.

She gasps, her body rising beneath the water, giving me all the access I need, and I work my fingers into her slowly and surely, feeling the clench of her pussy around me. It’s enough to stir my cock beneath my pants, but right now, I’m focused on her, intent on making sure she’s the one who feels good right now.

“Oh,” she breathes, her head sinking back against the back of the bathtub as she allows me to touch her in her most intimate spot.

I watch her, drinking in the sight of her, committing it all to memory. I’m never going to let her slip through my fingers again, I know that much for sure, but I want to remember every little moment of this anyway. To savor it.

Beneath the water, her wedding ring catches the light—she never took it off, not even in the midst of everything Andreo did to her, and that thought alone is enough to drive my desire even deeper.

I curl my fingers slightly inside of her so I can press them against the ridge deep within her. She shudders, thighs closing around my hand, and her hips begin to move back against me as though they have a life of their own. Her cheeks are flushed, head tipped back, damp hair clinging to her shoulders and neck. She looks so beautiful, the kind of beauty I want to capture with my touch. I reach to grasp the nape of her neck, drawing her gaze around to mine so she has no choice but to look into my eyes while my fingers move inside of her.

Our gazes meet, and she’s on fire for me. I can see it on her face, in the part of her lips, the tension in her jaw. I keep the movement of my fingers slow and steady within her, reaching up with my thumb so I can caress her clit and add to the rush of tension that’s already clearly passing through her body. I can see it building, growing, unfurling inside her like something she has barely been able to keep control of all this time. My fingers dig into her nape, her hair brushing against my fingers, and a slight furrow appears between her brows as she rushes nearer and nearer to the edge.

And then, at last, she gives in. She gasps, and I feel her pussy clenching around my fingers, over and over again, the sharp rush of her orgasm impossible to ignore. Her belly clenches, the water rippling as though it has been disturbed by the sheer intensity of her pleasure. The whole time, I keep her eyes on me, greedy for it, for the way she looks, to remind myself that she’s mine.

That she is mine.

That thought intensifies in my mind, and by the time I withdraw my fingers from her, I know I need more. I unbuckle my pants, drawing my cock into my hand, and reach into the water to draw her onto my lap. The bath spills over the sides and onto the floor, but I don’t pay it any attention. None of that matters. None of it could. I just need to be inside her right now.

God, I need it. I want to show her that she still belongs to me, no matter what happens, no matter who tries to come between us. I will always choose her. And all I want in return is the promise that she will do the same for me.

She slips into my lap, breathless, cheeks flushed, her body still trembling from the orgasm, and I guide myself inside her in an instant. She groans as I pull her down on top of me, filling her deep, flexing my hips into her as I press my feet against the bathtub to give me all the leverage I need. She feels so perfect, and it’s hard to believe that we’ve ever been apart, not when being with her again feels the way it does.

She takes my face in her hands, eyes searching mine for a moment, and then kisses me hard, tongue dancing against mine like she’s speaking a whole new language.

On some level, it does seem that way, as if choosing her over everything else has marked us as something even more special than I could have imagined. I don’t know if I would ever have thought that slipping the ring onto her finger would bring us here, but I would do it a thousand times over again if I could promise myself that we would find each other like this.

I take her hips, guiding her back and forth on top of me, savoring the feel of her slick tightness wrapped around me. She’s hanging onto my shoulders for dear life, careful not to put pressure on the wound on my arm that she has just dressed, though I doubt I would be able to feel it, anyway. I can’t feel anything right now but how perfect she feels around me, my cock already throbbing as I try to hold back from going over the edge. I want to come so badly, but I also want this to last for a whole lot longer, to savor every fucking second of having her back here in my arms, where she belongs.

“Antonio, I…”

I catch her face in my hand, guiding it toward me. “Say my name again.” I love the way it sounds on her lips, like a promise, like a prayer, like she has been whispering it all this time in the hopes that I will somehow find her again.

She smiles, brushing her nose against mine, and pauses for a moment before she comes out with it, clearly enjoying teasing me before she gifts me what I’ve been waiting for.

“Antonio…”

“Fuck,” I grunt, pushing myself into her, hips flexing hungrily to fill her over and over again. She brings her lips to my ear, letting them tease there for just a moment, and repeats my name with every thrust, like she knows how wild it makes me and wants to see just how much further she can push things. I clutch at her hips and the back of her head, pulling her close, breathing in the scent of her mingled with that shampoo, and I let her coax me over the edge with nothing more than the sound of those sweet words on her lips.

I buck up and into her, finally tipping over the edge and into my release, right there on the bathroom floor with her in my arms. I grunt as I fill her with my seed, and this time, it feels more intimate than it ever has before. Maybe because I’ve chosen this, chosen her, in no uncertain terms. There is no doubt in my mind of how much I want her. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her safe, keep her close, keep her here in my arms.

She holds me there, arms around me, our chests pressed so close together that I can feel the thud of her heart through her shirt. She gazes at me for a moment before she makes a move to pull back, as if she doesn’t want this to be over any more than I do.

Because, when it’s over, we’re going to have to come back down to earth and face the reality of everything that has happened to bring us to this point.

I push her wet hair away from her face and kiss her once again. Reality might be calling, but for now, I want to linger a little longer in the fantasy.

27

JULIA

I trail my hand over his chest, listening to his slow breathing as I lie in bed beside him. Outside, I can distantly make out the sounds of the city streets, but it sounds like it’s coming from a million miles away, as if whatever is going on here is far removed from what happens out in the real world.

But I know damn well that’s only wishful thinking. I can try to convince myself, a million times over, that what happened in the apartment with Andreo is nothing more than a dream, a nightmare that I’ve woken up from and never need to worry about again. But it’s not true. We need to face up to it, as painful as I’m sure it will be for Antonio, as much as he clearly wants to put it all behind him.

I glance up at Antonio to find him staring at the ceiling, clearly lost in thought. I can only imagine what’s going on inside his head right now, all the ways that he’s beating himself up, going over and over what happened earlier today, trying to work out if he made the right call or if he should have chosen differently.

Our physical connection, at least, we have confirmed is as strong as it ever was. But there was something different in the way he fucked me this time, as though he was trying to prove something, even to himself—perhaps prove that what we have is worth protecting. To prove that he has no need to overthink what he did to Andreo. The way he clutched to me, his hands all over my body, demanding to hear me say his name, it’s a far cry from the dominance and control he exerted over me before. I like both sides equally, but I’m sure I know what coaxed out the sudden arrival of this one.