Page 64 of Every Last Breath

She curled her fist around his shaft. From the thick base to the engorged crown, she palmed him, ran her thumb across the slippery wetness on the tip, driving a guttural groan from him. She stroked herself, bathing the hard length of him in the slickness of her desire.

“Does that feel better than smug?” she taunted.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pressed his mouth to her ear. “Fuck yeah.”

She popped open the glove compartment and fished out a condom from her purse. Their gazes locked as she tore the wrapper and quickly rolled it on him. She rose on her knees and took him deep inside.

The fullness, the pressure, startled her body. She splintered around him. Rocking her hips, she took him deeper. He pulled her tee off, unclasped her bra, and stilled. His eyes were trained on her bruised abdomen.

“I’m fine.” Better than she’d been in years. Afraid the wary look in his eyes meant he’d bring things to a halt, she tugged his shirt up over his head, desperate for his skin against hers. “Really. I’m okay.” He clamped his mouth on a nipple and flicked the pebbled peak with his tongue. She arched on a wave of pleasure. He caressed and suckled and licked and kissed her with gentle possession and violent tenderness.

And the world condensed to this. Connection. Communion. Cole.

He clutched her waist and brought her hips down while he pumped his in a frantic rhythm.

She planted a hand on the roof for leverage, taking him as quickly as possible. That sweet place was in reach, the one that would sate the grinding ache.

“Cole,” she whimpered, milking him hard. Her voice was packed with the urgency blooming inside.

She loved this sensation of tumbling toward relief as he caressed some deep part of her soul.

He gasped, his body tightening with hers. Slipping a hand between them, he rubbed her throbbing clit, and she shuddered in a riptide of spasms. He swallowed the cries from her mouth and took charge of the rhythm, bringing her hips down hard and fast in a driven fever to his own release.

The pleasure was so blinding and raw, it hurt.

Breathless and limp, she drifted everywhere and nowhere. Settling back into herself piece by tenuous piece. She cupped his face and kissed him. This time, aching for him to be hers again, rabid to find what had been lost. She showed him how much she still loved him, opening herself to him.

He caressed her cheek and jaw in a touch so tender, she yet again unraveled. More vulnerable. This sensation of being tethered to him was everything.

Then she looked at him, both of them panting, and it turned wrong.

His gaze hardened, pain tattooed across his face as if a kiss had somehow wounded him, and her smile fell. He dragged the pad of his thumb across her lips, wiping her mouth.

Her whole body constricted. He pulled out of her, slowly and gently. She rolled off him, loathing the volatility between them.

He sat back, staring out at the dark parking lot. Goose bumps scattered across her skin, and she was dying to know his thoughts.

They cleaned up with tissues from the glove box in silence.

Lowering his head, he hauled in a long, broken breath before he wrapped the condom in Kleenex and discarded it in his bag. They dressed in the awkward quiet.

To her surprise, he gathered her against the side of his body with one arm.

She wanted to snuggle against his warmth, but even this small intimacy was a soap bubble, iridescent and captivating and bound to burst.

They were so far from being right with one another. Thinking about what the future held for them was terrifying.

“Enjoy the burger and get some sleep.” Grabbing his bag, he hopped out.

Before she’d collected her brain enough to wonder where he planned to sleep, the roar of his bike reverberated, setting her teeth on edge, and he drove off.

The idea of going home to an empty apartment and an empty bed made the loneliness of her empty life echo through her. It sucked. Big time.

She kept spare clothes and toiletries in her locker, and the sofa in the break room wouldn’t be too hard on her back for a few hours. She took the burger and the file and shuffled back inside the building.

Chapter 19

Gray Box Parking Lot, Northern Virginia