Page 158 of Colliding with Ten

“I know. I’m impressed with myself.”

She chuckled. I rolled the condom on and came back to her, lying over her on the couch. My arms braced on either side of her head. I deliberately leaned over her. I wanted my body to be the barrier between her and everything else. I wanted her to feel covered. Sheltered. Safe in a way she hadn’t been in days.

I entered her slowly, feeling every inch of it, her heat expanding around me. Ayla’s mouth fell open. Her hands slid up my arms to my shoulders, fingers pressing into the muscle. I paused, seated inside her. My forehead rested against hers as we both breathed hard.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she whispered, looking into my eyes. “Are you?”

Nope, I was not okay. I was inside the woman I’d been losing sleep over for months, and she was looking at me like I was the only thing holding her together. I closed my eyes to keep myself from saying what I wasn’t ready to say. In this situation, it would come out wrong, like this was the only reason why I would say it.

“I’m good,” I said, a spectacular understatement.

I started moving with slow, deep strokes, keeping my eyes on her face. I was obsessed with her face—the way her brow creased when I hit a particular angle, and the way her lips parted when I pulled back. Every sound she made was information. I wanted to know everything about how her body responded to mine, because I intended to use it for as long as she’d let me.

Her legs wrapped around me, pulling me deeper, and the change in angle made both of us groan. Her nails dug into my back, dragging against my skin, and said more. Don’t stop. I gave her what her body asked for, increasing the pace as if we’d been having this dance for months and were only now finishing.

Then I slowed to almost nothing. My forehead leaned against hers, our breaths mingling.

She opened her eyes, confused. “What’s wrong?”

Nothing.

Her hair was everywhere, a dark halo against the couch cushion. Her skin was flushed, her eyes searching my face for the reason I’d stopped. What she’d find there was a man who had spent his entire life trying to control every variable and every word out of his mouth. Everything was so right, my chest couldn’t hold it anymore, and the words pressed against the back of my teeth, demanding to be said.

“I love you.”

Well, so much for waiting until the right time. The words didn’t come out the way I’d imagined. There was no lead-up or context. They just fell out of me the same way “my girl” had fallen out in the tunnel with Coach Reeves.

Fuuuuuck.

Her face registered surprise, then it softened as her eyes welled, and a tear slipped sideways toward her temple. I caught it with my thumb before it reached her hair.

“Baby, please don’t cry.”

“I’m not.” She shook her head as another tear slipped.

“Okay.”

She pulled my face down to hers, kissed me, and I knew her answer. I moved again, the rhythm different now. There was no restraint, my movements raw and urgent. She met every stroke, her hips rising to mine. Her fingers gripped my shoulders as she got louder.

I moved us. My back hit the couch. Above me, her knees were on either side of my hips, as her hair fell around us like a curtain. She looked down at me, flushed and fierce, the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.

Her hips rolled as she spread her fingers across my chest. I gripped her hips, anchoring her. She was in control, and the sight of this woman, who’d been stripped of her agency by a scandal, now reclaiming herself above me was stripping me of everything.

“Look at you,” I breathed.

She smiled, confidence returning in real time. Her pace increased, and the pleasure built in a wave, almost cresting. I gripped her hips tighter, my jaw locking with the effort of holding myself back. She had to get there first. I needed her to get there first, because this night was about her, and I would hold the line for as long as my body would let me.

I sat up, pulling her into me. Chest to chest, mouth to mouth, her legs wrapping around my waist. The angle shifted, and she gasped, her arms locking around my neck. From here, I could feel her heartbeat against mine and taste her. My hands guided her hips in small circles that made her cry against my mouth.

“Lennox,” she said, voice breaking. “I—God⁠—”

“I know. I’ve got you.”

Our eyes locked just as her muscles squeezed, and her breath quickened. Her fingers dug into the back of my neck.

“I got you,” I whispered.