by Serena Grey
He laughed then added seriously, “No, you’re beautiful.”
My breath caught because I was so happy. I kissed him again, my fingers roving over his chest and going lower until I could feel his rigid arousal through the soft fabric of his briefs. He groaned when I touched him, moving his hips and pressing his cock into against my hand. He was thick and mouthwateringly hard.
“I want you inside me,” I whispered, meeting his gaze.
His lips were parted, arousal written all over his features, but he held back. “Are you sure?”
I knew why he needed to ask. We’d just reached a new stage in a relationship that had previously been mostly about sex, but I wasn’t interested in holding back from him in any way. I wanted to dive headfirst into this new phase because I was confident we wouldn’t crash. We wouldn’t burn. From all the hurt that came before, we were going to make something beautiful.
“I’m sure,” I whispered.
He paused for a moment, still stroking my face, then he got off the bed and got rid of his briefs. My eyes fixed on his beautiful cock and my mouth watered. When he rejoined me on the bed, I wasted no time in reaching for him. My fingers reveled in the feel of his silky skin stretched tight over steely muscle. I traced the thick lines of the veins that lay under the surface and lowered my mouth to kiss and taste him.
My lips closed around the head of his cock as my tongue rolled, eager to taste every inch. He swore under his breath, and I responded by drawing him deeper into my mouth and sucking hard, feeling immense satisfaction when his muscles bunched and tightened while his cock hardened even between my lips.
He let me suck him only for a few moments before pulled me off. I fell on my back, and he knelt between my legs and spread them apart then lifted my thighs and pulled me to him.
He positioned himself and looked at me. “You ready?” His voice was a deep rasp.
I nodded, transfixed by the carnal beauty of his body, his naked chest and muscled belly, his thick hard length, and the mussed hair falling over his forehead. “Fuck me, Jason.”
He obliged, spearing me with the full length of his cock.
I gasped with pleasure, and my eyes fluttered closed then open again. I didn’t want to miss anything. My whole body was suffused with pleasure. I feasted on the sight of him between my legs, his eyes half-closed and heavy-lidded as he filled me to the hilt.
He withdrew and surged into me again, and I let out a mewling sound as tears filled my eyes. He felt so good, too good to describe. My hands gripped the sheets then my breasts, looking for something to hold on to as my body hurtled toward an earth-shattering climax.
I moaned his name, my voice pleading and desperate.
“You feel so good,” he said, his voice hoarse as he increased his pace, each firm stroke more pleasurable than the one before. “You feel so fucking good.”
“I’m going to come,” I moaned, helpless against the onslaught of sensation. Already my body was clenching around him, pulsing uncontrollably as pleasure took over.
He let go of one of my legs and brought his fingers to where our bodies were joined, massaging my clit in slow circles as he fucked me. In moments, sweet warmth took over my body, spreading and growing into an explosion of ecstasy and delight that left me temporarily blind.
Jason lowered himself over me and covered my mouth with his, kissing me as I cried out his name, swallowing my cries as he stroked my tongue with his. He braced one hand on the bed, gazing deep into my eyes as he continued to move, bringing me to another peak of pleasure.
I wrapped my arms tightly around him and held him as my body drew close to another climax. I held him as he thrust deep into me and I shattered, tears stinging my eyes. I held him as reached his release, a deep sigh of satisfaction escaping his lips as he let go and poured himself inside me. I held him through everything, and I knew I never wanted to let go
We spent the rest of the week at the rental, making love on the porch swing and taking long walks on the beach. It was paradise. Where I had been lonely before, I felt complete.
I enjoyed being with him. I enjoyed the talking and even the silence. I felt like our branches were growing entwined with each other, but I wasn’t afraid of that. It was a gift to be intertwined with him.
“How did you find this place anyway?” Jason asked. It was our last day at the beach, and Leonard was already on his way to pick us up. I’d packed most of my stuff, and after a late breakfast, we were lying on the porch swing watching the waves crash on the beach.
“Some author I know stayed here once when she needed some time alone to write. She recommended it.”
“I like it,” he said, nuzzling my neck. “It’s peaceful.” He looked at me. “With you here, it’s like a slice of heaven.”
“I was just thinking that,” I admitted.
“You rented it to get away from me,” he reminded me with a teasing smile.
“Except I could never quite get away from you.”
“That’s because”—he placed a finger over my heart—“I’m in here.”
“In my heart or my breast?”
He laughed and palmed my breast, flicking his thumb over my nipple. He looked at me, and his gaze turned serious.
“Loving me doesn’t make you weak or vulnerable, Daphne. I know that because knowing I love you, knowing I want to be with only you…it makes me feel better about my life than I have in a long time.”
“I don’t feel weaker or vulnerable in a bad way, not anymore. I don’t even miss being alone. I feel like I’ve always belonged to you.”
His chest rose. “And I belong to you. I’m not going to let you out of my sight.”
I gave him a teasing look. “Are you planning to keep me naked and tied to your bed?”
He raised an eyebrow. “It’s a thought.”
“You have a dirty mind.”
“You suggested it.”
“I did,” I conceded. “I do have a dirty mind.”
“I love it.” His lips moved to my mouth, and he kissed me. “Why do you always taste so good?”
“I don’t know…maybe so you’ll never stop kissing me.”
His lips curved, and he leaned in to kiss me again. His hand moved lazily over my breast.
“We’re leaving in an hour at the most,” I reminded him. “Leonard will be here soon.”
“An hour is more than enough,” Jason said, rolling to cover my body with his, “and Leonard can wait if it’s not.”
Chapter Five
A long drive later, Leonard finally parked on the street in front of my place. Jason was holding my hand, stroking my fingers while my head rested on his shoulder, my body still tingling from the orgasms he’d given me just before we left the beach house.
I burrowed into his side, breathing him in. “We’re here,” I said softly.
He didn’t stop playing with my fingers. “Mhmm.”
Neither of us made any move to leave the car. I hated for our time together to come to an end, and I supposed he felt the same way.
“Do you want to come inside?” I asked finally.
Jason shook his head. “Not now. I have to catch up on a lot of work, but I’ll call you later tonight, and maybe we can have lunch tomorrow, with Amy and Colin if they’re free.”
A double date. I smiled. “That’ll be great.”
He squeezed my hand before releasing it back to me. I placed it on my lap, feeling regret at the loss of the contact.
“Daphne.” He placed the side of one finger under my chin and lifted my face to meet his gaze. Emotion surged in his eyes, and an answering wave swelled inside me.
“I love you,” I whispered.
He exhaled then lowered his head to stroke my mouth with his. He licked my lower lip then sucked it gently before pulling back. “I love you more.”
“Impossible.”
His gaze was serious. “I’ll show you, every day.”
I closed my eyes, letting my intense joy at that promise swell every cell
of my body. “See you tomorrow.”
We kissed again, a slow, lingering exploration, then I opened the door and stepped out of the car while he followed me with his eyes. Leonard joined me, shouldering my bag from the trunk and insisting on carrying it inside.
“You’ve been driving for hours, Leonard,” I urged the taciturn older man. “It’s a tiny bag. I can carry it.”
He pursed his lips but handed it over to me at the door. “Have a great evening,” he said with a serious tone, though there was a small smile quirking at the edge of his lips.
“I will. Have a great evening yourself.”
“I’ll try to.” He gave me a small nod before returning to the car.
Inside the apartment, I headed to my room and left my bag at the foot of the bed, postponing my unpacking for later. I stretched out on the soft mattress, so happy it seemed likely I could float away on a cloud of delight.
I found him, Mom, I whispered into the silence. I found my home, and I love him, and he loves me.
There was a soft knock on my door. “Daphne?”
“Come in,” I called, knowing it was Amy.
The door opened, and she walked in. “I thought I heard you come in.” She smiled. “How was your trip?”
“Great.” I returned her smile, realizing as I slid to the edge of the bed and lifted myself to a seated position that she probably thought I was still moving out. I paused, unsure how to tell her. “Amy…Jason joined me a few days ago.”
Her eyes widened, but then she caught hold of herself. “His assistant said he was taking a short break.” Her face lit with curiosity. “Did you guys talk?”
The spark of hope in her blue eyes made me want to apologize again for how I’d reacted to what she did.
“We talked, a lot, and we did a lot more than talk.” I drew in a breath. “I think Jason and I will be spending a lot of time together, so if you have any more bombshells, you’d better drop them now.”
“Hmm.” She grinned as she tapped her finger on her cheek “Lemme think, bombshells…” She laughed. “Of course there are no more bombshells!”
“Okay.” I laughed. “Did you have to think for so long?”
She giggled. “I was teasing. Is it crazy that I’m really really happy about this, like insanely happy?”
“I don’t know. It’s kinda weird that you want a roommate who’s dating your brother.”
“Yeah, I’m weird. It is known.” She gave me a hug. “You two are…I don’t know…alike in many ways, and I think you will be perfect together. Plus, Jason is crazy about you. I’ve never seen him as panicked as he was when he came over that morning after I told him what happened and said you’d left…” She shook her head and blew out a long breath. “I don’t believe he’s ever felt that way about anybody before.”
I didn’t want to think about that morning, but knowing the events of that day had rocked Jason as much as they had rocked me…it added to my certainty that I wasn’t making a mistake loving or trusting him.
“I’ve never felt like this either,” I admitted quietly.
“I know! Miss I-don’t-do-love-and-romance.” She stuck out her tongue and gave me a quick hug, her voice bubbly with laughter. “Jason is lucky, you know.”
I felt like I was the lucky one, but it was enough that, at least for the time being, we were all happy and everything had turned out all right.
“You know, I still can’t believe I had no idea,” Amy said. “I mean, how could you guys have been so good at keeping everyone else in the dark?”
Colin had dragged us all to a baseball game as one of his living in America rites of passage. Afterward, Jason treated us to a late lunch at a nearby restaurant.
“I wasn’t totally in the dark,” Colin said. “I mean, I wasn’t completely sure, but I had an inkling—a big inkling, if you will.”
“Same difference,” Amy said. “Come to think of it, Minnie kept asking why I hadn’t set you two up, and when I kept telling her you weren’t interested in Jason, I got the feeling she didn’t believe me. I think she guessed.”
“I haven’t seen Minnie in a while,” Jason mused before chuckling. “She was always the best at figuring out things nobody wanted to confess.”
Amy laughed and started to tell a story from when they were kids, and while I half-listened, most of my attention was focused on Jason, the beautiful, perfect man who, for some reason, loved me.
He was watching me too, his perfect face completely focused on me. His lips quirked in a small smile as he squeezed my hand under the table, and then because that wasn’t enough, he leaned forward and covered my lips with his.
“Ugh,” Amy said, little sister mode activated. “You guys! Get a room.”
“We just might,” Jason said, not taking his eyes off me.
I laughed, biting my lip as I imagined everything he would do to me as soon as we were alone. It took all my self-control to tear my gaze from his and turn to Colin.
“Any more baseball for you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I’m looking forward to the Super Bowl.”
“We usually have a watch party,” Jason told him. “A couple of my friends. You should come.”
“I would love to,” Colin said.
After the meal, Amy and Colin left together, and Jason drove me home. He was leaving the next day on a trip out of the country, and I hated that I would have to spend a few days without him.
Upstairs in the apartment, as the door closed behind us, he drew me into his arms. “I’m starting to think of this apartment as my lucky place. Good things happened with my business when I lived here, and then when I moved out, the best, sexiest, hottest girl to ever exist moved in to replace me, and I found her.”
“Lucky you,” I teased, delighted that he thought I was all those things. It never ceased to amaze me that he found me as attractive as I found him. He was perfection personified. “Maybe you should move back in.”
His arms pulled me closer to his hard body, and he kissed my neck, trailing his lips to the soft, sensitive underside of my ear. “Or you could move into my place,” he suggested.
I stiffened involuntarily, not because I didn’t want to, but because I was taken by surprise. “You’re joking, right?”
“Not really.” He released me and shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be right now, but yeah, it’s something that could…should happen at some point in the future.”
“I…” I didn’t know what to say. “I want to…but we should talk about it later—much later, Mr. Fast and Furious.”
“I know, but when it comes to you, I don’t want to waste any time.” There was self-mocking amusement on his face at first, but his expression turned serious, and his stormy eyes delved deep into mine. “I know what it feels like to lose you, Daphne.”
I swallowed the painful memory that appeared like a lump in my throat. I knew what it felt like to lose him too—like torture and emptiness. “That’s never going to happen again,” I said quietly.
“I know.” He rubbed the tip of his nose on mine, making me giggle. “I’ll do anything, but you have to want this as much as I do.”
I let out a short breath. “Do you even need to ask? I can’t imagine what I would do without you.” I threaded my fingers through his. “Losing you was like losing myself.”
He lowered his face and captured my lips, his hungry kiss taking over all my senses. He molded my body to his own, pressing my hips to his thighs and giving me no doubt about the hard, thick evidence of his desire for me. I licked my lips, wanting nothing more than to peel all his clothes away and taste every single beautiful, male inch of him.
“I hate that you’re going to be gone for days,” I said, pouting. “I should never have let you leave that beach house.”
“Well…” He lifted me off the floor, his powerful body supporting my weight like it was nothing, and I wrapped my legs around his waist and hugged his broad shoulders. “Why don’t we make the most of the time we have now?�
� he suggested, one brow raised in an expression that sent heat racing to my core.
I grinned. “Sure thing, player.”
He chuckled and carried me to my room, and for the next hour, he made me forget everything, even my name.
“Oh, God!” Amy cried in frustration. “He’s going to try to kill a dragon with a sword!” She was clutching a cushion, peeking over it as one of her favorite characters in a highly rated fantasy TV series attempted another reckless act of heroism. “He’s going to die!”
Watching her was almost as entertaining as watching the characters on screen. She screamed, laughed, cheered, and repeated phrases in the made-up languages featured in the story. She’d recently gotten into the show, and for the past few days, I’d been coming back from work to find her curled on the couch with popcorn, watching knights, highborn ladies, and dragons battle it out for a throne.
“Okay, that was good,” I admitted at the end of the episode as the credits rolled accompanied by haunting music.
Amy was finally breathing again. “Damn right! This show makes missing Colin bearable.”
Colin had been sent to his home country again for another work assignment. So, both Amy and I had spent a few days in long-distance relationships. Jason was in the air on his way back, and even though we’d talked every day during his trip, I felt like half a person when I couldn’t see him and touch him.
Half a person…
Everything I’d feared and avoided for so long had finally happened. I was in love with a guy. I was emotionally invested in him. I burned for him, needed him with a relentless hunger that only he could assuage, and yet, I was the happiest I had ever been.
I wouldn’t give up what I had with Jason for anything, not anything at all.
I got up just as Amy started another episode. “I’m going to bed.”
“Night.” She smiled. “My first shoot is sometime around noon, so I can binge-watch all night.”
“Lucky you. I have a meeting in the morning to iron out the final details for a multi-author book signing.”