She lays her hand on my forearm. “It’s not what it looks like. I swear.”
I sigh heavily, my voice filled with anguish. “I’m sorry. What am I supposed to think? I saw you close to him the other night. And here you are tonight with him at my bar. I snapped.”
Tears blind her eyes and her voice cracks. “You know me better than that,” she says calmly, with that familiar light in her eyes gone, no smile. Little by little, I am losing my Morgan.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed anything.”
I brush a loose hair away from her face and tuck it behind her ear. “I miss you, Morgan. Please come home. Don’t make me beg you.”
“I didn’t ask you to beg. I asked you to want more. That’s all I ever wanted. You gave me no choice but to leave. I know this isn’t all your fault, I know I played a huge roll in it. We need time apart. Maybe we’ll find our way back to each other. Maybe we won’t,” her voice breaks. “But we couldn’t stay the way we were. You know the saying, ‘you need to let what you love go to see if it comes back’. That’s us, Lincoln. We need to let what we had go to ensure that if we were meant to be, we would find our way back. I’m not there yet. And, to be quite honest, I’m not sure I ever will be unless something changes.”
“Don’t do this, please. Eight years, Morgan, eight years together and you think we can just walk away from each other? You know we can fix this.”
“Stop. Don’t do this to me here. I need some time to think. To figure this out.”
“Time… to think.” I repeat her words back at her.
“I need to clear my head, to figure out what all of this means for me, because right now I can’t make sense of it. I need time away from you. I need to decide if I’m willing to sacrifice everything that I want in order to give you what you want.”
“How much time do you think you’ll need?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugs her shoulders. “When I figure it out I’ll let you know. But I can’t make any promises that I’ll make my way back to you, Lincoln. I truly don’t know. I wish I did.”
She withdraws her hand quickly and turns away. She walks out of the door, leaving me standing in the middle of my office, tears stinging my eyes. I grip the back of my neck and curse. This is not how I envisioned tonight going.
A loud, obnoxious ring followed by vibrations against my nightstand wakes me abruptly from a sound sleep. Whoever is on the other end of this call better have a damn good reason to be calling me at this hour.
A huge part of me wants to ignore my phone and close my eyes again, but then I hear loud thumping coming from my front door. I rub the sleep from my eyes and grab my phone off the nightstand. I glare at the screen with blurred vision and see her name on the screen. It’s after three o’clock in the morning?
“Morgan?” I mumble into the phone. Why the hell is she calling me at this time of night or shall I say morning? When she left Aces, his hand was low on her back as he guided her through the crowd of my bar.
There is a long pause before she speaks. “Hey.”
A loud knocking sound from the front door pulls me from my thoughts.
“Hold on a sec, someone’s at my front door.”
“Yeah, go open the door and I’ll hold on.”
Tossing my covers off, I force my body out of the comfort of my warm bed. A shiver runs down my spine when my feet hit the cold, hardwood floor.
I walk over to the chaise lounge in the corner of the room and curse while pulling a pair of shorts on.
The banging continues before I reach the living room. “Hold on, I’m coming.”
I head over to the end table and turn on the lamp. I run my hand through my unruly hair trying to tame it.
I turn the lock and pull the door open. I’m stunned speechless at who I see standing before me.
“What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” I ask.
“I didn’t want to go home,” she replies. My eyes glance down at the phone I’m still holding in my hand. I hit the button ending the call.
“What do you mean you didn’t want to go home? Where’s your friend?” I ask emphasizing the word friend.
“I don’t know where he is. He waited outside Aces with me until I caught a cab.”
“You left Aces two hours ago. Where did you go if you didn’t want to go home?
“I went to the Mid-Town Diner. I had some coffee and breakfast to kill time until I thought you would be home.”
I incline my head, wanting her to continue. I should be bothered that she showed up at three in the morning. She’s breaking all her self-imposed rules. She’s the one who said she needed time apart.
She straightens her shoulders and clears her throat. “Are you going to invite me in, or are you going to make me stand in the hallway all night?”
“Why did you come here, Morgan?” I study her when she doesn’t respond. She stands absolutely motionless. She begins to pick a piece of loose string on her shirt. I place my finger under her chin, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes freeze on my lips.
“I’m having trouble sleeping. I didn’t want to be alone.” Her slender hands unconsciously twist together.
“Same here. I haven’t been sleeping well since you left.”
I cup her face tenderly in my warm hand. I capture her eyes with mine. Her dark eyes were always beautiful and bright, but tonight there is a storm brewing behind them.
Two deep lines of worry appear between her eyes. “Can I come in, please?”
I run my thumb along her jawline. My gaze lowers as does my voice. “Sure.”
I extend my arm to the side, opening the door for her to come in. With a tip of my head, I motion for her to sit on the couch.
Morgan settles into the deep, dark leather cushion on the couch, folding her legs under her.
I stand before her, my hands pushed deep into pockets. If I keep them there, it’s less likely I will reach out and touch the loose tendril of hair that I want so desperately to tuck behind her ear.
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs softly. “I know I’m the last person you want to see. I just needed to explain about tonight. I’m not dating Greg. We’re just friends.”
I laugh, “Are you for real right now? I know who your friends are, Morgan. He’s no friend of ours.”
“I’ve known him for a while. He’s DJ Magnum’s agent. You saw me with him at Redemption the night he showed up asking for more money for Magnum a while back.”
“Friends? Never thought you’d make a new friend so quickly.”
She casts her eyes downward. “He’s easy to talk to and I don’t expect anything from him.”
“Like you expected things from me,” I retort in cold sarcasm.
That comment catches her attention. Her dark brow arches. “Low blow, Lincoln.”
I raise my hands to surrender. “If the shoe fits.”
“Really?” her annoyance increases and I find her hands shaking by her side.
“Is that the guy who was in your office the night I brought you dinner?” It’s not really a question, I already know the answer.
She nods.
“Do I need to even ask?” Without elaborating, she knows where I am going with this.
“Don’t you dare!” She points her finger at me. “Just because I’ve known him doesn’t mean anything ever happened while we were together. Jesus Christ, Lincoln, I love you. I would never hurt you like that.”
I scoff, “Hurt me like that. That’s funny, you have hurt me in so many other ways over the last few weeks.”
I pace back and forth in front of her.
I’m furious. She didn’t want to have this conversation last week at Redemption or tonight, rather she shows up at my door after three in the morning.
“Have you really thought about why you left me? Really given it thought? Because if you did, I would love to be enlightened because I have no fucking clue. There has to be more than just you being pissed that I won’t propose to you.”
Sh
e hugs her knees to her chest. Her flat, unspeaking eyes prolong the moment.
“I sit here every night trying to wrap my head around why you walked out that door. Why we’re in this situation? It’s more than just you wanting a ring on your finger.”
I pace the floor a few more times before sitting next to her on the couch. She turns her body to face me.
“In my head, I gave you six months to propose to me. Six months I gave you in January. Should I have verbalized it to you? Probably. But I didn’t. Was I jealous of Camryn and Jamie? Absolutely. If I didn’t admit that, I would be lying. I knew we had issues. Should we have talked about them? Yes. Should we have communicated better? Yes. But did we? No.”
Morgan reaches out, placing her hand on my knee. I pull my hand back, careful not to let my fingers touch her. Her nearness is overwhelming.
“I decided I wanted more. I wanted what Camryn had. Did I go about it the right way? Probably not. But I did what I needed to do.”
“But…” She holds her hand up to stop me from speaking.
“Do I regret it? Sometimes. The biggest issue is that I’ve been made to feel like I’m not worthy of being your wife. That I’m not enough in your eyes that you’d want to marry me. But we’re still in the same place we were before. What started out as guilt between the two of us, grew to be so much more, Lincoln. Did I want more before Camryn’s attack? Yes. I’ve always wanted to marry you. Should I have voiced my feelings then? Yes. But I didn’t. So here we are. We’re two destroyed individuals all because we want different things.”
Somehow my fingers begin to stroke her hand sensuously.
“Maybe our paths will make their way back to each other,” her voice lowers.
I lean closer to her, my finger trails down her temple. “What if they don’t?”
“I don’t know.” Tears slowly find their way down her cheeks. “We’ll have to try.”
I hope I can reflect on this moment one night. Because what I’m about to do, I know I will regret it as soon as it’s done. Every time my eyes reach hers, my heart turns over in response. My heart beats solely for Morgan.
In one fluid movement, I gather her into my arms and hoist her up to straddle my lap. Without another thought, my lips are on hers.
Morgan thrusts her fingers into my hair.
My large hand takes her face and holds it gently.
“I miss you.” I recapture her lips, more demanding this time.
“I miss you,” her voice a hoarse whisper against my mouth.
My arms encircle her, one hand in the small of her back, the other on her right hip.
Morgan slowly grinds her core into me. I can feel every movement through my light running shorts sans boxer briefs. The fact that she is wearing a skirt isn’t helping matters.
“I would trade all of my tomorrows for just one more day with you. One more chance to make it work,” I murmur.
Gently, I rock into her, setting a slow rhythm. We’re like a bunch of horny teenagers, grinding against each other.
Her uneven breaths tickle my cheek as I hold her close.
I grip Morgan tightly around the waist, lifting myself in one fluid motion from the couch. She wraps her legs around my waist tightly and her arms around my neck. My hands explore the hollow of her back as I walk carefully to my bedroom. Once I’m in my room, I lower her softly to the bed I vacated a short time ago.
My heart thumps erratically.
“Lift your arms, baby.”
She complies without hesitation. I remove her shirt, tossing it to the side. I push the loose fabric of her skirt up a couple of inches on her thighs where her exposed pussy beckons me.
“So help me God, you better have had a pair of panties on while you were at Aces,” my voice hardens.
A devilish smile appears on her face. “I took them off while I was in the hall waiting for you to answer the door. They’re in my purse,” she whispers, her tone playful and seductive.
I lift her hips up and nod my head for her to scoot up the bed. She complies without hesitation.
I take in her body as it lies naked on my bed. Her breasts are calling me. I need to show them attention. My lips have a mind of their own. My tongue caresses her sensitive, swollen, pink nipple. I’ve always loved making Morgan come from just sucking and teasing her nipples. They are always extra sensitive.
I show her other nipple the same attention. Her body arches into mine. Her pussy rubbing against my cock still tucked away in my shorts.
She must realize I’m not naked yet. She begins to push at the waistband of my shorts, pushing them past my hips. I help her with them, pushing them down farther with my legs, then kicking them off to the side.
My tongue makes a path down her ribs to her stomach, in search of her pleasure points that only I know about.
I explore her thighs then move up to her taut stomach. She gasps as I lower my body over hers. “Please,” she fists my hair in her hands.
“Do I need a condom?” I hope for damn sure I don’t. She said she hasn’t slept with anyone. I know for sure I haven’t.
“No,” she whispers.
Morgan bites her lip to stifle the outcry of delight when I grind my cock against her wet pussy. My girl is already wet and ready for me.
My cock slides through her wet folds easily. I grind against her a few times, coating my dick. I find her entrance and in one quick thrust, she welcomes me into her body.
“Linc,” she cries out.
My eyes damn near cross from how tight she is. Her breaths come in long, surrendering moans.
I go slow at first, pushing all the way in, then pulling all the way out. Just leaving the head of my dick inside of her.
“Harder,” she pants. “I need more Lincoln.”
I rock my hips again, pushing all the way in her.
“Oh, God…”
Her hands roam over my back before she digs her nails into my skin.
“I’m not God, sweetheart. Look at me,” I demand.
“Tell me who makes you feel this good.”
“You, Lincoln. Only you,” she moans.
Her body still craves my touch. My hands, my dick.
I thrust into her to the hilt. I pull out and push back in again, fast and hard. The sound of skin smacking and heavy panting fills the room.
“Need me to suck on these perfect tits?” I ask, pulling her nipple into my mouth and biting. Her nipple pebbles and a shiver runs through her body. I can feel Morgan getting close. I slow down when I feel her tighten around me. I want this moment to last. I don’t know when or if I will ever have her in my arms again. The thought of never having her again just about breaks me.
“Linc… please. Stop teasing me.”
I push those thoughts out of my head and pick up the pace.
“Are you close, baby?”
Morgan’s body squirms beneath me. With each thrust, her body meets mine. We find a perfect tempo. I know she’s close.
“Lincoln!” She cries out. A shudder passes through her. Her eyes lock with mine as our breathing blends together in unison.
“That’s it, baby. Take us both there. Make us come, Morgan.”
She grinds her core against my dick in perfect sync as I thrust my hips into her. When she reaches her release, she cries out. It’s like music to my ears. Who am I kidding, it’s like a vise to my cock, as well.
Her cheeks color under the heat of my gaze. Her lips quiver in unspoken passion.
I bury my face in her neck. “Mine,” I growl and bite it, then sucking the sensitive spot between my teeth. I’m sure it’ll leave a mark, but that’s my plan. I want her to look in the mirror tomorrow and know who put that there.
My body begins to vibrate with liquid fire as I spill into her. Her pussy tightens around my cock like a vice and milks me of every last drop.
Her breathing begins to settle down to a more even beat. Our bodies still damp from lovemaking.
Lying on my bed, I stare out the window, trying to get a
glimpse of the stars in the sky above. The sun should be rising soon. When Morgan and I were younger, we would lay on a blanket in her backyard and try to form things out of the stars.
I’ve been lying here for at least an hour, doing my best to sleep, but to no avail. I thought I nodded off once, but when Morgan stirred I woke up. I’m afraid she’ll try to sneak out. I want to hold her for as long as I can.
“I will always love you. You will always be my…” my voice falters. “You’ll always be mine, Morgan. You’ll always be the one,” I whisper softly against her head and kiss her.
I hate how quiet my apartment is with her not being here. I hate coming home every night to the solitude. I hate not having her in my arms every night. What hurts the most is knowing what could have been. Morgan and I should have had the white picket fence, the babies, the dog running in the yard. I wanted that with her. I just didn’t see the need for a piece of paper to prove my love to her. Marriage wasn’t in the cards for me. Not after seeing how it could destroy the ones you loved. The two of us had so much that needed to be said. Instead, she walked out this apartment a few weeks ago. Well, in all honesty, I told her to leave and when she left me that morning, a thousand memories walked out that door with her.
I live with regret. I wish I could do it all over again. There was so much that needed to be said by both of us, but rather than staying and fighting for us, Morgan walked away. That’s what pisses me off the most. We weren’t worth fighting for. Yet, she’s lying in my bed, in my arms.
Why is she here? Is it for comfort? Has she changed her mind? I shake that thought out of my head. I can’t get ahead of myself. I can’t get my hopes up that we’ll work this out.
Why did she truly come here tonight? What do I do when I know she’s always been the one? I’ll always love Morgan.
I reach over to the nightstand and grab my phone to check the time. It’s fast approaching six in the morning and I can’t sleep. I want to cherish this moment with Morgan in my arms. I scroll through my phone till I find “Losing You to You” by Hammock. The song is perfect for this moment. I lost Morgan to Morgan. I place my earbuds in my ears and lay my head back against the pillow. Morgan is still nestled tightly against my chest.
Unspoken Promises (The Unspoken Love Series Book 2) Page 14