“She had a blast being included today. Thanks for letting me bring her.”
Eva reaches across the island and taps her glass against mine. “Thank you. For everything. I had the best time and loved every minute of it. Even the nerve-racking ones. And those decorations? They were top notch. I loved them. The pineapple glitter and gnome pictures especially.” She wraps her palms around her glass and looks down. “I love your family.”
My heart is pounding now.
Something has shifted.
Something has changed. Or is changing, at the very least.
Then again, is my overactive, overeager imagination reading way too much into a single sentence? Probably.
Definitely.
I just can’t help it.
“They love you. A little too much—told you they had a raging crush on you. That’s why my parents took Bryce for the night. So you and I could, quote unquote, ‘get dinner and breakfast’ together.”
Eva laughs, the sound filling the room, and everything inside me lifts.
“Not gonna lie, I like the sound of that,” she says.
“So stay,” I say. “Stay the night, Eva.”
Her clear brown eyes meet mine. A heated beat of silence stretches between us.
“Ford.”
“Yeah?”
“This is—”
“Dangerous? I know.”
“I still haven’t made up my mind.”
“That’s okay.”
“I don’t want to string you along. I should go.”
“Maybe. But I want you to stay. So fucking bad, E.”
She takes a breath. Lets it out. “I want to stay, too.”
“I did say I’d throw head into the deal. And I know how much you like that.”
“Like it? I love it.”
“So stay. Stop thinking about tomorrow so I can, too.”
“I was not prepared for this, Ford. I was not prepared for you.”
“You think I was fucking prepared for you? Both times, E. Both times we’ve gotten to this point, and you’ve caught me off guard. Maybe that’s part of the magic.”
“You think we’re magic?”
“Hell yeah I do. Magic. Star-crossed. All that shit. Stay.”
Eva looks at me. Picks up her drink and drains it.
“You’ve had a long ass week,” she says. “You’re tired, I can tell. I’ll stay if you let me treat you for a bit.”
“Treat me?” I raise a brow. Raise my glass to my lips. “Go on.”
“You gonna let me touch you?” she asks, throwing my line back at me. Making me grin. Making me want to fucking growl like the animal she’s turned me into. “The way I want?”
I set down my drink. Push to my feet. Eyes locked on hers, I round the island.
“I get to touch you, too, right?”
“If I say so.”
“Say so.”
Eva grins, revealing a slice of even, white teeth. Slick inner lip.
“I say so.”
It feels right when I grasp both her wrists in my hand.
Feels right when I hike her arms over her head and push her back against the wall, angling my body so my groin rests between her legs.
Feels right when she gasps and I steal the sound with my mouth. She tastes like whiskey. Warmth.
Even though I’ve got seventy-five pounds and six inches on her, Eva somehow makes the embrace—the kiss—hers. She tilts her head and opens her mouth, tongue pressing decisively against mine. Pressing her body into mine, bucking her hips so I stumble back a little bit, releasing her hands.
Hands that find their way to my shoulders. They glide down the plane of my chest and stomach, the feel of her touch making the need between my legs coil to a painful kind of tightness. I bite her bottom lip.
She pants, biting me back.
“Off,” she demands, and grabs the hem of my shirt in her fists.
I raise my arms so she can yank it over my head. Her fingers are at my fly now, working feverishly at the button, the zipper, forcing them down as she begins to back me toward the hallway off the kitchen.
“Bedroom?”
Toeing off my tennis shoes, I pull her tank top out of the waistband of her shorts and take it off. She’s wearing this simple white bra that looks ridiculously sexy on her, the half moons of her breasts swelling over the tops of the satiny cups.
“Upstairs,” I say, my voice hoarse.
She shucks off her shoes and shorts. “I’m following you.”
We’re a flurry of falling clothes and bare limbs and loud, artless footfalls as we tumble up the stairs. She hangs a left but I grab her by the hip and guide her to the right into my bedroom, pressing a kiss to her bare neck.
She turns her head and throws me a grin. Flashing dark eyes, hair falling in her face, lips soft and swollen.
My heart turns over inside my chest. For a second I can’t breathe.
“You’re gorgeous,” I say. And tonight you’re all mine.
Tonight is all mine. The luxury of having that kind of time to do what I want with someone I want is not lost on me.
Her eyes flick over my naked chest. I’m in nothing but my boxers, tented with the biggest erection I think I’ve had. Ever.
“So are you.” She hooks her fingers in my waistband and pulls the boxers down. My dick juts out, painfully hard, and she bites her lip, tilting her head toward my king bed. “Lay down. Relax.”
I pull back the covers and do as she tells me, propping myself up against the pillows.
She’s just in her panties—white thong, fuck me—and bra. For several beats she lets me look at her while she stands a few steps from the bed, drinking in the curve of her waist, the strength of her thighs. The pretty lines of her neck and shoulders.
I can’t help it. Gotta touch myself.
I take my cock in my hand and give it a slow, gentle tug. Eva’s eyes go hazy.
“Nu-huh,” she says, digging her teeth into her bottom lip. “You let me do that. But first…” She reaches behind her. “Let me get more comfortable.”
Eyes on mine, she lets her bra fall to her feet. My eyes go to her tits. They are firm and pert, her dark nipples firming to pretty little points as I look and look and look. She reaches up and cups her breast, gathering the nipple between her thumb and forefinger.
She hisses. I growl.
“Eva,” I beg.
“Wait,” she says, taking a step forward. Then another.
She rounds the bend, hips swinging, one hand playing with her tit, the other sliding to her hip. She dips a thumb into the waistband of her thong and drags it back and forth. Back and forth.
Pacing in front of me. Teasing me.
Turning me on so bad I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from yelling.
“You want to see me?” she asks. “All of me?”
“Take it. Fucking. Off, Eva. Show me that pretty pussy. Right fucking now.”
Eva just grins, shaking her head. “I told you I’m in charge.”
“And I’m about to blow a load just looking at you. I’m dying here. For fuck’s sake, give me what I want.”
She stops at the foot of the bed. Slowly, using both hands, she slides the thong over the slope of her hips.
My mouth goes dry. A strip of dark pubic hair arrows down to sweet little lips.
I swallow, an audible sound.
“Show me,” I whisper.
I don’t need to explain. Eva reaches between her legs and uses her first two fingers to part herself. Showing me her bright pink inner folds. Already glistening.
I’ve got my cock in my hand again. She glides her middle finger into her center, and immediately her brow furrows, a muscle in her leg twitching.
She’s as turned on and needy as I am.
“I want you, E,” I manage. “I want you, I want you. I want you.”
Hand still between her legs, she puts a knee on the edge of the bed. Touches herself for another half a heartbeat, a low moan escaping her lips.
Removing her hand, she shakes her head and climbs onto the bed. “Tonight is about you.”
Eva is on all fours, gliding one hand up the side of my leg as she inches toward me, settling onto her knees by my side. Bolting upright, I gather a breath through my teeth when her mouth lands on my stomach. Gently wrapping her hand around mine on my dick. She guides my grip up in a firm stroke, then straightens to kiss my mouth.
“I’ve got it from here,” she murmurs, using her tits to guide me back down onto the pillows. I love the feel of their hardened points against my chest. “Relax, Ford.”
She kisses her way down my neck, and I grit my teeth, using my hand to curl the wild mass of her hair over one shoulder.
“I’m not good at that,” I say.
Her lips move into a grin against my skin. “I noticed. Which is why it’s important you do it. Right now. Let me take care of you.”
The shit inside my chest softens. I’m the one who takes care of things. Of people.
When was the last time I let someone take care of me?
I swallow for what feels like the hundredth time in as many seconds. Cup the back of her head in my hand and tilt her face up so our eyes meet.
“You’re gonna destroy me, aren’t you?”
She searches my eyes. “No. No, I won’t destroy you. But I will make you feel really, really good if you’ll let me.”
Another beat. Another million reasons why this is the best and worst thing to ever happen to me.
“How good?”
Eva smiles, making my heart hiccup. She nudges my hand off my cock.
“Let me show you,” she says.
And I do. I let her take me in her hand.
I let her duck down and swirl her tongue over my head. She goes slowly, with care and intention, head bobbing a little when she takes me into her mouth. She sucks, gently at first, taking my balls in her other hand and playing with them. Kneading them between her fingers, just how I like.
My head falls back against the headboard. Sensation, hot and tight, slices through me with every flick of her tongue. This feels good.
She lavishes me with undivided attention. Stroking her grip up and down my shaft, teasing my head. Kissing, stroking, sucking. Taking her time. Always taking her time, slowly kissing my hip with her tongue and teeth while she palms my head, slicking precum everywhere.
Light, sharp but fading from the setting sun, slices through the windows beside the bed. It catches on the dark strands of Eva’s hair, revealing shimmery, coppery colors I’ve never seen before.
Usually at this time, I’d be arguing with Bryce about bedtime. She fights me every damn night. I hadn’t realized how much I needed a break from that hair-raising routine until I got one. Right now.
Funny how, as a parent, you can miss your kids like crazy, but still really enjoy your time away from them. How you can love them but love getting a break from them, too.
A sheen of sweat breaks out on my skin. Eva’s bare thighs are spreading as she moves up and down. I know if I reach between her ass cheeks and touch her, she’ll be dripping wet.
I also know she’ll swat away my hand. Insist I go first.
Feels even better when she moans. Like she’s genuinely enjoying this. Giving, letting me take. She’s losing herself in this, just like I am. The knowledge that I can do this to her—
That she does this to me—
Ah, shit. I’m definitely in love with this girl. Should’ve known from the second I saw her at the baby shower it would happen.
Should’ve known I couldn’t be around this amazing, inspiring human being and not fall for her.
But instead of feeling angry with myself, or angry with her, or upset, right now—in this moment at least—I feel…
At peace.
And right now, maybe that’s enough.
Maybe that’s all I can ask for.
I cup her cheek in my hand, stroking my thumb over her jawline.
“Thank you,” I say.
She looks up. My cock in her mouth. Eyes soft but hot. Expression a little pained.
Vulnerable.
She’s making herself so vulnerable right now. Telling me something with those eyes and her mouth and her touch that she can’t say out loud.
She gave me head on the boat last weekend. But this—this is different. This time around, she’s making love to me with her mouth.
What does that mean? I want to ask her.
Do you feel the way I do?
Too many questions. Too much sensation. Coiling need is gathering in my core, and if she doesn’t stop soon, I’m going to come in her mouth.
I have other plans for us.
I take her breast in my hand and play with her nipple. She moans again.
“Enough,” I murmur. I wrap my hand around hers on my cock and guide it out of her mouth. “You’re really fucking good at that, but I want to be inside you when you come.”
“Ford, we have all night. I’m happy—”
“I know you are. But I gotta have you, E. Let me have you. Let me make you come. Please.”
Her throat works on a swallow. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.” I glide my hand down her back. In between her cheeks, my fingers gliding into her pussy from behind. She’s soaked. “Jesus Christ, honey. Jesus fucking Christ.”
“What?” She shrugs, those eyes darkening when the tips of my fingers find her clit. “Turning you on turns me on.”
I grunt, slipping my middle finger inside her. Gah, she’s tight. Soft. “Of course it does.”
I glide my finger in. Glide it back out. Eva leans down, spreading her legs wider, and starts to move her hips a little, guiding me deeper. She’s slick and soft enough that we move easily.
“Another,” she says.
I carefully sink my first finger inside her pussy, too. At the same time I press the heel of my hand to her asshole.
“Oh-h,” she says, a strangled sound. “That. Just. Yes.”
I’m moving my hips now, too, the head of my cock meeting with the soft skin on her belly.
I’m throbbing. Everywhere.
Thrusting my fingers one last time, I pull them out. Circle them around her clit, making her breath hitch.
Then I curl my arm around her waist and reverse our positions, laying her on her back while I crowd my bulk on top of her. I rest my weight on one elbow and look down at her body. The skin on her chest is flushed. Chest rising and falling as she tries to catch her breath. Tits perfect handfuls. Long, long legs. Tan skin.
I look up at her face. She’s watching me. Tenderness in her eyes, in her touch too, when she reaches up and runs a hand through my hair.
“I love it when you look at me like that,” she says.
“Like what?”
She swipes her thumb over the indent in my chin. Shakes her head. “Like you like what you see.”
“Because I do like what I see. A lot.” I tuck my chin and press a kiss into her palm. “Forget what I said ten years ago. I was an idiot. You’re just fucking right, E, just as you are. I mean, c’mon, we’ve been reunited for all of, what, three weeks? And I can’t keep my hands off you. Haven’t been able to stop touching you from the beginning. I can’t—I never want to stop looking at you.”
Now she’s looking at me like that again. Eyes soft, brow furrowed. Vulnerability written all over her face.
“I hope I make you feel as good as you make me feel,” she says at last, curling her hand around the back of my neck.
“You’re too much.” I capture her lips with mine. I taste myself there. Mingled with the whiskey. With her. “Of course you make me feel good. Give me a chance to return the favor.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Ford
Eva stretches out beneath me, spreading her legs so I can settle my groin into the cradle of her hips. She’s got her arms looped around my neck. Moaning while I work my mouth across her jaw.
“Do I nee
d to use a condom?” I ask, glancing up.
She looks at me. “I have an IUD. And I was tested last month. All good. I mean, if you’re good too…”
“I was just at the doctor’s. Got a thumbs up. I haven’t been with anyone since.”
“Where the hell did you find the time for that?”
I grin. “Health is important. I make mine a priority. And maybe the universe knew I’d be having sex with you, so it gave me a free afternoon and a baby sitter.” My pulse skips when Eva starts playing with the hair at the nape of my neck. “By the way, I always use them. Condoms. But I don’t wanna with you.”
Untangling an arm, she runs a palm over my chest. Slowly. Lovingly. Stopping to pluck my nipple between her fingers. Fingers of the other hand still playing gently with my hair. My blood screams.
“Then don’t. I trust you.”
My heart dips.
I really do always use condoms. I’m nothing if not careful. But Eva is more than just a hookup.
So much more than just a fuck.
I want to be as close to her as possible.
I want her raw and I want her mine.
I want her trust. More than I’ve wanted anything in a long time.
Screw Greyson and his advice. I’m no amateur and neither is Eva. If she’s down—and of course she is, because she trusts me—so am I.
Getting on my knees, I curl my hands around the insides of her thighs and hike them up, bending her knees a little so she’s spread wider. I duck down and lick her pussy, one deep, savage slice of tongue. Her stomach caves, and she cries out, shoving her hand into my hair. Raking her fingernails against my scalp. My dick throbs.
“That’s it.” I straighten, taking my dick in my hand. “That’s fucking it, E.”
I reach up and cup her breast, swiping my thumb over her nipple. At the same time I line myself up at her entrance. Her hot, slick flesh presses invitingly against my head. I grit my teeth. I want this to last.
I want to make it as good for her as she has for me.
All this give and take. Her giving. Her taking. Her giving again. It’s fucking sweet, and it’s making me feel. Everything. All at once.
I push inside her a little. Just my head. Her breath catches. Mine collapses.
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