“I need you!” Her orgasm shattered her, weakening her knees and obliterating her words and still James slid in and out, working up to his own orgasm. She held onto the wall for dear life as she continued to come, not trusting her legs to hold her weight.
“I want to come on your ass, Ellie.”
No one had ever said that to her before and it lit her lust on fire, deepening her orgasm. She cried out, whimpering with each of his thrusts until suddenly…
James pulled away and grunted, leaving her empty. Something warm slid between her cheeks and was washed away by the water. Ellie leaned her head on the wall, gasping for air, her chest heaving. She was afraid to trust her legs enough to straighten.
“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” James sounded genuinely concerned and ran a hand down her back.
“Oh, no. I’m not hurt. I just don’t think I can stand.” She pushed off the wall and turned to face him, her hair plastered to her head, back, and shoulders. Water rushed off her breasts and poured off her hard nipples.
James grinned. “I take it that’s a good thing?”
“Mmm. The things you do to me…”
He reached past her and turned off the shower. “What do I do to you? Tell me all about it, and don’t skimp on the detail.”
“You do things that no one has done to me before.” Ellie shook her head. “Good things. Very good things.”
“Is that what you call detail?” James threw open the shower curtain and grabbed two towels, wrapped one around his waist and handed the other to Ellie.
“You’re lucky I can form coherent sentences after what you did to me. So yes, given the circumstance, I consider very good things to be detailed.” Ellie dried her hair then wrapped the towel around her torso, letting her eyes wander the contour of James’ back as he disappeared into his room to change.
She checked her face in the mirror and wiped away the mascara that pooled below her eyes. He hadn’t come inside her and she was ashamed by how relieved she was because it only highlighted the fact that she’d lied to him the night before.
And, thanks to that horrible lie, he thought she was on birth control and would want to come inside her every time.
What happened in the shower was a fluke.
A gift from some god somewhere who took mercy on her after a terrible day. She couldn’t count on him to want to keep pulling out.
She was either going to have to tell him the truth or make an appointment with the gynecologist to get her ass on the pill (hopefully with free samples). She much preferred option B. If she admitted to the lie, it would shatter the trust he’d developed for her.
And rightfully so.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ellie
Ellie leaned back in her beach chair and dug her toes into the sand. The sun sank low in the sky, the late afternoon colors reflecting like glitter across the waves breaking against the shore. James was at The Pit, sparring with Ethan and Oliver. Ellie had planned to go with him, but wasn’t feeling great and begged off.
She’d been looking forward to it, too. James hired a trainer for her, a woman who would help Ellie feel less awkward about being aggressive. Plus, as crazy as the whole thing was, she kind of liked watching James fight.
He turned into an absolute predator. His body strong. His eyes hungry. And he moved so fast. He struck like lightning, in and out before anyone had time to understand what they saw. Boom! His opponent was down. It made her proud to be his girl, and sad to remember she really wasn’t.
And that thought brought up a huge mess of conflicting emotions, because after a couple weeks living with James, working with him and his family to rebuild Good Beginnings, Ellie was afraid she was actually falling in love with him.
And to make matters worse, her period was Officially Late.
She’d made it to the doctor the Monday after that appalling lie slithered out of her mouth and got some samples of the pill which she started taking the very next day. She was only a few days late, and maybe it was psychosomatic. Maybe it was because of the pills themselves. She was supposed to wait and take them the first day of her period, but she hadn’t. So maybe that had messed things up.
She hoped.
Because if that wasn’t it, then it was her who had messed things up.
Anxiety churned in her stomach. Sitting out there in the evening sun, watching the waves break on the beach, feeling the wind dance in her hair, she was supposed to feel calmer. The whole reason she dragged the chair out to the sand in the first place was to get some fresh air. To stare out at the ocean and feel small for a while so that maybe she could get some perspective on her own troubles.
It wasn’t working.
Her thoughts were poisonous and full of thorns.
Except one.
Deep down, there was a tiny part of her that thrilled at the thought of having a baby. And not just any baby. James’ baby.
She found herself smiling, a tiny, private smile. And then she remembered she was totally broke. That she could barely support herself. That she wasn’t married. And hell! She wasn’t even dating the guy who might be a father. Not really. A guy who wasn’t emotionally strong enough to have the bombshell of her massive lie dropped in his lap.
So the smile dissipated and Ellie sat in her chair, chewing her lip, worrying the edges of her shirt. If she kept going like that, she would make herself sick. She needed to talk to someone, to get it all out of her head. Without giving herself time to think, she called her friend.
Tessa answered after the third ring. “Hey lovely lady!” She sounded out of breath.
“Hey, yourself. What’re you doing?”
“Just scurrying
