The prospect of such a reality curled her fingers until her nails dug into his tee-shirt. “Have you reached for me in bed?”
Shyla had sought him in the night. Half a sleep, still in a drowsy daze, she’d tried to get closer to a man who wasn’t there.
Instead of answering, Score picked her up and carried her over to the bed. After he laid her down, he stood to slip off her mules and unbuckle his own belt. Envious of his fingers doing her job, she wanted to sit up and take over. Short of being allowed to undress him, the next best thing was getting naked for him. Shyla eased down the cotton straps of her dress and raised her hips to wriggle out of it. Score took over from there, ridding her body of both her dress and her panties as she cast off her bra.
He’d revealed her body, got her naked for his personal enjoyment. Shyla wanted to enjoy him in return and wasn’t disappointed. Score pulled his tee-shirt off over his head before dropping his jeans and underwear.
Joining her on the bed, he lay over her, covering her form with his. “How’s it been for you?” he murmured, holding his lips just out of reach of hers. “Alone, without me… Your pussy so far from my cock.”
“Torture,” she yelped, throwing both arms around his neck.
“Good.”
That he enjoyed her torment was nothing new. The man had admitted how good he was at restraint. Shyla had admitted the opposite in the past. Even if he hadn’t been sure of it, her wriggling and panting had to be giving her eagerness away.
Coiling both legs around his hips, she used his shoulders as leverage to push herself down. Score thwarted those efforts by dropping his pelvis to pin her in place.
“You’re doing it again,” she said, raising her head to kiss any part of his skin within reach. “Driving me crazy.”
“You walked out on me.”
The statement was matter of fact, yet his mention of it again reinforced her suspicion that she’d hurt him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “So sorry, baby… I was lost and confused and I… I believed in us so much… The idea that we could be over—”
“We’ll never be over, Lamb.”
The gravity of his words relaxed her neck, so she could meet his eye. Just minutes ago, Shyla hadn’t been so sure of that. He’d even suggested sending her off to be with another man. Somehow, physically being with him or away from him didn’t change what they were. Like he’d said, she was his liability whether she was at home or far from his side.
“Promise me, Phoenix,” she breathed. “Promise me you love me.”
“I love you,” he said. “I promise I love you. All of you. Only you.”
The simple words uttered in the intimate moment touched her soul, they snaked deep into her, embedding themselves in her essence. They were together and he didn’t want to lose her, just like she didn’t want to lose him.
Languishing in the security of his bed, Shyla was more relaxed than she could ever remember being. Her revere was snapped away when Score surged up and forced himself into her with one thrust.
Her mouth opened wide, matching her eyes that found only satisfaction in his. He’d meant to do that, to change the mood of the moment in an instant. The man knew what he was doing, knew how to work her.
Retreating and advancing at a slower pace, he reminded her body of how much it enjoyed his intrusion. Heat and contentment swirled around her on the route to gratification.
“Phoenix,” she whispered his name, her hips moving with his, her hands clinging to him. “Yes…”
He sped up, but switched his angle, pushing up and down against her body. Shyla smiled as the friction raised the temperature between them. He wasn’t finished tormenting her, but focused in on that one spot, the sweet spot he knew just how to pleasure.
The sparks of ecstasy began to shimmer from her clit up into her belly just moments before the weight of orgasm pushed her hips upward. Bucking against him, she cried out and dug her nails in, gripping him almost as tight as the muscles of her pussy were gripping his cock. Desperate for him to stay, she tried to pull his upper body down, but he was speeding up, racing toward his own end.
Shyla wanted him to have it and struggled to breathe through the aftershocks of her own delectable climax. She panted, grabbing for oxygen just like she’d grabbed for him, sucking it in and huffing it out. Gritting her teeth against the clash of a second wave, she was only half aware of his growl of satisfaction. He pushed up into her, hard and deep, then stalled.
Through her daze, she met his eye. Her smile was weak, his expression discerning. Whatever was on his mind, he kept it to himself and moved to push her onto the far side of the bed while he lay next to her.
“Can I ask you something?” Shyla asked into the silence that had hung around them both for a while.
On his side next to her, Score was running his fingertips up and down her body. If she didn’t say something to take her mind off his torment, she’d beg him for more before he was ready to give it.
“I don’t want to talk about it in bed.”
“No,” she said, shifting onto her side to
