I grabbed a pair of socks and shoved them into my duffel. “Do you want to grab my hygiene stuff from the bathroom? Deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste?”
“Any makeup or anything?” he asked. I shook my head, and he grabbed the essentials.
We met by the door, but he paused. “Did you forget something?” I asked.
He shook his head. “You told me that you loved me.”
I thought back to when we were interrupted, and how he never had the opportunity to respond. I assumed that he wasn’t sure about his feelings yet. “I did.”
He strutted toward me and removed the bag from my hands, setting it on the floor beside us. He grabbed ahold of my hips and backed me until I sat on the bed and he stood over me. “Lena Brookes, I’ve never stopped being in love with you.” My mouth fell agape as the words left his mouth. “From the moment you left to go to New York, I never stopped having feelings for you. When you got married, I pushed them away and tried to move on, but you’ve always been the one who I want to spend my life with.”
I didn’t know what to say, so words fell from my mouth clumsily. “You never said… I thought you agreed that I should go to New York. I thought…” What did I think? I knew he had feelings for me, and it was part of the reason I knew I had to leave. The other part of the reason, though, was my own feelings for him.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that we do it differently this time.” He dropped to his knees before me and held my hands in his. “I’m not letting you go this time.”
My heart flooded with so many emotions that I flew at him, nearly knocking him backward. He stood with me in his arms, legs wrapped around his waist as I kissed him deeply. Hy core filled with heat as his lips ravaged mine and he tightened his solid arms around me. I questioned if it was the right time for what I intended to do with him, but waiting was the reason we didn’t work the first time around, so I laced my fingers through his hair and deepened the kiss.
My tongue brushed his lip and he parted them, allowing me full access to explore every centimeter of his mouth as fully as possible. His teeth nipped at my bottom lip and drug it further into his mouth. Our eyes met in that moment, and the brilliant brown I had always loved was a darker shade, mirroring dark chocolate rather than the dark milky brown I had grown accustomed.
His smirk was the only indication that he planned to move us, so I held onto his hair and tightened my lags around his hips as he threw us to the bed, hovering atop me with partially restrained movements. “We’re taking it slow this time,” he whispered. He bent forward and left a small path of kisses from my earlobe to the bottom of my jaw. I lifted my chin to grant him further access as he continued taunting me with his kisses.
I trailed my hands across the nape of his neck and attempted to guide the kisses back toward my lips, but he pulled back and smiled down at me. The smile did something to my insides. His bright eyes and up tilted lips sent butterflies through my stomach. I further warmed, and the need for him grew. “I don’t know about slow,” I admitted.
His smile widened as he reached for the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head. He looked down at my breasts. Covered by only my baby blue bra, he kissed around them. He gazed at me through his lashes as he used one long finger to pull the fabric downward and trail his lips across a much more sensitive area. I gasped and arched my back as his teeth grazed the same place as his lips worked seconds before.
The sensation of his mouth trailing my body in soft kisses and sensational nips sent my heart and core into overdrive. I was ready for him to make his move—to let the moment grow more intimate. But he instead insisted on giving attention to every inch of my body. “Are you about done?” I asked impatiently.
“Almost.” He followed his hands with kisses, so as he pulled at my shorts and followed them down my hips, I bit my lip in anticipation. The shorts fell to the floor and he worked his way back up to where they rested, nipping at the inside of my thighs. His fingers trailed my panties before he lowered those too, following the same ritual as before. Only this time, there was nothing blocking him from caressing the skin where the panties rested. His mouth didn’t pause as he caressed everywhere, and then his finger followed.
He looked at me through his lashes as I panted in anticipation. His finger traced the insides of my thighs, and then moved upward and onto my point of sensitivity. With the lightest caress, I arched my back and gasped. My breathing quickened and he explored the area with his finger and mouth. For precious minutes I held my tongue as he worked to give me all the pleasure he could.
Finally, he stood and removed his shirt. I clenched my legs together at the pure man that rested beneath his clothes. He pulled down his pants and boxers, revealing the rest of himself. Looking at him from the bed as he towered over me in nothing but the skin in which he was born, my heart exploded with love and admiration. He could have been a statue as he stood staring down at me, with his angled abs and scars. They rested in long strips across his side, almost
