"I love you."
"I love you, too," I breathed back at once, a smile spreading over my face. Oh, hearing those words from him, it felt downright precious – seeing this man who seemed to keep so much to himself, finally giving in and allowing himself to accept that I really cared about him as much as he cared about me.
I leaned forward to kiss him, my hand on his cheek – and Cinnamon reached up to bump his head against our chins. Both of us laughed as we pulled back, and I gently moved Cinnamon to the ground below me.
"Not right now, buddy," I murmured, as I leaned in for another kiss. And, as we deepened into the embrace, I knew everything else in the world could wait – I knew that the only thing that mattered right now was the feel of his arms around me, his body against mine, and the promise that he loved me just as much as I loved him.
Chapter Nineteen – Chuck
As I drew her down on to the bed, I could feel something shifting inside of me. I had no idea exactly what it was, or exactly what it meant that it was changing, but I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I liked it.
We lay next to each other on my bed, the sunlight streaming through the window beside us – I knew the guys I had sent out to her apartment would already be cleaning the place up, getting it cleared out and dealing with the body in there before the cops arrived. By the time that they got there, there would be no sign left that Franco had ever even stepped foot inside that place, and that was exactly how I wanted it.
I wanted her to be free from him. I wanted her to never have to look back and fear for her life, for her safety, for anything else – I just wanted her to be able to give herself to me, completely and utterly, and right now, that was exactly what she seemed to want to do.
I pushed a hand into her hair as I pulled her on top of me, wrapping my arms around her in a passionate embrace.I never wanted to let her go again, not as long as I lived – no, as far as I was concerned, she was mine, just as much as I was hers. I had given myself to her now, with nothing holding us apart from one another, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I slid my hands down to her hips, watching as she moved on top of me, grinding herself against my cock playfully, her teeth resting on her lower lip, her eyes burning into mine with all the lust that I could hardly contain. Did she have any idea how fucking sexy she looked to me right now...?
I stripped her down, hands moving with a hungry need all over her body so I could expose her - I needed her naked right now, I needed to take in every inch of her and leave nothing behind. After what I had told her, after I had laid myself out on the line like that, I wanted to show her how much more of myself I was willing to give her – how much I wanted to have her, how much I needed her to see me.
She pulled my shirt off over my head as she straddled me, my back pressed up against the headboard, and slid her hand to my heart – she rested it there as she kissed me again, feeling the pulse of me beneath her touch, as though I could ever have resisted her. I would have given her anything and everything she wanted right now, I didn’t have it in me to deny her – she could have asked for the world, and I would have done everything I could to gift it to her. Her tongue danced along my lip, as though she was whispering a million little secrets into my mouth.
I slid my hands along her waist, feeling the way she moved beneath me – the way she responded to my touch, even this closeness not enough for her.
She reached down to unzip my pants and took me into her hand, stroking me a couple of times to make sure I was good and hard before she guided me against her – I watched as she lifted herself slightly, her hips hovering just above my cock, my heart pounding in my chest as pure adrenaline pumped through my system. Nothing turned me on like this, turned me on like seeing her want me as badly as she did right now. I would have given anything to just lose myself to her, to this moment, to forget there was anything outside this room and let the pleasure take control of me.
I wrapped my arms around her and slowly, slowly, guided her down on top of me. I wanted to feel every inch as it entered her, the pressure of it slowly unfolding as she took my full length inside of her – her mouth was just an inch or two from my ear, and I could hear the way that this was turning her on, the little moans that crept from the back of her throat to tell me just how much she wanted this.
"Oh, God," she moaned, as she lowered herself all the way down on top of me, taking my full length inside of her. I pushed up, sliding myself in the last couple of inches, and pulled back so I could look her in the eyes.
Her gaze burned into mine as I held myself there inside of her, and she slipped her arms around my shoulders, pulling me in close to her – closer than we had ever been before, if not physically, then emotionally. This nearness felt like it was filling every inch of me from the ground up, rushing through every part of me to take control – nothing could have mattered more than the way this felt, than the way she was looking at me right now.
I didn’t thrust up and into her, but rather, rocked myself slowly back and forth, back and forth, letting her feel me massage her from the inside out. Pulling back and thrusting back in would have put too much space between us, and I couldn’t stand that. I needed her, every inch of her, every part of her that I could have – nothing else would be enough, nothing else would come close, and I knew it.
She kissed me again, her lips brushing over my chin and towards my mouth, our tongues meeting each other as we moved together, in perfect time with each other. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, and I could feel hers against my chest, that promise of how much we wanted each other – how much we needed this, how much we craved it.
"Oh," she moaned against my mouth, and I pushed a hand up into her hair, the other on the small of her back to push her even closer to me. Her skin seemed to be bonding with mine, this space between us falling away until there was nothing left, until we were just one being – until we were together, finally, completely, the way I had wanted for so long. The way I had been craving, and not even known it. I had never been this exposed to a woman before, emotionally as well as physically, and I could already tell I was going to be addicted to it. Nothing else would sate me now I’d had her like this.
I could feel her body starting to tense around me as she inched closer and closer to the edge, to that release I needed to feel – her thighs were starting to twitch against mine, her chest rising and falling in time with my own labored breath. I pressed my forehead to hers, gazing up into her eyes, taking in the sight of her like this, the sight of her moving on top of me, the sight of her losing herself to this pleasure...
And, all at once, her body spasmed on top of mine. Her fingernails raked down my back like she was intent on marking me and making me hers – as though I could ever belong to anyone else after what we had been through together. Her pussy pulsed around my cock, over and over again, throbbing as she gasped and tried to catch her breath. I could feel her trembling in my arms as I pushed inside of her, deep, deeper, and then, reached my own release.
The intensity of my orgasm made the corners of my vision blur. It was more than just pleasure; no, it was catharsis, knowing I had finally allowed myself that release I wanted so badly. The release of telling her the truth and hearing from her mouth that I didn’t need to carry all that guilt with me any longer – it was exactly what I had been craving, exactly what I hadn’t even known I’d needed until the second I had heard her speak it out loud. I let out a deep growl of pleasure, the noise emanating from some place deep down inside of me, and held myself there, my cock throbbing inside of her, my arms wrapped around her, refusing to break this moment between us, even for a second.
Eventually, though, as she caught her breath, she lifted herself off of me slowly – I could still feel her heart pounding against mine as she kissed me again, grinning as she sank back on to the bed behind her.
"Wow," she breathed. She had felt it too, I was sure of it – it hadn’t been like the times we’d been together before, no, it had been way more intense than that. In a good way. In a way that I knew I would want again and again and again...
And, as she lay there in bed next to me, I realized that I didn’t want her to leave. Not just tonight, not just because I knew the guys would be clearing her apartment and there likely wouldn’t be room for her in there. No, I didn’t want her to leave at all. I wanted her to stay here, by my side. I wanted to wake up next to her every morning. I knew nothing else would satisfy me. I needed her close to me – I never wanted to be away from her, not if I could help it.
"Move in with me," I told her, and she lifted her head at me and frowned.
"What did you just say?"
I lay down next to her, pulling her on to my chest.
"Move in with me," I repeated. "I want you to live with me, Abbey. I want you to move in with me."