Page 26 of In Another Lifetime

Fuck. My sharp, inaudible breath hurt my chest.

“Which is where?” I asked with forced calm.

His wide eyes said everything. Brennan realized his mistake on this tightrope we walked. “Oh…ah, over by where the plates are.”

“I’ll get them,” Dayton offered, not seeming to catch the interplay. “Vale, have a seat. Brennan, you actually eating with us?”

“Actually…” his little brother said, finishing his selection over at the TV. “Um…”

“Fine. Go do your thing. Promise you’ll have dinner with us tomorrow, though. We’re heading into Grand Haven.” Day looked at me. “If that’s okay?”

“Sounds perfect.”

“I can get on board with that. Can I bring someone?” Brennan asked.

Day nodded. “As long as you eat with us before taking off on your own.”

“Deal.”

With a wave, the younger Windsor was gone and out the front door, and we were alone.

“Seems like he’s always on the go,” I observed, my chest tight as once again, I realized how much of Brennan’s life I’d missed. He’d been at the beginning of seventh grade…then. And now, he was about to start his senior year. I’d missed some of his most crucial years, time I could never recover, even if I became a fixture in their lives as I hoped to.

“He is. More popular than I ever was; that’s for sure. But he doesn’t let it go to his head.”

“He seems like a good kid. Work good today?” I asked, turning my gaze back to Day and finding him watching me with the hungry eyes that had lit up all my pleasure centers last night.

“Thought about you the whole time,” he murmured. His hands flexed slightly on either side of his plate, clearly fighting the urge to reach for me, and it reminded me of the time when he’d come home from that assignment all scruffy and rough. The same intensity. Same hunger.

Before any conscious agreement was made, he reached for me, and I shifted from my chair and onto his lap, straddling him. Immediately, he pulled my mouth to his, devouring, commanding. His hand fisted in my hair while his other arm was a vise around my waist and pulled me tighter to him and against the hard ridge that pressed into my center.

Unable to help myself, I rocked into him, and Day groaned, his hand moving to splay over my ass and control the movement back and forth against him.

“You’re so fucking hot,” he muttered. He glanced between us, and I followed the look. My flowy dress had hiked up to leave most of my thighs bare, as well as part of my panties where I pressed against him. “Fuck…” he breathed. “Such a perfect good girl. Keep rocking just like that.”

“Oh, God,” I gasped, tossing back my head while long-dormant pleasure burned through me, remaking me for this moment. Dayton pressed his lips to my exposed throat, unerringly finding my pulse point. I shuddered, and when his thumb rubbed over my clit through the damp cotton, I moaned from the electric thrill of it. “Yes, like that.”

“You keep moving those little hips like a good girl, and I’ll give you anything you want,” he promised against my neck where he nibbled and sucked, taking advantage of the opening I’d given him.

“Just you. I just want you,” I breathed.

“Wrap your arms around me,” he muttered, already standing. My hands skimmed around his neck, but he was already standing, moving, and I knew he was heading for the bedroom that had once been ours. When my back hit the mattress, I stared up at him wondering how I looked to him spread out beneath him. My hair was dark compared to Melonie’s strawberry blonde, my figure short and compact to her taller, curvier one. She hadn’t borne the scars I wore from the accident.

The heat in Dayton’s eyes said he liked what he saw, though. So I stopped worrying and just sank into the moment.

I wanted him. I’d missed him. So much.

Some nights, after the murder and the accident, I’d lain in bed alone and all I could think of was wanting him there with me, taking away the pain. I didn’t dwell on that time, but switching into this body hadn’t been easy. The accident had mangled the limbs, broken bones and done internal damage to some organs. I was all good now, save for scars, but it hadn’t been an easy road.

And I wasn’t dead. Every step of recovery has led me right here—Dayton crawling over me and propping himself up on his arms while he leaned in and kissed me.

His knees wedged between mine while he devoured my mouth, a man starved, and I kissed him with matching fervor, equally famished.

One of his hands reached down to fist the skirt of my dress, and I lifted my hips to urge him on. The fabric dragged up my thighs, tickling my skin and raising goosebumps to join those already there from my arousal.

I put my arms up, and he swept the sundress off me, leaving me in only my panties. Immediately, my nipples tightened in the room’s cool air. I reached for his shirt, but he stretched his arm back and yanked the tee over head then tossed it to join my dress on the floor. Immediately, my hands splayed on his pecs, exploring the hardness of the plates of muscle there. Dayton had been well-built, though lean, ever since he’d been part of the weight club in high school, but not like this. This was more.

He didn’t give me time to admire as he dipped in and wrapped his lips around one pearled tip of my breast. The draw pulled a cry from me while it tugged a taut line down to my core. Fire lit through my body. I clutched at his shoulders arching closer while he dominated my body, playing me as easily as ever. The veils fell away, and we were just a man and a woman loving each other as we would for all eternity.

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