Page 181 of Hold Me Until Morning

He wavered for a moment, his intensity blazing in the room. “Can’t tell you what it meant to have you at my mother’s house today, Hailey. That’s a sacred place to me. Never thought I’d want to bring someone there. Make them a part of it. And that’s exactly where I want you to be.”

“And I was afraid of going there because I was worried I might want to stay.”

“That’s what I want, Hailey. I want you there. With me. Not sure I can imagine my life without you in it anymore.”

The truth of what we’d become tremored around us. A threat that both of us were precariously perched on the edge. This heart so close to no longer belonging to me.

“Come here, Shortcake…let me show you just what you mean. Going to make you feel so good tonight…and just like I promised Lolly, I don’t plan to ever stop.”

There was no hesitation.

I moved.

Drawn to him in an inexplicable way. The way I’d always been. No control over the lure that pulled and persuaded.

He stretched out a long arm and dragged the chair from the small desk that sat against the wall between the room and the bathroom, and he turned it out to face me.

“Sit.”

I complied, no reserves, no restraint.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t shaking like an old washing machine that had been set off-kilter.

Balance lost.

Cody dropped to his knees in front of me.

Need cracked.

A thunderbolt of energy that whipped through the room.

He grabbed the bowl of strawberry shortcake, that slyness riding back to his face as he drove the spoon in deep then came out with a heaping mound. “Open.”

Flavor burst on my tongue as he pushed it deep into the well of my mouth.

The tart of the fresh strawberries and the sweet of the cream and the texture of the shortcake all mixed with the impact of the man.

The whole of it made me moan.

Cody growled as he withdrew the spoon and placed it into the bowl.

“What that sound does to me, Hailey. Your voice has become my song.”

His eyes traced my jaw, my cheeks, my brow. “What this face does to me. This face that has become my landscape.”

A hand clamped down on my waist. “And what this body does to me. This body that’s my playground. My sanctuary. My haven.”

He set the bowl on the floor, and he dug his fingers into the dessert, forgoing the spoon.

I trembled when he lifted it and pressed two big fingers into my mouth.

“Suck,” he told me.

I did. Gladly.

“Good girl,” he murmured.

He reached around me and slid the zipper down the back of my dress.

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