Page 86 of Broken Instrument

She nods, peeking up at me as she catches her breath. “You?”

“You feel fucking fantastic.”

Her laugh eases the vice around my throat. “Ditto.”

“How do you want this? Soft and slow? Hard and fast?”

“Oo, you take orders now?”

“You know me; I aim to please.”

Another laugh. “That, I believe. You should kiss me again.”

I flick my tongue along the seam of her lips and kiss her deeper. And a few seconds later, our hips shift on their own, finding their rhythm. We start slowly, letting our frenzy build the same way our relationship has since we first met.

By the end, the headboard bangs against the wall keeping time with our heavy breathing, but it only adds to the adrenaline throbbing in my veins.

We come together a little later, our muscles spent and our chests rising and falling as Hadley draws random circles along my bare back. She’s still pinned beneath me, but I’m not sure I could move even if I wanted to.

“Thanks for fixing me, Hadley,” I murmur against her, my voice breaking the peaceful, quiet blanketing the room.

I can almost hear the smile in her voice when she whispers, “Thanks for letting me break, Fen.”

My brows furrow, and I push my top half off her so I can look down and read her expression. “What?”

“It’s a good thing. I promise.” She tugs me down again, but I stay in my half-push-up position.

“I don’t want to smother you,” I argue.

“I like feeling your weight on me,” she counters and grasps at my shoulders another time. “It makes me feel safe.”

I collapse onto her, giving in, and ask, “What did you mean a second ago? Thanks for letting you break?”

“I just… I know I still have a long way to go, but I want you to know, if you hadn’t been through everything you had, I don’t think I would’ve been able to let you in. To let you see the ugly pieces of me. I think if you were anyone else, I would’ve pushed you away when I found out about Bud. But because you’re you, and I know everything you’ve been through, I knew you’d let me break. And you’d be patient enough to put in the work to help me heal. I don’t think anyone else would be willing to do it. To be with someone so broken.” She sniffles and presses her lips to my shoulder. “I love you, Fen. I love you so much. So thank you for being broken when we first met. And thank you for being strong enough to let me in so I could put you back together again. So you could put me back together again. You really are amazing.”

“Does that mean you’ll move in with me?”

She laughs, causing her bare breasts to brush against my chest as she slides her hands up and down my back. It feels amazing.

“I’m not going anywhere, Fen,” she promises.

“Well, I hope you go somewhere,” I mention.

With her hands pressed against my chest, I do another half push-up to find her brow arching back at me.

“Excuse me?”

I bite my lip to keep from grinning at her. “You should get dressed. We need to buy you a laptop.”

Her breath of laughter tickles my neck, and she pushes against my chest. Again. I roll over, taking her with me until our positions are reversed, and she’s lying on top of me. Her long, dark hair is pushed over one shoulder––it must’ve fallen out of her messy bun while we were making love––and hangs in a wavy curtain as she cocks her head to the side. “What?”

“I think it’s time we get back on tour.”

“What? When? ”

“Three days sound soon enough?”

“Fen––”

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