Page 42 of Why Not Now?

Other men have complimented me before, calling me beautiful and other synonyms. But Derek’s is the only opinion that has ever mattered.

I rock my hips, starting with a slow rhythm, letting him slip out and back in, caressing deep within me. Every time I lean forward, my clit grinds against his pelvis and heat sparks through me.

Derek pulls me forward so he can take my nipple into his mouth. I rock faster on him. His hands drop from my back to my hips, pushing me onto his dick as he thrusts up into me. My head tilts up as he takes over, kissing and nibbling on the side of my breast while pumping into me from below.

My moan turns to a sharp cry as he sucks hard enough I know he’ll leave another hickey there. I don’t care. Especially not when his fingers find my clit and he strokes it in time with his deep thrusts.

“Fuck, Ava, you feel so good on my dick.”

His praise is the start of my undoing. His fingers keep stroking, faster and harder as he pounds deep into me. Heat flushes my skin and a tingle in my core tells me my orgasm is close.

“Yes, Derek,” I gasp. “Exactly what you’re doing. Don’t stop, please don’t stop.”

He chuckles, his lips finding my neck and pressing a kiss there. “I wasn’t planning on it, sweetheart.”

The fingers that aren’t strumming my most sensitive area are pressing against my hip, hard enough that I wonder if he’s going to leave a bruise. The thought flees as my orgasm breaks, tearing a scream from me that Derek muffles with his mouth. My whole body shudders as he continues thrusting. Both hands holding my hips, he pumps faster and harder until his movements turn jerky and he groans against my lips.

When he stops moving, we collapse onto the bed, my body over him, his dick still half-hard inside me. Neither of us attempts to get up, our chests heaving against one another as we catch our breath. I sigh as Derek draws soft patterns on my back with the tips of his fingers.

“I have to go,” he whispers a few minutes later, pulling me from my blissed-out state.

I whimper and hold on to him. He chuckles and strokes my back some more.

“Abyss is going to wonder where her dinner is. I have to take my contacts out. And if I don’t leave now, I’ll fall asleep, and we’ll have to explain to Lacey why I spent the night.”

That last bit has me sitting up and letting him go. He leans over and kisses my lips and the outside of my left breast where there aretwohickeys side-by-side, one from the other night and one from tonight. He gets up, removing the condom, and putting his clothes back on. I watch with a sense of loss as all that glorious skin disappears beneath fabric. Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls something out.

“This is for you,” he says, sitting on the edge of my bed, and pressing a metal ring with a single key attached to it into my palm.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Spare key. So you don’t have to slide mine through the slot when you sneak out next time.”

I wince. “Sorry about that. I was a little unsure about what happened. You’d just said you wanted to be friends.”

He tucks a strand of hair that has escaped my braid behind my ear. “We are friends, Ava.”

“With benefits?”

“Obviously.”

I hold up the key. “You had this on you?”

“Just in case,” he says with a shrug.

“I’m going to get cleaned up,” I say, slipping from the bed. “You don’t have to stay.”

“Go ahead. I’ll wait.”

I make a quick trip to the bathroom, returning and dressing in some cozy pyjamas. Derek watches me the whole time. When I’m back in bed, he pulls the covers around me and tucks me in like I’m something precious.

“You want one of your friends?” he asks, hooking a thumb to where my team of stuffed animals sits on the chair.

I shake my head. “I don’t sleep with them anymore.”

He tilts his head and lifts an eyebrow at me. Then he gives me a lingering kiss, our tongues touching, caressing, before he pulls away. “Liar,” he says. He heads to the door, making sure the knob is locked before he shuts it behind him.

I wait until his car starts and his headlights no longer shine through my window before I get up and find the green stuffed bear he’d given me when we were in high school. I throw the deadbolt on the door and crawl back into bed. I don’t need to add a drop ofRefugeto my pillow tonight. It already smells like him. I’m asleep moments after my head touches the pillow.

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