Page 48 of Fighting for Ella

There was a connection there, it was the only way to explain how he’d been able to look past everything screaming she was guilty to see something else was going on. It was the only way to explain how she felt comfortable and at ease with him, even after what she’d been through.

“You don’t have to, El,” he whispered in her ear.

“I want to,” she assured him, warmth settling in her chest at his constant need to ensure she was all right. She wasn't, but in this moment, with him, there in her shower, she was.

With each stroke of her hand up and down his length, and each thrust of his fingers as he pumped them in and out of her, the pleasure inside her grew. Bigger and stronger, it filled heruntil she felt so close to bursting that she whimpered, needing something to push her over the edge.

When lips pressed a kiss to the curve of her neck, Ella shattered.

The unrelenting pounding of the water against her bud seemed to make her orgasm last forever and she clung to this beautiful moment, treasuring it, wanting it to never end.

A grunt from behind her told her that Miguel had also come, and she felt the stickiness of his release on her hand. She wanted to take that release, absorb it, make it part of her, and use it somehow to make Miguel stay.

Because one thing she was certain of in the giant storm of uncertainness her life had become was that Miguel wasn't sticking around. It was a silly thing to be worried about, given everything else she had on her plate, but the idea of Miguel leaving made her feel almost sick with loneliness.

February 9th

5:33 A.M.

Something warm tickled his skin,stirring him from sleep.

Miguel blinked open heavy eyes, not immediately realizing where he was.

Years in the military meant he usually woke up instantly and completely. If you were in the field even losing a couple of seconds could mean the difference between life and death, so you learned pretty quickly to snap from sleep mode to awake mode in the blink of an eye.

Thankfully, this morning it didn't matter that his brain woke groggily, taking a moment to put all the pieces together because he was curled up in Ella’s bed.

In Ella’s bed.

Shock had him jerking sideways, rolling to his feet, and staring down at the woman still sleeping, tucked beneath the blankets.

What was he doing falling asleep with Ella in his arms?

That was not the way to keep distance between them. Being her friend didn't mean he had to climb into bed with her.

Only …

She’d asked him to.

Seemed he was powerless to say no when it came to this woman.

Getting in the shower with her was a crazy move when he wanted to stop himself from getting emotionally invested. Attraction was one thing, it was okay for his body to crave her, to want to sink inside her, feel her come around him, and touch and taste every inch of her delectable body. It was even okay to want to be her friend, to make sure she was okay, to be there for her, and offer her the support she needed when she felt adrift and alone.

But making out with her in the shower was only going to make him crave her more.

Still, when she’d looked up at him with her big green eyes, every drop of pain she was feeling shining brightly, and asked if he pitied her, he’d felt this awful clawing feeling in his gut. A need he couldn’t even begin to explain.

Ella was hurting and he had to make it stop.

That was all he’d been able to register.

So he’d soothed her fears, telling her quite honestly that he didn't pity her. His only reservations were that she would regretit in the morning and the thought of her resenting him didn't sit well with him.

His other reservation was that he was already getting more invested than he should.

It was too late to worry about that now, though.

He’d touched her, made her come all over his fingers, felt her hands on him.

---