Page 69 of What I Should Have Known

I hadn’t begged him once to see me.

Bernie had given himself to me long before I’d opened up to the idea of him.

And that was something I should have known long before this moment.

Lips found mine. His lips. Needy and desperate, yet patient. His hips leaned tighter against me as he slipped his tongue between my teeth. I wove my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, widening my legs for him.

Heart racing, with each passing touch, each desperate feel of his skin against mine, I grew hungry for more of him.

Words spoken in a way I’d never heard before escaped his own mouth as he let me into secrets that, at least for this moment, I’d chosen to believe were only shared with me. His hands inched along my thighs, slipping beneath the hem of my dress.

Goosebumps prickled upon my skin as a soft moan left his lips the higher he trailed. With a subtle buck of my hips, I urged him on. Dancing past the thin straps of my thong, he dug his touch into my hips, his fingers creating dents in my skin as he pulled me up onto my knees. As I straddled his waist, feeling every pulse of excitement roaring hard between his legspressed firmly against my own wet center, his hand found the zipper to my dress.

The fabric fluttered to the ground as he lay me back down against the bed. The restraint upon his face flickered as if he were some character glitching on a video game. All I had to offer him was a simple smile and he shed whatever binds had held him back.

Not an ounce of insecurity flitted through me as he explored every single inch of my body. His tongue. His teeth. His hands. My skin, coated slick in sweat that mixed with his own, roared as hot as the feel of his tongue swiping across my exposed peaks. Every breath of his, every desperate moan and whimper elicited a rush of unfiltered desire.

I didn’t stop him, there was no fighting as he found his way across a body long since hidden beneath fabric. There was not a curve he didn’t devour, not a single crevice, dimple, stretch mark, or imperfection that his fingertips didn’t find.

And I knew I was cursed as he turned my world into a flurry of stars and roaring pleasure in ways I’d have never imagined myself. Shedding his own clothes, my heart raced, everything but the here and now mute.

All I wanted was to feel his touch. To feel him. As he ground his hardened length against me, inviting another rush of warmth, there was no stopping my own rock of my hips against him. One set of his fingers found mine, entwining with them and he shoved me harder into the bed, guiding himself between my legs.

Involuntarily, my eyes opened as his panting breaths washed across my lips. “I’m on birth control,so we’re good,” I whispered.

His gaze met mine as he finally eased himself in with a gasp that matched my own.

He was enough. Whatever happened after this, wherever I went, this was all that I wanted. This was something that no one could take away from me.

And this was something worth fighting for. He was worth fighting for. He was the autumn breeze before the winter storm. And it was as he guided me through mine and his own whirlwind of pleasure and desire, did I realize I’d all but given up fighting.

The strong woman he seemed to believe I was, had disappeared when I’d accepted the fate that didn’t have to be mine. No matter what Bernie said, he was enough. He was who I wanted and more than anything.

Maybe it was because of something he said, something he’d done, but I’d never dreamt of someone like him. I’d heard of those stories of a romance that only came once in a lifetime, and this was mine. This had been mine.

He’d sought me, despite every reason to run, despite being the one to say that we were destined for destruction, he’d still given himself to me. And with a final thrust of his hips, I met his gaze and never felt more alive, never more painfully exploding into absolute relief.

Chapter 23

BERNIE

Fuck, she was beautiful.

And she was it for me. No matter what happened now, she had total power over me. She absolutely owned me, and I knew at that moment, I’d stop at nothing to make her mine. It may destroy me, but she would be mine.

No matter what the cost.

But a price I would earn, not something easily handed to me because I’d shoved Wyatt out of the way. Despite all of that shit, I would work my ass off to earn it.

Quiet gasps left her lips as I slowly slid out of her, coming down from the high of ecstasy given by her. Her thick lashes fluttered open, sun-kissed cheeks blooming pink from exertion and a small amount of bashfulness. I leaned forward and gently pecked her lips, carefully untangling my hand from her hair.

“Let me go get a towel to help clean you up. Just a sec,” Iquietly said.

Fingers snapped around my wrist. She shook her head, her gaze remaining locked onto mine. But she said nothing. For a moment she simply looked at me and then her touch slipped away from my skin.

“Thank you for letting me be your first,” I whispered.

“If only you could be my last,” she replied, barely audible.

---