Page 53 of Unravel You

Derek

I rolled on my side and stared at my phone, which was flashing six o’clock while blaring the usual alarm tone at me. When I agreed to a bachelor party today, I hadn’t realized it’d be a whole-day affair. All I wanted was to stay in bed with Valentina. Leaving her to go play golf with my brothers felt wrong. Golf and drinks were all they’d been able to get me to agree to.

Valentina and I had made some progress the night of our big fight. And a lot more progress the nights after that. In the past three weeks, our time in Atlanta had been exactly what I’d hoped it would be. I got to reconnect with my family, and my family got to meet the love of my life. Valentina, in turn, was also opening up to them. After our first week, she’d even agreed to let Max come over and hang out for five nights.

That little boy was sunshine in a tiny body. Both my parents were beside themselves to have Max around. Mom spent a great deal of time cooking and baking with him. Of the five of us, only Zack liked spending time in the kitchen with her. So having Max as her little helper now felt like old times for her. When Max wasn’t with Mom or Valentina, he and I got to hang out and play baseball.

Valentina had been sad to see him go the following Tuesday morning, but she had to let him go back to school. Plus, the engagement party was this Saturday, and she didn’t want him to have to sit through that. At least that was what she’d said to me when we drove Max and Em to the airport. My guess was the mama bear in her wanted to vet all the guests before she let them meet Max. Baby steps.

Valentina was here with me. She loved me as much as I loved her, and I couldn’t wait to marry her next month. I shifted my weight to lie on my side, facing her. She hadn’t even bothered to get her nightclothes back on after our last round of sex. The sheets tangled around her legs, leaving the rest of her exposed. Her hair wrapped itself around her pillow in thick curls. I reached for it but stopped midway when she stirred in her sleep.

As if she could sense me staring, her nipples tightened. Jesus, I wanted her again. I glanced at my screen. We were out of time. Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I got up and headed for the shower. Maybe one day it’d stop feeling as if I were leaving her all the time, as if she were leaving me.

The guys had agreed to let me work this morning. Bridget’s bullshit contracts had all been void, but my team still needed plenty of direction. If anything, they needed to see me and know I hadn’t bailed on them. I’d committed to make things right, and that was exactly what I planned to do.

I donned dark slacks and a white dress shirt, then went into the closet and packed my golf clothes. Valentina’s clothes hung on the opposite side of the closet. Knowing she was ready and willing to be part of my life here made me stupid with happiness. Honestly, stupid was the right word.

When I left the bathroom, she sat on our bed with the white sheets barely covering her hips, hair sprawled over her shoulders. “You’re leaving?” she asked in a sleepy voice.

“I’m sorry. I promised the guys I’d golf with them today. And I have to work for a couple of hours before tee time. We’ll be back early. The engagement party is tomorrow, and I can’t be hungover for that.”

Her gaze snapped up at me. She’d obviously forgotten the party was tomorrow. “Please don’t make me go through that on my own.”

I chuckled. “Of course not. I wouldn’t do that. Golf and drinks. That’s it.”

“But why today?”

“Matt’s leaving after the party. Remember?” My brothers Matt and Tyler had flown in last night. After a night of heavy drinking, Matt and I got talking about relationships and second chances. Our conversation made him realize he’d been an asshole to this woman he’d just met. Matt had never been one to take women seriously. In fact, he stayed away from most of them. Somehow this woman, Ela, got under his skin.Happened to be the best of us.

“Oh right.” She rubbed her eyes, and then her expression changed. And fuck if I didn’t recognize that look. “I like you in work clothes. You look so hot.”

I barked out a laugh. “Is that so?” I stalked to the bed and sat at the edge of the mattress. My cock throbbed for her, tenting my pants. I’d resisted the urge to feel her skin before because I didn’t want to wake her up. But she was wide awake now—cheeks pink, lips swollen from kissing last night. She was so fucking irresistible. “I will hurry back I—” I stood to leave.

“Just one kiss.” She grabbed my hand and pressed it against her breasts as she grabbed my erection.

Sitting on her heels, she let go of my hand and made quick work of my belt and pants. How the hell could I refuse when she sat there butt naked, and offering to suck me off.

When I sprung out of my boxer briefs, her eyes widened. And then it occurred to me. For all the times we’d had sex, she’d never really taken the time to explore me. I, on the other hand, could draw her pretty pussy on paper with incredible detail. I squeezed her breast, tugging at her taut nipples while she figured out what to do with the cock in her hands. I had a few ideas. I ached to see her warm and wet mouth around me.

“You’ve never done this before?”

“Once, and it didn’t go so well.”

“How is that even possible?”

“He didn’t like it. His reaction wasn’t what I’d hoped.” She glanced down.

A swirl of anger burned like acid in my stomach. Alex, the asshole who got her pregnant her first year in college and then left her, couldn’t even give her a proper sexual experience. It pained me how little she knew about sex and how little we knew about each other. I didn’t regret paying off Max’s dad to leave them alone. To walk away from their lives forever.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want.”

Her cheeks turned red. This time, the blush reached her ears and spread down to her chest. I was so rock hard for her it hurt. She licked her lips, fisting her hand around my erection. “It’s like velvet. So big.”

Was she trying to kill me? I cupped her cheek with one hand while I guided my cock, tapping lightly at the seam of her lips. Her tongue licked me, and then she took me in. Her inexperience and eagerness to learn were such a turn-on.

I pumped my hips a few times to show her the pace. When she sucked and licked as if she were trying to memorize my taste, I tunneled my fingers into her hair and drove my hips toward her face. How could she be so perfect? Heaven. She was heaven.

A rap on the door made her jump. I held her face with both hands and kept up with her pace. “Ignore them.”

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