Page 78 of The Bookbinder's Guide to Love

Fuck.

What was wrong with her?

“I do too.”

She tipped her head to the side. Had she heard him right? Then he smiled at her. The smile she had only seen once or twice because Wes was a serious man most of the time.

She smiled back at him.

Her headache seemed to melt away, or at least the pounding in her head was pushed away by the pulsing through the rest of her body. She turned and leaned closer to him. Wes took their coffee cups and put them on the floor next to the couch as she sort of launched herself at him, kissing him long and slow and deep.

For the first time, she felt secure with him in a way she hadn’t thought possible. This emotional connection was new and fresh, and all the things she had secretly yearned for but had been afraid to name were ahead.

His hands moved up her back under her cropped sweater. She loved the feel of his hands on her skin. He tipped his head to the side and deepened the kiss, sucking her tongue into his mouth as he rolled them both to their sides so they were pressed completely together from chest to groin.

She lifted her leg, wrapping her thigh around his hips, and felt the ridge of his erection against her center. She ground against him as they continued to kiss. She wanted more.

Wes always turned her on so quickly. She thought she’d gotten used to her body’s reaction to his, but this time it felt new. He wasn’t just a temporary guy she was hooking up with for six weeks. He was a man who liked her a lot.

Given his history of emotional constipation and her own fears of everyone leaving, that meant more than she’d have ever guessed.

Kissing Sera took all his attention, which was a good thing because he was trying not to let the fact that she liked him make him panic. And it did. There were no two ways about that. It was what he wanted, but how could he trust himself to do right by her?

Meanwhile, his cock was ready for him to stop thinking about anything other than how to get her naked so he could slip inside her.

They were in the shop a good thirty minutes before any of the other employees and owners arrived and an hour before it opened. He was fairly certain of their privacy in her back room, surrounded by stacks of books on this comfy couch.

He lifted his head and looked down into her brown eyes. Her hair was a bit frizzy this morning, forming an enticing halo of curls around her face. And as she looked up at him, the word he’d been so reluctant to apply to this feeling drifted into his mind.

He loved her.

He loved Sera Conte.

She smiled up at him in that soft way of hers and he knew he wasn’t leaving Birch Lake in a week. Or letting her go.

He pushed the hem of her sweater up until he could see her boobs and then he unfastened her bra as her hands drifted down his body, cupping his ass the way she liked to do.

The fabric was soft but not as soft as her skin. The room smelled of coffee, lavender and books. Everything he associated with Sera.

He took one of her nipples in his mouth, sucking on it hard and deep as he felt her hands moving over the fastening of his jeans. He reached down and helped her free his cock. She pushed away from him and he looked up at her as she sort of awkwardly moved to her knees.

“I’m wearing freaking tights and panties. Give me a second.”

He threw his head back and laughed at the urgency in her voice.

She cocked her head to the side, giving him a look from under her eyelids.

“How about I give you a hand,” he suggested as he sat up and reached under her skirt to pull them both down. She did a little shuffle until they were off and he dropped them on the floor next to the couch, pulling her back into his arms. Her pointed nipples were begging for his mouth. He loved the sensation of her nipples in his mouth and could suckle her all day.

The material of her skirt felt nice against his stomach as she nudged him until he rolled beneath her. She straddled him and then took his cock, positioning him at the entrance of her body. They’d had sex so many times, but this was different. He was making love to the woman he loved.

She sank slowly down on him and he sat up, holding her close as he slid in deeper. When he was fully inside, she put her hands on either side of his face and started to kiss him in that languid way that made his skin feel too tight and his cock harden even more.

He held her hips to him as he pumped up into her again and again, driving her hard and fast, not wanting to take this slow. He just wanted to take her. Take this woman he loved as deeply as he could, hoping that maybe he could leave a mark on her she would recognize as love.

Because his feelings weren’t enough. He needed her to feel them too. He needed her to be so in love with him that the thought of leaving him would never enter her mind.

She pushed him back and then reached behind her, putting her hands on his thighs, as she took control of the tempo. She rode him at her pace, and he saw one of her hands coming around to her clit and he brushed her fingers aside.

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