Page 50 of Fractured Dreams

Finally, she looked up, a furrow between her brows and her eyes searching his, then she spoke. “Someone reminded me recently that trust is earned one day at a time. If you refuse to give someone a chance to earn your trust, then you’ll never be able to give it fully.” She looked back down for a second and when she raised her eyes to his again tears shimmered on her lower lashes. “But I’ve known you over half my life Tex, and I should have remembered, you earned my trust a long time ago. I just got frightened. I—I guess I was living in my own little world where I didn’t have to share you with anyone, and tonight was just me coming back down to earth.”

Relief billowed through Tex as she continued speaking. “I’m not saying I won’t struggle sometimes, but I don’t want to lose what we have.” Along with the relief came a sense of disquiet, although he couldn’t figure out what part of what she’d said had caused it. Now wasn’t the time to worry about it either. He needed her back in his arms, needed to show her just how much she meant to him.

“I’m sorry, darlin’. I never want to be responsible for hurting you. I never want to see tears in your eyes, especially not because of me.” He put his glass down on the table, then reached for hers. She gave it up without a fight and he put it next to his. Then he grabbed her hand and tugged her toward him. A faint smile hovered on her lips as he lifted her onto his lap. He tucked a strand of damp hair behind her ear, then cupped her chin. “I know tonight’s been rough on you, sweetheart, so if you need more space, if you want me to go, I will. But first I need to kiss you. Then, if you tell me to, I’ll go. Okay?”

Eden’s eyes dropped to his mouth then rose back up to meet his gaze. “Please kiss me, Tex. I missed you tonight.”

She didn’t need to ask him twice. His fingers were buried in her hair, his lips hard on hers almost before she’d finished speaking.

Tex groaned as the taste of her exploded through his senses. This was where she belonged, in his arms, lips on his, body pressed tightly against him. The want, the need he’d never experienced with anyone else filled him again. God, he didn’t want this kiss to end, didn’t want to leave, wanted to stay and make her his again and again until there wasn’t the slightest bit of doubt in her mind that she belonged to him, the way he belonged to her.

But he’d promised her he’d go if she wanted him to; if she still needed more time. So, he forced himself to gentle his lips, to break away from her. Breathing heavily, he rested his forehead against hers, but before he could ask her what she wanted, her hands were on his cheeks. “Stay,” she whispered. “Stay with me.”

His mouth back on hers was the only answer he could give her.

Not taking his lips from hers, Tex turned her so she was straddling him, and he could deepen the kiss. Eden’s hands slid to his shoulders, her nails lightly scoring his skin through the material of his shirt, fanning the flames burning through him. He fumbled for the belt of her robe, yanking it loose and shoving it off her shoulders. He pulled back, looking down to see she was only wearing sleep shorts and a little white tank top, her nipples already peaked and straining through the thin material. Impatient to have his mouth on her again, he leaned forward, nipping at her where she jutted against her top, before sucking her deep, causing her to gasp and arch her back. When he lifted his head from her again, her nipple was clearly visible through the now nearly sheer material. He repeated his action with her other breast, sucking and nipping until she was writhing against him.

Unable to wait any longer, Tex lifted her off him as he stood, then lay her down on the plush carpet next to the couch. He kicked his boots off and stripped out of his shirt and jeans as fast as humanly possible, before kneeling next to her and pulling off her top and shorts. Eden lay there, chest heaving as she gazed up at him, her blonde hair fanned out around her, cheeks flushed, lips pink and swollen from his kisses. She looked like a dream.Hisfucking dream. And he wasn’t letting her go.

He moved over her, desperate to have her softness underneath him again. A breath shuddered out of her as his hips came to rest between her legs. “Tex, I need you inside me right now.”

“I’m not planning on rushing this, so you’re gonna have to be patient. But I promise I’ll make it worth your while.” He dropped his head to her breast and drew her nipple deep into his mouth again, causing her to clutch at his head and squirm against him.

As he turned his attention to her other breast, he slid his hand down her stomach and over her hip, until he reached the slick heat between her legs, the slippery evidence of her arousal coating his fingertips. He used his thumb to slide over and around her clit, and she gasped, her hips jolting up against him in response.

He stroked her, lightly, teasingly at first, until she was moaning, and her hips were pressing up against his hand, trying to get more pressure. So he gave it to her until she was writhing under him, before sliding first one, then two fingers into her. Then he was the one groaning; she was so fucking hot and tight, he had to close his eyes and inhale through his nose to control himself.

Pulling back, he watched his fingers move in and out of her, her hips bucking helplessly as she rode his hand, twisting against him as she sought some relief. “You are so fucking gorgeous, Eden,” he ground out, using his free hand to give himself a few rough strokes to ease the building pressure.

When he was sure she was ready for him, when she was gasping and whimpering and clutching at his arm, he finally pulled his damp fingers from her. Trailing them back up her body, he stopped to paint her straining nipple with her own arousal, before bending down and sucking it into his mouth. He groaned at the taste of her, and he could hear her panting breaths as he swirled his tongue around the taut peak before biting down.

“God, Tex, please hurry.” Her voice was husky with need.

Tex was done waiting, every muscle in his body strung tight. He bent forward, fitting the tip of his cock to her entrance, then used his hands to push her knees toward her chest, rocking his hips forward and sliding a scant inch inside so he could savor the sensation. “You feel so good,” he murmured, jaw tense as he rocked forward again, pushing another inch into her. She moaned, tossing her head at his slow intrusion, her body stretching around him.

As he pushed further in, Eden’s channel constricted around him. Fuck, she was close to coming already. Tex held himself still above her, not moving save for the tiniest pulse of his hips that he couldn’t seem to stop himself from making. His breaths were coming in deep pants as he watched while Eden’s body worked to take him in.

After a few torturous seconds, her muscles finally relaxed. He pulled his hips back, so he was almost all the way out before thrusting hard back into her, impaling her with his full length so that his hips were pressed flush against hers. Eden sucked in a sharp breath, her hands flinging out to the side to clutch at the carpet as she adjusted to having him inside her.

Tex didn’t know where to look as he withdrew, then plunged back into her: at her eyes hazy with pleasure, her full breasts topped by dusky rose nipples which were hard and begging for more of his attention, or at where their bodies were joined, her folds pink and glistening as she took all of him, every thrust, so damn perfectly.

With one hand he reached up and palmed her breast, playing with her nipple, rolling it between his fingers, then pinching and tugging on it. She whimpered, and he could feel her body growing tighter and slicker with every stroke.

“Fuck, sweetheart, I don’t know how long I’m gonna last,” he said through gritted teeth.

Eden’s eyelids lowered to half-mast, and her lips parted as her breaths came fast. She trailed her hands down her body, brushing her fingers lightly over her nipples before one hand continued downward. Tex watched in a fog of euphoria as she circled her clit with her finger, growing unbelievably harder at the sight of Eden lost to the pleasure of touching herself while he thrust into her.

It was all too much when she started gasping his name and her body tightened around him like a fist. “That’s it, Eden, come for me,” he growled, hanging on by the finest of threads.

And she did, beautifully, her back arching, internal muscles clenching around him so tightly he could barely move inside her—and with her gorgeous eyes locked on his. He couldn’t hold back then, plunging into her one more time as ecstasy boiled through his veins and he came, hips flexing hard against hers.

Breathing harshly through the aftershocks still twitching his muscles, he leaned down and pressed kiss after kiss to her lips, her cheeks, her eyelids that had fluttered closed. “Eden…” he said. “Eden...” He didn’t know how to convey the emotions that filled him. Not without telling her something it was too early for her to hear.

Eden wrapped her arms around him as he rocked into her gently a few more times. He wasn’t sure if he was even going to need any recovery time, already wanting to take her again. Still, he could at least get her to the bed.

Tex eased out of her, scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom where he proceeded to show her just how much he loved her. And afterward, as her eyelids fluttered shut and her breathing deepened, and as sleep tugged at him too, he told her.

Chapter 29

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