Page 48 of Starts With a Bang

“Excuse me?”

He walked around the bed and stopped in front of me. “I’ll take that pipsqueak down to the mat. I’ll fight to the finish for you, Dom.”

I bit my inner cheek to keep from grinning because humor was the last thing this conversation called for. “So, you overheard my conversation with Emerson?”

Sven narrowed his eyes. “Just the part where he confessed to making a mistake.” Sven shook his head. “Hethoughthe’d made a mistake. Freaking putz. He made a big mistake all right.” Sven poked my shoulder. “I let the other guys go without so much as a backward glance. Not you, Grizz. We have something special, and I’m going to prove it to you.”

I wrapped my hand around Sven’s wrist and pressed his palm flat against my chest. I wanted him to feel my pounding heart. Isettled my other hand on his hip. “No man worth having makes you fight for his affection. There’s nothing to prove, and there’s definitely no need to take Emerson to the mat. I made my choice quite some time ago, even if it took me a while to admit it.” I lifted my hand and caressed his cheek. “You’re the only man I want.”

Sven closed his eyes and inhaled a shaky breath before meeting my gaze once more. Unshed tears turned his dark blue irises into polished jewels. Maybe it was because we’d recently watchedTitanic, but I thought Sven’s eyes were more gorgeous than the Hope Diamond. “I’m in real trouble here, Dom. I more than like you. And I’m teetering on the edge of something life-changing. I need to know you feel this too.”

“Life-affirming,” I amended. I settled my forehead against Sven’s and shared his next breath. “And I’m right there with you.”

Trembling lips curved into a soft smile. “It’s scary.”

“Yes, but less so when we fall together.”

Sven looped his arms around my neck and pressed his body flush against mine. “Don’t let go.” It was the most vulnerable I’d ever seen him.

I settled my hands on his hips to keep him there. “I’ve got you.”

Sven stood on tiptoes to put his mouth closer to mine. “Don’t play with my heart,” he whispered.

“Never.”

I sealed my promise with a kiss that made me feel centered and dizzy at the same time. It was such an oxymoron, but it was no less true. Angling my head, I deepened our kiss and led Sven to the bed. The everything shower had sounded promising, but I wanted to love Sven without restrictions and not be at the water heater’s mercy. I banged my elbow into something hard andmust’ve hit a nerve because the arm went numb for a few weird seconds. That wasn’t enough to stop a man on a mission.

My first instinct was to throw Sven’s luggage to the floor, but his bags looked expensive, and it would create a tremendous noise that could draw a crowd of concerned people. I steered Sven to the opposite side instead. The bed was large enough for five adults, so we’d have plenty of room to make out and make…love? Did people still say that?Don’t overthink it, dumbass.We climbed back onto the bed. I positioned myself against the headboard, and Sven immediately straddled my lap. It reminded me of our first encounter in the van, except our state of undress was reversed. If this was our do-over, I was going to make damn sure it was incredible.

Sven wrapped his arms around my shoulders and leaned into the kiss, rubbing his tongue against mine in the same slow, seductive pace as he rocked his hips. The friction was just as incredible, even with our lower halves partially clothed. Sven’s lounge pants were made of thinner fabric and barely provided a barrier between my hands and his skin when I cupped his ass cheeks and hauled him even closer. His heated flesh invited me to knead those firm globes. Sven’s heightened body heat intensified his natural scent and made me want to rut like a beast. I steadied my nerves and my hands, tracing a slow, seductive path along his ass crack to circle and tease his entrance.

Sven broke our kiss and let his head fall back, exposing his neck to my lips. I feasted on his sensitive flesh, reveling in every whimper and shiver as I marked him as mine. Fingers carded through my hair, pressed against my scalp, and gripped the strands by the roots. “I need you inside me again.”

“Hmm-mmm,” I mumbled against his neck. Lifting my head just enough to articulate, I added, “This feels like a newbeginning, and I won’t be rushing through it. I’m going to strip you down and love you like no one ever has.”

Sven’s moan was a token protest that made me chuckle. “I’m nearly half-naked now.”

I gripped his firm ass cheeks through the thin excuse for fabric. “I’m aware. It’s no wonder Janet was blushing furiously when I came looking for you.”

Sven thrust harder against my dick. The tingling in my spine turned into sparklers on the Fourth, crackling and snapping with energy. Much more of this and I’d shoot off like a bottle rocket again.

I folded my legs and tipped Sven over onto his back. His legs stayed wrapped around my waist, and I seized control of the thrusting. “You’re at my mercy now.”

Sven’s smile was indulgent, but the expression in his eyes said, “Bet me.”

I lowered my face to capture those cocky lips at the same time I slowly rolled my hips. Sven’s lush mouth parted on a gasp, and I deepened the kiss, demonstrating with my tongue what I would do to his ass—claim him completely and irrevocably. Sven’s grip on my hair changed from desperate to tender once more, and then he explored me in other places. Nimble fingertips ghosted over my face with the curiosity of a sculptor who might recreate my likeness out of clay. The deft caresses moved lower to my neck, shoulders, and upper chest before trailing around to my back. His fingers were the matches, and my body was the strike strip, stoking fires wherever we went until the wildfire consumed my entire being. Nothing and no one existed but this man beneath me.

And I realized that merely thinking these things wasn’t enough; I needed to avoid past mistakes and tell Sven so he’d never have a reason to doubt me. Releasing his intoxicating lips took a herculean effort, but I did it. Sven looked up at me withhalf-lidded, lust-drunk eyes, and I committed the expression to memory.

I brushed the hair off his forehead and stared into his brilliant blues. “I hope you always look at me like this.”

“And how am I looking at you?” Sven asked drowsily.

“Like my body holds the secrets of the universe.”

Sven’s smile was slow and sly. “It does, and I have the key.”

“I would freeze time and spend the rest of my existence in this exact moment if I could,” I told him.

---