Page 108 of Just a Heartbeat Away

He was soothing her and stoking her at once, guiding her to where they both desperately wanted her to go. She was tensing, her fingers opening and closing on his shoulders. Her head fell back on her shoulders like she was looking for God in the ceiling of her apartment in Brooklyn. The couch creaked with their movements, and she felt a bead of sweat trace down between her breasts.

She spread her legs even wider as she rocked against him. One of his hands slicked up her back and held her weight as she leaned back and rode him. She felt it coming. Heard the warning shots. Knew it was coming for her and wouldn’t leave until she was wrung out. Via barely had time to raise her head. But somehow her mouth found his, latched on just in time for her to snap the tether of her pleasure and curl her toes into the next life.

Her eyes were closed so hard she saw stars. She was delightfully sick with a wild dizziness. There was a well of pleasure within her that Seb was wringing out of her like water from a wet ponytail. She was aware that she was gasping into Sebastian’s mouth. Saying things, probably his name. She may have begged for mercy. She’d never know. All she knew was that when the passion subsided, when she collapsed forward, melting against him, his arms came fully around her.

He hugged every inch of her, cradling her to his body like she was the most precious thing in his life. Many, many seconds later, she sucked in a breath and realized that she was still alive. Seb kissed her ear, her hair, her eyebrow.

“Je-zuss.”

When she pulled back from him, he looked like he’d gone through the dryer. Rumpled and flushed and completely bemused. Embarrassment, stubborn asshole that it was, started to creep back into her.

He grabbed her chin, one arm still around her. “I feel like I just went to church,” he whispered against her lips, kissing her, warm and openmouthed.

She laughed, surprised. “What the hell does that mean?”

“I mean I feel like I just got absolved or prayed or saw heaven or something.”

“Seb.” She glowed with both pleasure and embarrassment. Until he leaned up and kissed away the rest of her sheepish feeling.

“So pretty. That was so fucking pretty.”

He slid his hands from her cheeks and then down to her sides. He gave her ass a little spank that made her squeak. “All right. If you have to, go take a shower and then we’ll go to my place so I can show you the thing.”

“But,” she sputtered, looking down between her legs at his ridiculously apparent erection. “But you didn’t...”

He pressed a kiss to her lips. “We’ve got plenty of time for that.”

“But—”

“No buts. Just take a shower if you want, and then we’ll get out of here.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

SEBHADVIA’Shand in his when he jogged up his front steps. They’d driven over from his house, and his leg had jangled the whole way. He couldn’t help but feel that everything was up in the air with her. He wanted it good and settled, and, in his mind, the keys to all of it were at his place.

“Actually.” He turned to her as they stepped in through his front door. “Leave your boots on. I have two things to show you. The first one’s fun, and the second one’s intense. Let’s start fun.”

He led a mystified Via through his house and out his back door. “I can’t pin down this mood of yours.”

“What do you mean?” He pushed open his back door and danced backward through it, leading her toward his workshop.

“I mean that you get to my house, intense as hell, seduce me in about three seconds. Then you pile me into your truck, and now you’re two-stepping me into your workshop.”

“You think that was me seducing you?” he asked, stopping so fast she clunked into him. He steadied her with two hands on her shoulders. “That was nothing. Trust me.”

He kissed her fallen-open mouth and unlocked the padlocked garage door. He led her inside, closed the door against the cold and flicked on lights here and there.

“What did you—oh, wow! Seb, oh my gosh, this set is gorgeous. And it’s so perfect for you guys. It’ll look beautiful in your living room.”

He followed her gaze to the oak slab coffee table and matching side tables in the middle of the room. They had gorgeous copper legs and tons of small accents up and down one side. He’d thought about doing the intricate copper decoration on all sides but decided instead that he liked it on just one side, liked the imbalance of it. It felt realistic to him.

He felt something open up inside him, the kind of swooping pit that the first plunge of a roller coaster makes inside of a person. His muscles tightened in anticipation. “What makes you think these are for my house?”

“Oh.” She looked stumped for a second before stepping forward and slicking one of those perfect little hands of hers over the finished top. “Well, I guess it was just a feeling. But also because they remind me of the two-sided dining table that you said you’re keeping for you and Matty. I guess they seem like a set.”

He turned, eyed the table in the far corner of the workshop. He traced his palm over his stubble. He hadn’t consciously done that, but now that she mentioned it, she was dead right. He’d gone and made a set. Except...

“I made the coffee table and the side tables for you.”

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