Page 47 of Love You Always

It strikes me like a shock of lightning from a storm I didn’t see coming. The obsessive thinking about only one woman. The inability to sleep. The anger about any part of my day that didn’t involve her. I’m not saying I’m in love—that’s crazy. It’s just…that thing that always felt like other people could find it and I’d always somehow be on the outside…it doesn’t feel so impossible anymore.

From one kiss.

That’s when I realize how fucked I really am.

No matter what happens after this, I will never be the same. I’ll know what it’s like to feel this, and I’m never getting over it.

Ella slides over so she’s fully on my lap and grinds circles against my cock. I groan, “Careful. You’re playing with fire.” She gives a sly smile on her face that says she knows exactly what she’s doing to me. And she loves every second of it.

“Tell me what you want. Tell me and I’ll do it.”

I know she’s just talking about sex, but I hear the words the way I want to—I hear her tell me she’s mine.

“Not here,” I grit out.

“Why not?” she breathes against my shoulder, grinding harder. Her breathing is ragged, and I know I could make her come if I shift my hips a little bit, move up against her. But that’s not happening.

“I’ll make you a deal, princess. Let me drive us back to my house and I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

She pulls back and I chafe at the space between us, not realizing until that moment how right it felt to hold her close. It’s like she belongs there, pasted up against me.

It’s only two miles.

I drive like hell.

CHAPTER 22

Ella

Archer pullsthe car to a stop as close to the house as he can get without ramming through the front door. Even then, we can’t get inside fast enough.

Before I’m out of the car, Archer has already slammed his door shut and walked to my side in three long strides. He sweeps me up into his arms and carries me through the front door, which doesn’t seem to be locked. I loop an arm around his neck, and he pulls me tight against his chest.

“I hope you didn’t have anything planned for today,” he says, taking the stairs two at a time.

“Nothing I can’t cancel.” I think I know what he has in mind, and I am there for it.

“Good. Because I’m not letting you do anything that doesn’t involve my hands on your skin.”

Cue full body swoon.

We reach the doorway of his bedroom, and I peek in at theimmaculate space that’s mostly decorated in tan and off-white linen. Fierce sunlight streams through the open blinds of an east-facing window, and somehow, he had the wherewithal to throw the duvet cover over his bed before he left the room so that it looks well-made.

“Sounds like you have an idea or two for how I should spend my day,” I tease, taking in the king-sized bed that seems extra luxurious with giant pillows.

“I have ideas for how you should spend all your days.”

Laying me gently on top of the covers, Archer leans over me and drops his lips to mine, and the soft sweep of his mouth takes the breath from my lungs.

It’s not like anything I’ve experienced before, not from a fling and not from any of the short relationships I’ve had since I first kissed a guy in sixth grade. I thought I knew what it felt like to have my body respond to a kiss, but this…this is every cell in my body lining up and chanting Archer’s name, all calling on him to kiss me longer, harder, deeper.

He does, rolling his hips against mine and driving his erection right where I need the friction. My hips buck up to meet his and I wrap my legs around his waist to pull him closer.

“Better,” I breathe. “Don’t you dare move.”

We pick up where we left off on the driveway, only with less hesitation. We’ve had an hour in the car to work up all kinds of heat and frustration, and now it’s all roaming hands and desperate kisses.

He teases me, circling his hips against mine until I’m so hot and bothered I’m sighing and then he backs away, leaving me wanting. His smirk says he knows exactly what he’s doing, exactly how he’s torturing me. And it’s the best kind of pain.

---