Page 24 of What Doesn't Kill Us

We’re both panting, our skin clinging from the sweat on our bodies, and I press my hips into her, enjoying the slide of our mixed release as a shiver runs through her. She laughs breathlessly, her hands slowly relaxing and sliding down my shoulders as she melts into the bed beneath me. I raise my head and look down at her, chuckling softly at her half-closed eyes and smiling lips.

I try to pull back, but her legs tighten, keeping my dick firmly inside her as she asks, “Is it always like that?”

I lower my head back down until my eyes meet hers. “Is what always like that?”

She gives a small shrug, her brows furrowing. “Us. Intensity. Electricity.”

I want to lie to her. I want to sugarcoat the whole thing and give her the rose-colored glasses view I’m sure she wants to hear right now. But I won’t. Instead, I round out the sharp, ugly edges enough to appease her without lying fully. “Short answer: yes. But let’s call it tumultuous. A bit touch and go. But deep down, hindsight being what it is, there was always this connection. This electric intensity.”

She swallows, and I think she’s going to say something further, but she gives me a tight smile and a small nod.

She knows.

Deep down—down in the far recesses of her psyche—we live there. Amidst the darkness and the light, blood-red is smeared, and between it all, there’s the truth.

She relaxes her legs, and I pull back. I take a moment to appreciate the mess I made of her pretty little pussy, snapping a mental picture of my cum oozing from within her.

Finally, I force myself to leave her bed and venture into the ensuite bathroom to clean myself up. I grab a washcloth and run it under the stream of warm water, squeezing out the excess before heading back into the bedroom with it. I climb back on the bed to clean her up, but she stops me, taking the warm cloth from my hands. I look at her questioningly, and she smiles. “I know you need to leave. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

I’m not.

I’m not remotely fucking okay.

But I can’t really argue with her because she’s right. Leaving here in broad daylight is a stupid fucking move. I grab my phone and text Agatha for help in getting me out of here unseen. Carolina would have sent her an update last night, given the fact she was likely expecting this to happen. Because she knows if anything’s gonna make me a fucking moron, it’s this woman—and my dick.

She immediately texts me back, letting me know it’ll be ten minutes in the underground parking garage. I pick up my clothes that are strewn around the floor and quickly dress while watching her, still sprawled on her back with a cooling washcloth on her stomach.

One corner of my lip curves up lazily, unable to suppress the self-satisfaction bubbling up inside me at the knowledge that she’s in no hurry to wipe my seed from her body. I kneel on the bed between her legs, using three fingers to scoop up my cum dripping from her and slowly pushing it back inside. “Don’t wanna waste that, little minx. I gave that to you. It’s yours.”

She moans her approval, her back arching slightly as she gives me a devilish look. I glance at the clock by the bedside, then growl as I pull my fingers from her, cleaning them off in my mouth as I stand up and move up the bed, bending close to place a soft kiss on her smiling lips. She kisses me back lingeringly. “That’ll have to hold us over for a while.”

She smiles. “I know. It’s okay. We’re okay.”

I stare into her eyes, bright with life and emotion, and my breath catches in my throat. But are we?

I turn to leave, and her voice behind me stops me. I turn back to her, and she’s rushing off the bed and heading over to a small suitcase that’s placed on a chair. She grabs something from inside it and then walks over to me, holding her hand out to me.

My eyes widen as I take in the object she’s holding out to me. “How did you get this?”

It’s my watch.

The watch that was taken from me months ago when I was first getting on that plane.

She shrugs, shaking her head. “Long story. Take it. Try not to lose it this time.”

I bark out a laugh, taking the watch from her hand and putting it back on my wrist where it belongs.

I pull her into me, holding as tightly as I can as I breathe air in, breathe us in.

I pull back, our eyes meeting one last time, before I release her.

Then I turn and walk out the door.

Chapter Ten

Toni

IwatchDariuswalkout the door with a heavy weight on my chest. I force myself to take a deep breath, grimacing at the increasingly familiar sting of tears behind my eyes.

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