Page 65 of Winning the Nightcap

When we cross the threshold, he wraps an arm around my lower back, the other running along my jaw before weaving into my hair and tugging at the roots. He kisses me slow and sweet. A stark contrast from the out-of-control way he took me just moments ago in the kitchen. This feels so different, like so much more than sex. It feels like an intimacy I’ve never known. Like a surrender to the unknown. A blind trust in something new. Something that shouldn’t feel familiar in my heart, but yet it does. Like he’s always been there and is just now showing up to take up a space that’s always been his.

He slowly walks me backward until my legs hit his mattress. I fall back and scoot to the center of his bed. His gaze slowly peruses every inch of my body, and he rubs his hand over his chin.

Aiden wrecks every pessimistic belief I’ve ever had about dating and what it’s doomed to be like. With him, I don’t feel exposed, I feel safe. I don’t feel embarrassed, I feel worshipped. I don’t feel insecure, I feel valued. I don’t feel timid, I feel emboldened. I don’t feel dependent, I feel empowered.

“When I’m with you, it’s like my mind can’t believe that I’m livingthis moment. I don’t want to blink. I’m afraid I’ll wake up and realize you never gave me this chance,” Aiden says.

“Is it all a dream, then?” I ask.

“If it is, don’t wake me. Let me be with you for a while longer. Let me rest with you in my arms.”

“And if I’m not ready to rest?”

“Then open those pretty thighs for me so we can wear each other out,” he says as he crawls up the bed. Once he’s between my legs, he sits back on his heels, his perfect physique on display in the soft glow of the sun setting through his windows. I feel his fingers softly stroking up my leg from my calves to my thighs before pulling my legs around his waist.

I let out a gasp as he lowers his body against mine and enters me. He holds us there, unmoving, as we both breathe together. His eyes find mine for a quick moment before he’s kissing me, his tongue chasing mine. As he begins to rock us into a synchronized rhythm, every touch we give each other, every moan we let out, overwhelms my senses.

Every move our bodies make together sends me higher, racing toward ecstasy. When I find it, Aiden crashes with me, filling me with his release. We cling to each other, breathing each other in, slowly coming back down from the high we found together.

Aiden steps away to grab a warm washcloth and cleans me before climbing into bed beside me. He circles his arms around me and kisses the top of my head before letting out a content sigh. My arms instinctively tangle themselves up in him.

“What happens now?” I ask, unable to keep the anxiety from bleeding into my question.

Aiden releases a heavy breath. “That’s up to you, Bec. I know I want you. Do you feel the same?”

I tilt my head back to see his expression, a mix of hope and uncertainty. By the undercurrent of doubt in his tone, I can tell I’vebeen guarding my growing feelings well.

“I feel the same, Aiden. I’m sorry I’ve been so hesitant, so scared.”

“Then, we give this a real shot. If you’re ready for that. I leave for Spring Training in a few days. It’ll be an adjustment with all the travel, but I want to make this work.”

“You make me want more. More of this. More of us.”

“I want that too. Every moment I’m away from you, all I can think about is seeing you again. Every time I see you, I want to pull you into my arms and never let you go. I know you’re scared. I am too. But this…this is right. I know it.”

“I believe you,” I mumble, exhaustion finally taking over and sleep pulling me under. Before I can think of anything more to say, I slowly drift into a peaceful sleep wrapped in Aiden’s arms.

Chapter Forty

Bec

Bec:Is this another gag gift?

Aiden:Another? When have I ever sent you a gag gift?

Bec:The vibrator, Aiden. Now this?

Aiden:That was not a gag gift. That was a genuine gift I was hoping you’d enjoy using. It’s not my fault you can’t follow directions and you’re gagging yourself with it. There are other toys specifically made for that. Sounds like user error.

Bec:I’m choosing to ignore that last text.

Bec:I can’t believe you’d send me a plant. This poor innocent thing will be dead before you get back. It’s doomed to join the others in my windowsill graveyard.

Aiden:Look closer, Bec. It’s fake. I’m not willing to be an accomplice to murder. Let the real plants live in the wild.

Bec:You might be onto something there.

Aiden:I’d rather be on you.

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