Page 122 of Speak

The words are too much. They’re so much my entire heart bursts. I can’t help but nod as tears well in my eyes, never spilling. “Yes,” is all I say, promising him I will be.

The devastating grin that spreads across his face is so beautiful it hurts.

We make love for the first time, saying goodbye to my dorm room, soft and tender with promising kisses that mean more than words can ever say and it ends feverishly and brutal.

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Damon is in the kitchen when we return, we put our things in our respective guest rooms as the smell of salmon, bits of bacon and something else I can’t quite place fills the air. His brown and silvered hair is in disarray, he wears an apron, the sleeves of his dark Henley are rolled up and he calls out to us, smiling at me. He gives me a kiss and puts me to work, washing dishes and the scent of lemon hits my nostrils as he makes Jonas slice them for garnish. My handsome doctor looks so in his element, I love it.

He puts the seasoned vegetables in the oven with slices of lemon and then turns to us, leaning against the island. He puts his palms on the edge. Jonas grabs an apple and then hands me one after washing and slicing them. “What?” Jonas says around the apple.

“I think you should both know I purchased a home.”

Our jaws drop. “Call my fucking flabbers ghasted because we were only gone fortwohours.” Jonas says.

Damon shakes his head. “It’s more of a failsafe.”

“Why?”

Damon looks at me. “Do you fully trust him?”

I know he’s talking about Maverick. I should. We shared something unique this morning but it was sex. Sex isn’t exactly a soul binder. I shrug and then shake my head.I’m not sure. I sign.

“And that’s exactly the reason why I purchased it. It’s fully furnished. The basement, too. It’s five miles away and closer to the school. I pick up the keys on Monday. I’ll make you both copies and give you the codes to the alarms.”

“Where did you find this house in such a short amount of time?”

Damon sighs. “I’ve been looking at it for a while if I’m honest. Nothing against RMU or its faculty but it would be nice not smelling what everyone else is cooking or hearing them fuck through the walls.”

Jonas lets out a laugh. “Oh my god, who’s fucking?”

“They all are.” Damon grumbles.

“It’s Miss Overly isn’t it? She gives off huge secret slut vibes.”

I can’t help the laugh that escapes me. Damon kisses my cheek and chuckles. “Yes, she is definitely…promiscuous, which is her right as a single woman.”

I tilt my head. I have to ask because since I had this talk with Jonas, it only seems fair I have it with him, too.Does this not bother you?I ask, pointing to them and then the rest of the house, indicating Maverick.

Damon looks at me curiously then lifts me so I can sit on the island. “At times, Amourette, but I know you could never choose and I won’t make you. Besides, they help me watch over you, which is more than I can ask of them. I think we’re all obsessed with you, obviously. But we each love you in the different ways you need to be loved, just the way you love us. It’s reciprocated.”

“F-f- mmm…” I try to get a hold of the word on the tip of my tongue. “Family.”

Damon grins and kisses me. “Exactly, Amourette. We’re your family.”

I’m about to sign and tell them about dancing at Inferno for intel, to be able to get closer to the members of the Syndicate that gather there to network and… whatever else people at Inferno do, but we hear the garage door opening then closing. Maverick comes in, strides so long he’s practically running to me, stepping between my thighs, taking me into his arms and kisses me openly. The kiss is possessive, claiming and chaotic as it is tender. My blood feels like it's boiling with every swipe of his tongue that’s exploring, tasting me.

“I thought of doing that all fucking day, I couldn’t wait to get home to you.” he says, putting his face in the crooked of my neck, inhaling deeply. He licks my neck, sucking little bits here and there, marking me and does the same to the other side. “You smell so fucking good.” He growls, pushing my thighs open further and like a natural response, I begin to get wet for him, his woodsy scent, the natural musk of him mixed with his cologne makes me dizzy.

My reaction to Maverick is always so visceral. My entire body craves him. His touch. His scent. His kiss. I gasp when he hooks hishands under my knees and pulls me closer, like he can’t get me close enough. My nipples harden and I get wetter.

He somehow makes Damon and Jonas melt away along with the rest of the world. We aren’t in the kitchen. We’re back on the forest floor where he finally took me. We’re in his office enclosed in a small space. We’re in a bubble and I feel like I can’t breathe. Isuffocatewhere Maverick Harrington is involved. I lose all sense of self-anything. I’m not just aware of myself, I’mhyperaware of himandmyself when it’s just me and him and him and I in a room full of others, even an entireclassroomfull of others… it’s just us and my lungs seize and my heart beats erratically and I just crave the air he breathes so I can stop suffocating.

How does he do this?

I can’t help but wonder if it’s my body or my heart that wants him? His kiss? His attention? Is it my brain? My soul? Those filthy words that make me come so hard around him he can’t move?

“Another little skirt, Siren?” He asks, his breath skimming my clavicle along with his teeth and lips. “You just have to make it soeasyto pull these panties to the side and dig into your perfect little pussy, don’t you?”

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