Page 58 of Thinking It Over

“I did have a reputation,” he admitted. His eyes on me turned into a stare, and I thought back to his last words about this place being my home.

“I care about Austin a lot. Spending time with him wherever we are and whenever we can is the best part of my day.” The reality startled me a little. I was passionate about teaching, loved so many aspects of my life, but Austin was my favorite of everything.

“I understand. Love can do that to you.”

I pressed my lips together, knowing he was provoking me, but I wouldn’t bite. Saying I loved Austin would only be directed to the man himself. He deserved my words and my honesty.

Seemingly satisfied, Billy grinned, handing over my coffee I hadn’t realized he’d finished making. “Thought as much,” he said.

At the same time, my ears registered a sound behind me. Penny had left at some point, but when I angled around, it was Austin who stood in the doorway off the hall. His intense gaze was fixed to mine. Immediately, I swallowed hard, barely managing around the tension flooding through my body. This man and the tsunami of feeling he always evoked in me would be my undoing—or better yet, would be the absolute making of me.

“And I’m out,” Billy said with a chuckle. I heard the kitchen door close behind him, but I didn’t pull my gazeaway from Austin. And when he stepped toward me, heat licked at my skin.

He was passion and desire, and something so much more.

Unable to resist, I turned the swiveling stool around, so he was able to stop before me, standing between my spread thighs.

“You’re the best part of my day, too,” he said quietly as I looked up into the depth of his eyes. My skin flushed.

“You heard that?”

He nodded.

“I should have told you that to your face,” I said.

“You didn’t need to. I already knew.”

A smile tilted my lips at his words, his easy acknowledgment. “I’m happy you didn’t need to hear it to know.”

With him this close to me, it was difficult to keep up the stream of conversation. Oxygen was difficult to drag to my brain. Instead, need took control as I reached out and placed my hands on his belt buckle. When his breath hitched and his gaze lowered to half-mast, control was difficult. It was tempting to tear off his clothes, jump off the stool, and turn him around so he was pressed face-first on the countertop and I could take him.

It sounded like a brilliant idea the more I considered it, but there was something in his gaze that stopped me.

Painfully slowly, I eased his belt open, followed bylowering his zipper. I tugged down his trousers and his briefs, eyes somehow remaining on his and not shooting a look at his erection that throbbed in my hand.

A small grunt burst out of him, and his hips jerked as I smoothed my hand over him, capturing the pearl at the tip of his cock. Rather than spread it over his length, I swapped hands and brought my thumb to my mouth. Pausing as he held his breath, his eyes dilating, I knew this was the right way forward. My tongue darted out, and the taste of Austin exploded on it. His “Fuck” followed on a strangled moan.

“Get undressed,” I instructed.

Immediately, he started untangling himself from his clothes. The whole time, my hand pumped his hard-on, hot steel in my hand. I lost him momentarily as he slipped off his shoes and dragged down his pants.

“Is there still lube in the pantry?” I asked, hoping like hell we didn’t need to take this upstairs, not since I had the visual of him spread out before me.

His gasp preceded his “Yes.”

I stood and said against his lips, “I want you leaning here, ass out, and waiting for me.” I paused until he nodded, then I swept my tongue over the seam of his mouth and kissed him. Soft and slow, and going completely against the hard need to have him, this kisswas everything. By the end, he would understand by my actions and my honesty just what he meant to me.

“Holy shit,”he said breathily. We’d managed to lean on each other enough to stagger to the bathroom for a shower. With wobbly knees, my brain not functioning since my mind had officially been blown by the orgasm Austin had ripped from me, I was surprised as hell we’d made it.

His breathy response made me give a barely perceptible nod. I would have agreed profusely if I could get words to properly form, but there was nothing.

Instead, we leaned against each other. The warm spray beat down on us, sending my tingling skin into overdrive.

“Anytime you want us to do that again, and you get all commanding on me, you have my full permission,” he mumbled, awe in his voice.

Amusement spiraled through me, and I was in complete agreement.

Angling my head to find skin, I pressed a small kiss on his shoulder.

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