Page 200 of Pucking Strong

“I feel guilty,” he admits. “Is that crazy? Like I’m not allowed to have good things while there’s this constant threat of the one big bad thing—”

“No.” I sit up, swinging my legs off the table as I pull him to me. “No, we can’t live like that. Whatever happens with Karolina, there’s still you and there’s me. That doesn’t change.”

He bites his bottom lip, shaking his head. His gaze is focused somewhere near my clavicle.

I brush my hand over his hair, trailing my knuckles along his cheek. “Talk to me.”

“I’m only in your life because of Karolina,” he murmurs. “If she goes … if I can’t help you keep her—”

“Stop.” I cup his face with both hands. “Christ, is this the weight you’ve been carrying for weeks? You think this is all on your shoulders?”

“Months,” he admits. “Since Sweden. And it is all on me. Elin said it; the judge said it. But, Henrik, what if I’m not enough—”

“You are.”

“Yeah, but what if I’m not?”

I sigh, pressing my forehead to his, my eyes shut tight. Slowly, he relaxes a little, his hands lifting to wrap around my wrists. “You make my world stop,” I whisper.

“What?”

I lean away. He needs to see me, needs to see the truth in my eyes. “That’s what Novy and I were in here talking about just before you arrived. He called me a runner. He told me I should run to you because you’re where everything stops for me.”

His eyes widen. “He really said that?”

I nod. “I know that you only came into my life for Karolina. I’m asking you to stay in it for me. Not because I want your help with Karro. I don’t want your massages or your smoothies or your interior decorating skills either.”

He fights a nervous smile. “Okay, so I think you’re trying to be sweet right now, but to me that just sounds like a whole lot of rejection …”

I chuckle, brushing his cheek with my thumb. “I’m trying to say that you’re enough. Badly, apparently.” His smile flickers and I can’t help but reach out and touch it too. “It’s not about what you do for me,” I go on. “Or what you do for Karolina. It’s who youarethat I care about. I want you, Teddy. Just as you are. I want you in my life. Stay.”

He steps back as I slip off the edge of the table and stand. Operating on instinct, I drop down to one knee, reeling him in by the hips. He drops his hands to my bare shoulders. “Henrik, what are you doing?”

“I want you to stay with me.” Pressing my face to his hip, I breathe in the cool scent of his athletic body spray. He squeezes my shoulders, his breath catching on a gasp as I cup his crotch, feeling the hardening of his cock beneath my hand. “Stay with me,” I repeat.

“Henrik …” He whispers my name with the reverence of a prayer.

Slowly, I tug his pants down, relishing in the sight of the cut lines of his hips, the lean, banded muscles wrapping his thighs. He’s myperfect work of art. Powerful and beautiful. His cock hangs hard and heavy for me, waiting. He’s always waiting for me. My patient man.

I take him to hand, and he curses, one hand shifting to brace the back of my head. I look up, needing to see his face as I wrap my lips around his tip and taste that first essence of him. He groans, lips parted on a breath, as he watches me suck and tease.

He’s fooling no one with this hesitancy. His hand is like iron on the back of my head, keeping me in place. I push back against him, loving the struggle, as he finally steps in with his hips, making me choke. I hum with relief, hungry for more, my hands gripping tight to his ass. “Make it stop,” I pant the moment he lets me up for air. “Teddy, please.”

“I know,” he soothes, all his hesitancy shattered. “Eyes on me. Don’t look away.”

I drop down to both knees, rocking back on my ankles, as Teddy takes over. He’s gentle but direct, guiding my actions with soothing words. “Just let go … I’m right here, baby. I’m not going anywhere. Look at me.”

I groan with relief, taking his cock to the back of my throat again and again. He sets a punishing pace, fucking my mouth like he owns it. God help me, he does. We both know it. Every part of me is his now. These last few months have changed us forever. How did I ever live without him?

“Baby, I’m gonna come,” he pants, making shallower thrusts with his hips. “Open your mouth. Show me. Wanna watch you take my cum.”

I tip my head back and open my mouth. Teddy keeps one hand fisted tight in my hair, holding me just how he wants me. Then he curses softly as his other hand makes a tight fist around his shaft. He jerks himself hard and fast, just a few quick pulls before he sighs with relief. Our gazes hold as warm cum jets from his tip, landing on my waiting tongue. Like a fiend, I devour, claiming every drop.

But it’s that look of ecstasy I was really chasing.Thisis where the world stops. In this moment, lost in the look of love in his eyes. There is no worry, no stress or pain. There is nothing outside the marrow-deep knowledge that Teddy is here with me.

Sated and drowsy, I lean forward, all but slumping against him. “Stay,” I say again, eyes shut tight as I press my face to the bare skin of his hip and breathe him in. “Please stay with me.”

His hands are gentle as they touch and soothe, his fingertips brushing through my hair. “Where the hell am I gonna go, huh? You’ve ruined me, Henrik. One look at you, and I was done. Just say the word, and I’ll follow you anywhere.”

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