Page 136 of Here and Now
Miles stills, buried so deep inside me. “Then don’t leave me. That’s the only way you’ll ever lose me.”
A tear slides down my cheek, and then another one. It’s not sobbing. It’s just so much emotion. So much love that it has to spill out or I’ll die from it.
“I won’t,” I promise.
Miles’s mouth is on mine again, his cock filling me, and he pulls his hips back one more time; then we fall apart together.
He lies there, still throbbing inside me. “I’m not ready to leave you yet.”
I feel the same way. “I like you inside of me.”
“I like being there.”
I grin. “How about we clean up and climb back into bed, where you can hold me and we talk?”
“That sounds ominous,” he says, pushing my hair back.
“It’s not. I mean, it kind of is, but not in the way you think.”
He nods and we head into my bathroom. Miles has a toiletry bag he keeps under my sink for nights just like this. We shift around each other effortlessly, which makes me smile, and he does the same in the mirror.
Miles kisses my forehead and heads back into the bedroom while I finish up.
I grab his shirt, pulling it on and buttoning the bottom four buttons. I love to sleep in his shirt. It smells like him, the deep notes of amber from his cologne clinging to the fabric, his deodorant, and ... just ... Miles.
I inhale it as I walk over to the bed, where he’s propped up on the pillows, glasses on as he checks his phone. He puts it down as I get near, my knees hitting the mattress as I stand there.
“Do you want to lie with me?” he asks.
I shake my head. “I’d like to sit.”
“Okay.”
I climb up, crossing my legs and facing him. “I told you a smallamount about my past, but I left out what I thought would be dangerous for you to know.”
“Penelope,” Miles says, stopping me, his hand reaching out to rest on my knee. “I’m not afraid of your past.”
“You should be,” I say on a whisper. “You don’t even know what you’re involved in.”
“Did you kill someone?”
“No.”
“Did you maim someone?”
I shake my head. “I wish.”
“Okay, so are you running from the cops?”
“No.”
Miles shifts closer. “Then tell me so I can better protect you.”
“If I tell you this, you have to let me say it. Don’t ask questions until I’ve somehow managed to explain it in full, okay?” He nods. I inhale deeply and force the story out. “John is really named Edward VanderGroef. We met in Chicago when I worked in the same high-rise. Edward owned a lot of different companies. He was beyond wealthy. I was working for a commercial interior design company, fresh out of college with big hopes and dreams.
“When we started dating, things were beyond my comprehension. He bought me gifts and clothes and jewels and everything. He had money that people like me only imagined. We were together for a year before things started to change. Gone was the sweet man who showered me with love and affection. He became cold and distant at times. I just figured it was something with his business.”
Miles stays quiet, but his hand moves up to find mine.
