Page 89 of Don't Take the Girl
"Always?" I ask, my voice rough with wonder and something dangerously close to hope.
"Always," she confirms, her hands fisting in my shirt like she's afraid I might disappear.
I close my eyes briefly, letting the weight of that word settle inmy chest. When I open them again, I make sure she sees me, really sees me, sees that the depth of what I feel for her lives eternally in my soul, the way she's carved herself into every corner of my heart.
My hand slides to the small of her back, pulling her impossibly closer until there's no space left between us.
"Let's get out of here," I say, my voice thick with promise. "Because I need to show you exactly what 'always' means to me."
Chapter 28
LANEY
The second we left the gardens, it was like we were in high school all over again, two teenagers with raging hormones unable to keep their hands to themselves. We didn't make it to the main house, back to my room. The distance was too far, and we were too eager. I grabbed a saddle blanket as we passed through the stables and escaped up the back hill to a small clearing where I barely got it spread out before he was at my back, his hands on my hips, collecting my dress and pulling it over my head, leaving me in nothing but my soaked thong. He instantly fell to his knees and took his time kissing every inch of my body, spending extra time kneading and sucking my breasts, caressing me in ways he didn't days ago. I've been floating somewhere between Earth and the heavens, in a place I never want to leave, for time I never thought I'd have again, but it's had me on the brink of insanity. I need more. I need him.
"I want you," I moan as I reach between us and dip my hand inside his boxers, stroking his hard cock long and slow. He groans and pumps his length into my hand. "Take these off and get inside me."
"It's fucking hot when you tell me what to do." He nips my lip and follows my instructions. I only wish it wasn't dark. I can seethe hard planes of his chest when the moon peeks through the clouds, but I want to see everything. My mind quickly forgets what it doesn't have when his body reclaims its position between my legs, reminding me of all that I do. The hard length he's been pressing against my swollen core for longer than I'd like is now bare and sliding through my wet lips.
"Mmm." I close my eyes, reveling in the feelings only he has ever been able to make me feel. My nipples are pebbled against the cool night air, and behind the shadows of his lust-filled gaze, I see his complete adulation.
"My God, you have no idea how many nights I've dreamed of hearing the sexy sounds you make when I'm inside of you,” he says in a low, sultry tone that matches the yearning I feel.
I smile and open my eyes. "I'd like to remind you of all of them, but you're not inside of me yet."
He drops to his elbows. "I can fix that," he whispers, his nose skimming mine as he aligns himself with my entrance. With his eyes fixed on mine, I don't dare look away as he slowly pushes in, deliciously stretching me with the same tentative care he gave me the first time we ever made love. He knows he won't hurt me, but he's waiting for me to change my mind. That's why he is taking his time. He wants to reacquaint himself with a body he once knew better than his own, but he is also giving me time to reconsider.
I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him into me and fully seating him. His lips crash to mine as he holds himself deep, our tongues battling the wars written on our hearts. I press my fingers to his face. "I want to be on top."
His eyes search mine, and I know he sees it. He sees the depth behind my ask. He gave me the control the first time, and I'm asking for it now. I'm asking him to let me show him I want this.
"Whatever you want, heartbreaker. It's yours," he mutters before swiftly rolling us over.
With my hands on his chest, I pause, taking a second to collect a memory: the man I've loved my whole life beneath me, under a sky filled with stars. I don't care what obstacles are thrown ourway; I know he's the exact person who's supposed to be by my side, facing them with me. His hands glide up my thighs, his eyes softening with a slight twitch that feels like he can read my thoughts. Hoping he can, I push my hair over one shoulder and lean down, my lips taking their turn to blaze a trail. His skin pebbles with each new open-mouthed kiss as I start a slow pace and let myself get lost in him and the depths that only he has ever been.
An immeasurable amount of time is spent rediscovering each other as our unspoken love that started out slow burns hotter with each stroke, each kiss, and each caress under a moon-drenched sky.
"You're on the pill, right?" he asks, his voice strained as his lips part from my neck. Our shared breaths are labored as I lose myself riding him the same way I did the first time we ever had sex.
"No." I try to steady my breathing, but my voice comes out breathy and ragged.
"What?" He pulls his face away from my neck and steadies my hips. "You've been fucking Noah Donovan, and you're not on the pill."
It's a statement more than a question, but it doesn't alter the insinuation or the disdain. In this moment, another man's name was the last thing I expected to hear fall from his lips, but here we are. "Are you serious? You've been out of jail this entire time, and you expect me to believe you've been celibate for the past six years?"
"It's not that…" he growls, dragging his hand through his hair like he's trying to tear the thoughts from his head. "It's the recklessness. It's knowing you were perfectly fine with him being the father if an accident had happened."
Accident.The word hits me like a slap. I don't know which I despise more: a mistake or an accident. Both insinuate that I'm some naive fool, stumbling blindly through life, oblivious to consequences.
His eyes find mine again, raw and devastated. "But that's not even the worst part." His voice cracks. "It's the intimacy. I won't lie to you. There have been others. God knows I've tried everything to scrub you from my memory. That bullshit saying about the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else is a lie. Every woman I touched only made it worse, because none of them were you."
His hand trembles as it comes up to cup my jaw, his thumb brushing against my skin like I might disappear. "There may have been bodies in my bed, but never my soul. That belongs to you. Only you. You're the only one who's ever stripped me bare, the only one I've ever completely lost myself with. And knowing you gave that same piece of yourself to someone else..." He closes his eyes, jaw clenched tight. "It kills me."
I lean into his hand. "I've never given this to someone else. I'm not on birth control because it makes me sick, and technically, I haven't been with anyone in a really long time. Noah and I were never a couple. The handful of times we did hook up, I was drunk. I wanted to feel something, and he was there, but he didn't have me like this. You're the only person I'd ever let have all of me."
His eyes soften, and his hand wraps around the back of my neck before he pulls me flush against his mouth in a slow, passionate kiss, a kiss that can only come from a place of love. He still loves me. I haven't decided if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet. I know it's that love that stole him from me, and it's that same love that was determined to push me away when I showed up in Bardstown. I know what I want it to be, but I also know I can't think about tomorrow or the next day. I have to live in the now, and right now, he's here with me, choosing me, and it's everything I want.
I rock my hips, reminding him that he's still buried deep inside of me, and he groans, long and deep. The hand that never left my hip digs into my flesh. "Laney." He leans his forehead against mine. "We can't."
