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"Good. Because I'm never letting you go." He grabbed the edge of the table near my head and slid his length deep inside of me.

Fuck.I tilted my head to the side. He grabbed my chin in his hand and turned my head back toward him.

"Look at me when you orgasm, Penny. I want to see your face." He let go of my chin, wrapped his hand around my thigh, and moved his hips faster. Somehow it allowed him to go even deeper.

It was rough and intimate at the same time. He knew me. He knew exactly what I needed.

"Come for me, Penny."

As soon as I began to clench around him, I felt him fill me with his warm liquid. I closed my eyes, but he grabbed my chin again. I looked into his eyes as we both finished. I got completely lost in his eyes. No one had ever looked at me like that. I could feel his love for me. Nothing else in the world mattered when we were together.

He pulled me up to a seated position. He grabbed his pants off the ground and pulled them on. I silently watched him. I had felt so amped up and scared and worried and now all I felt was his love. I could actually feel it. There was this strange pressure in my chest. It made me want to cry again. I wrapped my arms around myself. I had been worried that this wasn't real. That was ridiculous.

He turned toward me as he buttoned up his shirt. He stopped and looked down at me. "I know that you're worried that I'm going to resent you because I had to stop teaching. But it's the complete opposite. For the first time ever, I feel like I'm exactly where I should be. Life is good here, with you. I'm in love withyou." He paused. "I love you so much. I never knew what I was missing."

"I'm so in love with you, James Hunter."

He leaned forward and ran the tip of his nose down the length of mine. "Now, we're going back to the apartment. You don't need to face everyone today alone. We'll deal with this together. We'll make our decisions together. Well...except for this one. Because I really want to take you home right now."

I laughed. "I'm sorry. I just lost it today. Everyone..."

"Don't. Don't apologize. I know you needed me. That's why I was hiding in this closet in the first place." He smiled at me and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "I was prepared to resign today. I should have told you before we went into the meeting. I wasn't going to stop seeing you. It was out of the question."

"I know. I think you made the right choice."

"I'm right? What?" He smiled at me.

I nudged his shoulder. "So if you didn't want to break up with me, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Nothing." He leaned down and handed me my pants. "We're okay."

"No, what was it?" I quickly got dressed.

"Honestly, I was really mad at you. I'm still mad at you. I told you to let me handle the situation this morning. You shouldn't have interfered."

"I know, but you also didn't tell me that you were planning to resign. How was I supposed to know what to do? If you don'ttalk to me, I can't know what you're thinking. I thought I was helping. Actually, I was mad at you too."

"I know. I'm still getting used to this." His hand drifted to my cheek. "I'm not used to having someone on my side."

"Well maybe you should get used to it. Because I love you. I'm not going to run off. I want to be with you."

"It's hard for me to believe that."

"Why?" I put my hands on the sides of his face. "Why don't you feel worthy of love? Why don't you trust me?"

"I didn't mean that. I do trust you. I'm just not used to being...I don't know how to explain it..."

"Vulnerable?" He was always prepared. He always knew what he wanted. He was always in control.

He didn't seem to like my choice of words. "Vulnerable? I'm not sure if that's the word I was looking for."

"I just mean that you don't have to be strong around me all the time. I just want you to be you."

"This is me."

"I know. I just mean, you don't have to be scared of showing me every side of you."

"The only thing I'm scared of is losing you."