Page 246 of Call the Shots
June fumbled with the inner hook of her slacks and I took over, unclasping the metal pieces when she touched my hand. Our eyes met and I gazed into those wide green eyes, sparkling sea glass.
Contradicting feelings hit me, warming me from the inside out. I knew what her touch meant, and I definitely reciprocated; I wanted to put my dick inside her, but there was something else. It was a tingling feeling at the ends of my fingertips. There was this overwhelming need to protect her and take care of her, especially after tonight, which didn’t mean sex. I wanted to hold her close and listen to her breathing even as she fell asleep. That need outweighed everything else.
“You’re exhausted, baby,” I whispered, gently tugging off her shirt.
“Wear me out,” she whispered back.
My cock stirred but I shook my head, tossing away the last of her dirty clothes until she stood naked in front of me. “We can do whatever tomorrow, you need to crash.”
“I—I need—” She struggled with her words and held out her hand, flat in the air. “I need us at an equilibrium.”
“Equil—what?”
“Like, I need us on this mental road together, on the—” June paused, frustrated, and spoke faster. “Like you and I on the same?—”
“The same wavelength?”
“Yes.” She blinked at me, surprised. “That’s it.”
“Like with sex?” I nodded quickly. “Like, we’re both doing the same thing and it zeroes out the rest of the unimportant stuff until it’s just us. Nothing else.”
“You get it,” she breathed out.
Excitement gripped me because I knew exactly what she was talking about, but I was never able to put it to words or explain it before. “It’s like a secret handshake?—”
“It’s like a secret language.”
“Yeah, that’s fucking it!” My smile faltered when I thought about how easy it was for her to understand. “Sex has…always been like that for you?”
“Sex with you is exactly like that.”
“With me?”
“With you,” she promised, her voice soft.
I took her chin between my fingers and crashed my lips to hers, kissing her insistently, backing her up to the sink. I tore off my clothes while June panted against me, locking her arms around my neck until I carried her to the shower.
Sex wasn’t an addition to the night or an extra thought with her. It was the pieces falling into place, our own secret language.
My hands were on her and I nipped and bit my way down, sinking my teeth into her hip, drawing out her moans and sharp curses under her breath. There were hidden messages sealed with each kiss. When we finished together, everything was how it was supposed to be.
I took my time washing her hair and drying her off before I had her naked in my bed with a bottle of her lotion. I ran my hands over her, gently biting her so she wouldn’t fully wake up. We’d spent so many nights like this. She called it my routine, and maybe she was right, because I couldn’t imagine any other way I wanted to go to sleep.
“Goodnight, baby,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around my neck when I came close.
I pulled the blankets over us and buried my face in the crook of her neck where the smell of her lotion, her conditioner, andJune, relaxed the tension I didn’t realize I was holding on to. I smiled, moving closer. “Goodnight, love.”
CHAPTER 91
JUNE
FOREVER’S A GOOD START
With only an hourbefore the iconic event of the evening, the team rushed to get ready for Cleo and Miles’s wedding. The doors for everyone’s rooms on the second floor were propped open to allow easy access. We filtered in and out of each other’s dorms and the guys clambered for help with straightening ties and styptic pencils, whatever those were.
I took another bite of my bagel, careful to avoid the warm blue dress I’d bought on a shopping trip with Bear. Nick strode in and ruffled everyone’s hair on my couch, eliciting threats. No one meant them—not really.
Not with the clock overhead.
