Page 73 of Love Notes & Lifelines
“So you never planned for this to happen?”
“Of course not.” Who does she think I am? More importantly, who the fuck has she been hanging around that would make her think that? “Despite the way we began, I don’t—I don’t expect anything from you, Stella.”
She rubs her temples with a frown. When she removes her fingers, her expression is neutral once again. “And if I told you I had an IUD in place, what would you say?”
My face purses and my jaw clenches to keep every thought and word inside my head. All that does is keep me from breathing, so I choose my words very carefully.
“Then I would encourage you to be very, very intentional with your words.” My jaw aches and the words sound rough as they escape through clenched teeth.
She gracefully lifts her body to her knees, tucking them beneath her now, then she lowers her arms to her sides. Her dark lashes fan out over fair skin and flutter as if she’s in thought.
When she lifts her head, we’re nose to nose, and she very slowly, intentionally engages my gaze as if she’s waving a red flag in front of a bull.
Electricity blasts through the room, from her into me and vice versa. The air crackles around us like fireworks meeting their fuse.
She doesn’t shake or waver. If anything, she lifts her chin higher, baring herself to me completely.
Her tongue dampens the corner of her lower lip before she speaks.
“I have an IUD, Beck, and no STIs. The next move is yours.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
STELLA
His jaw ticksand the color in his eyes swirls like a war is brewing and he hasn’t chosen a side—until he does.
Beck drops his shoulder near my ribs and before I can decipher the move, he throws me over his body in a fireman’s hold. My fingers flex against his back and I press them into his flesh, hard. He groans, so I do it again.
The position pushes the air from my lungs when he reaches the stairs and a squeak of surprise wheezes out with each step he takes.
His large hand lands on my ass, not to spank but to hold me in place. But when his strong fingers knead the flesh there it draws a new moan from my lips. Up close and personal, he smells like man and sex and everything I shouldn’t want.
“You can’t be loud up here.” He squeezes my ass harder in warning and the sensation goes straight to my clit. “The girls will wake, and then I’ll have to take drastic measures.”
That has me stiffening and clamping my mouth shut.
He stalks to my room, grabs the baby monitor from my nightstand, then carries me back to the end of the hall and the stairs to the third floor.
I’ve searched the house, of course, to check for any potential dangers to the girls, but it’s curious to me that he’s taking me to the third floor instead of his bedroom or mine. I haven’t even figured out what the third floor is used for, but it doesn’t matter when he lays me down in the center of an overstuffed and oversized bean bag.
It’s roughly the size and firmness of a queen-sized bed. Who knew they even made them this big?
He doesn’t say anything while he plugs in the baby monitor on the other side of the large room and turns the volume up as loud as it will go, and the low rumble of static air fills the room.
He doesn’t speak as he walks back to me with hunger radiating from his every pore, or as he lowers himself down beside me.
One night, Stella. One night. My mantras change with the wind, but this one I take as an oath.
He reaches out with a long finger to trace my collarbone and my tummy clenches. Then he goes lower between my breasts, and lower still until he presses the tip against my over-sensitized clit and I see stars.
It’s embarrassing how wet I am, but he seems to like it. The groans he made as he fingered me were the catalyst for the most intense orgasm I’ve ever had.
My back arches into him and I cross my legs, seeking friction. When I catch him staring, he smiles because he understands all too well what he’s doing to me, and if I’m honest, he already knows my body better than I do.
“Are you sure?” His voice is low and silvery, but not hurried. The man downstairs was frenzied and manic. The man before me now is in control and going at his own pace.
My body shivers in anticipation. “I am.” We both seem surprised by the strength of my tone, but he slowly grins and takes me at my word. It’s an ounce of trust in the sea of betrayalthat surrounds his island, but it’s an ounce he gives freely, and it thaws the ice that had been creeping into my soul.
