Page 106 of Accidental Groom
“No,” I assure him. “No, no, it’s just—it’s in the way, it’s uncomfortable.”
Understanding dawns, and he nods, his expression softening with relief. “Thank fuck. Okay,” he murmurs. “Lie on your side.”
He slips out, the loss of him making me shudder and whine in irritation, but he helps me roll. His body settles behind mine,his chest a solid wall of heat against my back. One arm slips beneath me, the other shifting my leg just slightly before guiding himself back inside from behind.
“Oh,god,” I groan, my face turning into the sheets as he sinks in fully, deeper somehow in this position. The angle is perfect, no pressure at all on my stomach, and I can’t fucking think.
He settles into a slower, more deliberate rhythm now, each moving a deep, rolling thrust that steals my breath. His lips find the sensitive spot just beneath my ear, nipping at it. “This better?”
“So much,” I breathe, melting beneath his touch.
“Good,” he murmurs, his breath hot against my skin as his hips hit mine a little more forcefully. “I can keep you here forever, then.”
I laugh breathlessly, the motion turning into an aimless nod, my words lost to the relentless, perfect thrusts. His hand rounds my hips, slipping between my thighs, and my vision blurs and his fingers dip through the slick warmth and circle my clit. “Harry?—”
The arm beneath my neck moves, his free hand gliding up my neck and grabbing my chin gently. He tips my head back and turns it just enough that I can meet his gaze from the corner of my eye. He presses a kiss to the side of my lips, hovering, his breathing ragged, before his forehead falls against my temple.
I feel his lips moving against my jaw before I can fully process the words.
“I love you.”
My breath hitches, my body going rigid for a fraction of a second. He said it. He didn’t say it back earlier, but he’s said it now, hesaid it?—
He repeats it, louder this time, his voice ragged with emotion and the strain of holding himself back. “I love you, Elena.”
The words unlock something in me. A sob mixes with a moan as the first wave of my release hits me like a storm, chaotic and unpredictable. My body convulses in his hold, and I cry out, my hand reaching back to grip his thigh, anchoring myself with my nails as I fall apart.
Apparently, feeling me shatter is all it takes for him.
His mouth opens just a little wider, a guttural groan falling from it that sounds somewhat like my name but could be anything. He drives into me one last, achingly deep time and spills himself inside me, his grip tightening, holding me in place as he pulses.
For a long moment, the only sounds are our ragged breaths and the faint crackling of the fire in the next room. He doesn’t pull away. He stays buried inside of me, his forehead still resting against me, his hand moving from between my thighs to wrap around my stomach instead. Whether intentional or not, he’s holding me together.
“I love you,” he whispers a third time, the words soft and sure in the quiet room. It’s not a question, it’s not an obligatory response to my own words. It’s a confession and an apology and longing all at once, and I don’t even question it.
I pull back just enough to meet his gaze. “I love you, too.”
Chapter 38
Harry
Elena wakes up muttering about feeling like a whale.
I’m halfway through buttoning my shirt, standing at the edge of the bed, when she groans from beneath the covers. One arm is flung over her eyes to block the sunlight coming through the window, the other over her stomach, tracing the outline of it like it’s betrayed her. “I swear to god, I grew another inch outwards. I can feel it.”
I don’t see anything different, but I don’t dare tell her that. I also don’t tell her that I’ve been awake for over an hour just watching her twist and turn and cuddle up to me, so thoroughly, ridiculously gorgeous that I had to remind myself over and over not to touch her more than what wouldn’t wake her.
“You’re not a whale, darling,” I say instead, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from chuckling.
“I am,” she protests. “I’m a whale. A massive blue whale, those ones you see in photos next to a diver and it looks the size of the Empire State Building.”
I grin softly. “You lookbeautiful.”
She lifts her arm enough to glare at me. “You’re a liar.”
I take the few steps to her side of the bed, rest my knee beside her, and lean over her just enough to make her squirm. “I swear it on her,” I say, flicking my eyes to her stomach.
Her answering little pout tells me she’s trying to believe it.
