Page 73 of The Third Girl

CHAPTER 33

SKYLAR

Matt makes my head spin. He looks after me and knows exactly what will make me feel so good that I can’t control the way my body reacts. I want him inside me, filling me up and connecting us—body, heart, and mind.

I blow a breath out as he crawls over me. He must have gotten rid of his boxer briefs while I was still in an orgasm-induced stupor. His dick is long, thick, and so hard, the head is dark pink in color. The thought of it sends a surge of lust cascading through me from head to toe.

He crawls over my body, notching his erection at my still-throbbing pussy. Gazing into my eyes, he touches his lips to mine, then plunges deep inside. “Fuuuck, Sky. Fuck,” he pants next to my ear. “Are you okay?”

I wrap my legs around him and grab onto his shoulders. “Yes. More.” My breath hitches. “Please, I need more.”

He draws back and plunges into me over and over, taking my breath away with every languid, delicious stroke. No one has ever made sex this good for me before, and it’s blowing my mind and making me emotional all at once. I cling to Matt, dragging his head down to mine and kissing him wildly, and try to pour everything I’m feeling into the moment. Realization of how deep my feelings run slams into me, heating my blood and taking me higher. My heart clenches, and my lungs are robbed of air.

Oh boy.I think I might have fallen completely for Matt. Maybe that’s the explanation for the tight feeling where my heart should be. It’s not residing in my chest anymore. It’s inside his.

The tension that had been building inside me slowly unfurls as another orgasm rocks my body, leaving me gasping and shaking.

“That’s a good girl. Such a fucking good girl,” Matt growls before slipping from me and rolling me over. Heat floods my cheeks, and my nipples tighten in response to his words.Oh, hell yes.He pulls me up by my hips to my knees and immediately drives into my pussy from behind.

At this point, I’m delirious with pleasure and swamped with emotion. I rock back onto his cock, listening to the way he’s groaning and cursing. His hands are on my ass spreading me open, and I know he’s looking at me, at us coming together, and it makes me burn even hotter. His thumb brushes over the tight pucker of my ass, and I cry out, moving faster, taking him deeper.

Matt growls as he pulls me tight against him, then gasps as he collapses overtop of me. “Fuck. Fuuuck.” His breathing is labored, harsh puffs of air moving past my ear. He wraps one arm around my torso, pressing soft kisses to the crook of my shoulder.

A tidal wave of emotion hits me when his fingers lace with mine. I blink, thinking maybe I’m seeing things—or rather, not seeing something. His wedding ring. It’s not on his finger. My lip wobbles as I consider how difficult it would have been for him to decide it was time to take it off. “Matt,” I whisper, “I don’t want to ruin the moment. But where’s your ring?”

He pauses for what feels like interminable seconds while his lips graze my neck. When he finally speaks, his voice is rough. “I took it off. It was time.” He presses another kiss to my jaw. “Hey, let’s get cleaned up. I have things I still need to say to you.” His hips nudge me from behind. “And I can’t do it while I’m inside you like this. You’re way too fucking distracting.” He pulls out of me, smacking me lightly on the ass. “Wait here, I’ll get you a towel so you don’t have to waddle to the bathroom like an awkward penguin.” He throws a goofy-faced wink over his shoulder at me that has me giggling. “I’m not wrong, and you know it.”

Matt can be really damn funny when he’s happy. And it gives me a thrill that he’s able to be like this with me.

A few minutes later, after a trip to the bathroom, we get settled in bed, and Matt tucks me into his side, where I lay my head on his chest. His heart thuds comfortingly in my ear. For a few moments, we lie in silence, but I can tell from the way he’s gone tense that he’s thinking. With a sigh, he finally speaks. “So, I put my wedding ring in a box in my safe for Sailor to have some day.”

I look up at him, worry wrinkling my forehead. “I hope you took it off because you wanted to and not because you thought I needed you to.”

His hand travels leisurely up and down my back. “I thought about it after you left. A ring is simply a symbol. In my heart, I’ll always love Terri, wedding ring or not. And I have the most perfect little reminder of her already, you know?” He draws in a deep breath. “Taking it off was also symbolic. I’m ready to get on with my life. If I were older—if I never had any intention of finding someone else to spend the rest of my life with—maybe I would have felt differently about it. But I have a whole lot of living left to do. And I don’t want to do it alone.”

The words he’s saying all make sense. I nod, swallowing hard. “Okay.” Why is this so difficult for me to accept? He’s telling me everything I was hoping to hear. But now I’m nervous. If I hadn’t come along, would he eventually have arrived at this conclusion on his own?

He pulls me closer, squeezing my hip. “Hey, where’d you go?”

I blink up at him. “I didn’t think this was ever going to happen. I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it.”

“I need you, Sky, like really need you. You’ve shown me more compassion and patience than I thought was humanly possible. And you’ve proven over and over again that you’re here for me, for Sailor. Even when I pushed you away. Even when I didn’t understand how I could possibly be feeling what I was feeling. From the very start, I’ve been attracted to you. Rolling around on the mats at self-defense class about did me in. But it was when I spoke to you afterward, when we were beginning to hash things out. There was something about you. I don’t know.”

My face flushes, and I wet my lips, searching his eyes. “I felt connected to you in a way I’ve never felt with another person. I understood your grief. And the more I knew about you, the stronger the tether seemed between us.” I look away. “Maybe that’s stupid.”

“If you felt it, it’s not.” He brushes his lips over my forehead. “When I didn’t want to admit to anyone what was happening between us, I know it hurt you. And I’ll forever be grateful that you were strong enough to handle it. You were right to back off, to protect yourself.” He hesitates for a moment, scraping his teeth over his bottom lip. “Those couple of days were brutal. Every night that you walked in, right on time for me to leave for work. Every time you sent me impersonal text updates about Sailor. Every time I wanted to share something with you, and I didn’t feel like I could. It gutted me. Deep down, it was my fault that I pushed you away, but I was so stuck in my head about what everyone would think—what I thought I wassupposedto do—that I didn’t give myself a chance to honestly consider what I wanted. And after Sailor got hurt, when you stayed with me but then left—” He closes his eyes, shaking his head. “I knew I had to sort things out or I’d be miserable forever.”

It occurs to me that Matt is ticking off another of my boxes. He’s an actual adult male who is capable of communicating his feelings. A soft smile curves my lips. “Why would you be miserable?”

He huffs out a laugh, pulling me on top of him. “There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by where I haven’t thought of you. I want to be with you. I want you to live with me and Sailor. Only I don’t want you in the guest bedroom anymore. I want you with me, in my bed—our bed. I don’t want you to have to go home. I want you there all the time. I want to take cooking classes together and take my baby to the park with you. I want endless evenings cleaning up ice cream messes and doing laundry. I want all our self-defense classes to end with us rolling around on the floor together, kissing and touching inappropriately. I want it all with you. All the good days and the bad ones. I don’t want to waste another minute allowing you to think I don’t want you. That I don’tloveyou. Because I do. I love you so damn much I was scared to tell you.”

I lean forward, my heart soaring. With my lips grazing his, I say the words I’ve wanted to share with him for so long. “I love you, too, Matt.”

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