Page 35 of The Light to My Darkness (The Light to My Darkness 1)

He crossed his arms and walked up to the kitchen island. "Like I don't look at you?" His voice was low and seductive. "Like you don't exist?" He put one elbow down on the counter and leaned against it.

My eyes gravitated back to his. "I wrote that about those weeks after you found out my age. When I thought I lost you." I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "It was a long time ago."

"That doesn't answer my question. Come here."

I swallowed hard. "It's not how I feel. But what Dr. Nelson said bothered me, yes. How could it not? And I'm not illiterate. I see what they say in the tabloids. It's...hurtful. Ever since I stopped working everyone questions what I'm doing with my time. For a while there, it felt like everyone was on our side. And now the whole city hates me. It's like they're waiting for you to move on to the next thing. Like they can't wait for you to cast me aside for someone more interesting."

"Come. Here."

The way he said it made me press my thighs together. My eyes met his again. He looked like he wanted to fuck the negative thoughts right out of me. Like he wanted to take away my pain. I didn't have any doubt that he could.

I probably moved faster than I had in weeks. The next thing I knew, his fingers were in my hair, pulling my head back so his lips could have easy access to mine. My back was pressed against the edge of the granite countertop. And his other hand had slid beneath my silk robe and was squeezing my ass.

"Baby, I see you." His breath was hot against my skin as his lips traveled down my neck.

All I could do was moan.

He untied the string of my robe and separated the thin fabric.

My hand instinctively went to my stomach. "God, I'm huge. We don't have to do this right now. I know you can't really want me like this." I reached for the cord for my robe, but he grabbed my hand.

"You're beautiful when you're pregnant. If it was up to me, you'd be pregnant all the time."

I laughed as he easily lifted me onto the countertop. "Pregnant all the time?" I shook my head. "Remember when I didn't have any stretch marks? Remember when I could tie my own shoes?"

"I like your stretch marks." He kissed the side of my stomach. "They remind me of the gift you've given me." He kissed the other side of my stomach. "And I like tying your shoes." He dropped to his knees and kissed the inside of my ankle. He left a trail of kisses up the inside of my calf.

"James." My voice quivered. No, I didn't feel attractive. But the way he was kissing me made me feel so desired.

He gently parted my knees and continued his torturous ascent up the inside of my thigh. Suddenly I didn't care that I was seven months pregnant and felt like a whale. He took me back to when I was 19 and daring him to kiss me in his office.

"I always want you, Penny." His tongue thrust inside of me.

I fell back on my elbows. God. He made me feel so alive. I closed my eyes and let him pull me to the edge of the abyss. It was like he had awakened with a craving that only I could satisfy. That maybe he had been dreaming of having me just like this and then needed to make it a reality. This was so much fucking better than any dream.

His lips found my clit and he gently sucked.

In a matter of seconds, he had completely unwound me. I would have been embarrassed by how fast his tongue made me come. But we hadn't had sex in over a week. I was pretty sure he was minutes away from exploding himself.

"Fuck," he groaned and replaced this tongue with his fingers. "Another perk of being pregnant. You're crazy horny." He circled my clit with his thumb as he stood back up.

"That's just the effect you've always had on me."

He stood in silence, towering over me. He grabbed my hand, pulled me back to a seated position, and placed my hand on his erection. I wrapped my fingers around his length. He didn't have to say anything. This was proof that I still had the same effect on him too. I slowly ran my hand up and down through the fabric of his sweatpants. He placed his hands on either side of me, caging me in, making me feel like we were the only two people in the world.

He groaned as I tightened my fingers. "What do you want, baby? Because you're about five seconds away from being bent over this counter and fucked until you can't walk."

I gulped. Yes, please.

"Tell me exactly what you want. Tell me what will make you happy."

For a second I thought that question might have a bigger meaning. But the look in his eyes was solely one of desire. He wanted me screaming his name. God, I wanted that too.

"I want you to fuck me like I'm in your office at the University of New Castle. Like we could get caught at any second. I want to feel you lose control, Professor Hunter." Just calling him that made my heart race.

There was a twinkle in his eye as he raised his left eyebrow. "The threat of getting caught is real. I'm going to have you screaming so loudly that you'll probably wake Scarlett."

I laughed. "Well, don't..." My words caught in my throat as he pulled me off the counter. The look in his eyes was dead serious.

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