Page 29 of Slow Ride

“No, the end.”She frowned.

“Yeah.When he crossed the stage?That was after something happened between us.I think.Maybe I’m delusional.It seemed like he understood what it’s like when you can’t have what you really want.It got to me.I mean, I knew exactly how he felt.I could have written those lyrics myself.It was exactly the emotion that consumed me when I loved Johnny but couldn’t ever show it.It was agony.And I think Kason might have suffered the same thing.That’s why I went backstage last night.I wanted to talk to him, to see if I was imagining it or if—possibly—he’s like me.If he gets what I’ve been through, since no one else seems to understand.”

Wren stepped closer then.She put her hands on his shoulders and squeezed.“I do.I was there, remember?And if you ever need someone to talk to about it, I’m still here, Jordan.You’ve always known where to find me.You chose not to.A decision I never agreed with, and don’t to this day.”

“Would you really have wanted me, and only me?”Jordan exposed himself in that moment, more completely than he ever had before.Being physically naked was nothing compared to baring his soul to her.“You were Johnny’s first.I just tagged along for the ride.”

“Fuck that.”Wren shook him, then crushed him in a hug that was so powerful, he couldn’t resist putting his arms around her too.This time to hold himself up instead of supporting her.“You two balanced each other out.I’m sorry I didn’t do a better job of showing you how much I cared.I loved you, Jordan.For you, not because you and Johnny were a package deal.”

Jordan knew he shouldn’t do it, but he couldn’t help himself.He ducked his head and nudged Wren’s mouth with his, aligning their faces and letting her make the decision.

She leaned forward and took his lips, kissing him with five years’ worth of pent-up emotions.Jordan consumed them, swallowing every bit of her grief, longing, desire, and regret.

He knew better than to try to take that away from her now, but at least they could share the burden.So he gave her everything he’d been holding back, too.Even if it was too late.

Jordan palmed Wren’s ass and lifted her, groaning when she locked her legs around his waist.The motion ground her core against his steely shaft.He hadn’t been with anyone in so long he might have been worried he didn’t know how to make love anymore, except with Wren it all came back as if it had been yesterday that he’d buried himself inside her.

He carried her to the couch.Lying her down, he settled on top of her, unafraid that he would crush her as he blanketed her with his body.She had already shown she could bear the full weight of things much heavier than him.

Wren’s hands snuck beneath his shirt and wandered up his back, caressing him, kneading him, and scoring him with her nails as she craned her neck upward to spear her tongue into his mouth.

Jordan couldn’t keep his hips still when she goaded him by rocking against him.

He began to rub his cock on her through their clothing, wishing he’d been wearing something soft and thin like her sexy black moto jeggings instead of his traditional jeans.

The motion was as intuitive as the rhythm of their lips, tongues, and teeth on each other.Wren’s moans and sighs made him positive he was touching her in the right places.The softness of her small breasts against his chest was interrupted by the hard nubs of her nipples, which were clear through her thin tank top.

The fact that she hardly ever wore bras had always turned him on.Screw lingerie, her bare skin—there and easily accessible—was tempting.In fact, he slipped his hand between them, brushing his thumb over one peak before pinching it hard, like she’d always enjoyed.

Wren shuddered beneath him and clutched him tighter to her.

He stared into her eyes, wondering at how blue they were—like a summer sky—loving the heat and fierceness he saw in them.Wren spread her legs wider, dropping one to the floor so that she could brace herself against his humping.

Jordan was too into the moment to dare to pause even long enough to undo his pants and try to slip inside her.After so long on his own, this seemed nearly overwhelming in its intensity.Any more and he might die himself.

Wren must have felt the same way, because she began to grind on him as he echoed her motions.Before long, she stiffened, staring directly at him, then unraveled.

If it had been five hundred years since the last time he’d heard it, he’d never forget the guttural sound she made as she came, which she did right then and there in his arms.Nothing could have been more arousing to Jordan.

Her moans and grunts curled around his cock and gave him the tiny push he needed to join her.

He tore his lips from hers and sank his teeth into her shoulder.His ass clenched over and over as he came, spilling his release into his underwear as if he were a horny teenager instead of the mature man he’d attempted to be when he came to apologize to her today.

Shit.What had he done?

How had they ended up like this again?

Who was he kidding?Theyalwaysended up like this.Even the night he’d tried to break up with her and had only ended up making love to her before wandering off without finding the strength to say the words he should have.

Wren didn’t seem to have any regrets, though.She melted beneath him, every muscle in her body going limp as she looked up at the ceiling and laughed.“Damn, Jordan.That never gets old.”

She hugged him, nuzzling her cheek against his.Here she was, being kind and sympathetic and accepting.What had he done but put her in a bad position the first moment it seemed like she was ready to move on?Damn it.

After a few more ragged breaths—during which he soaked in her affection, which he had been thirsty as fuck for—he tried to make things right.Again.

“Wren, I promise I didn’t come here to screw things up for you with Kason.”He brushed her hair off of her face.“Though it seems like I can’t keep my hands off you, no matter what I intend.”

“I can’t say I hate that.”Wren’s grin morphed into a frown as she considered the repercussions of their impulsive release.“I am hoping for more with him, though it’s early days.So I hope you understand that I’m going to tell him what just happened when he calls tonight.”

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