Page 69 of Fury

“Justin—”

“You mean a lot to me, Serena. I want—so much. But mostly I want to help you get to a better place, no matter what you choose.”

“There is no choice to make. I want you.”

He lifted his head on a slant, his eyes watery, his lips tipping up in a slight smile, and my heart squeezed. He was relieved. Happy.

I kissed his lips slowly and curled up on his chest. “I missed you so much.” I gave the words to the darkness, to his skin.

“I missed you too.”

We lay there in silence, him stroking my bare back, his heartbeat a steady rhythm beneath me. He ran his hands through my hair and a few moments later sat up, taking me with him, keeping me steady against his body. “Tell me how much you missed me.”

I met his gaze. “It’s an ache in the pit of my stomach. A thud in my chest.”

“Me too. Exactly.” A hand cupped a breast. “Tell me more.”

His lips took in a nipple gently, and my body sang a delicate melody.

My head fell back. “I think of you every night in my bed, and every morning when I wake up.”

“You touch yourself when you think of me?” He nipped at my flesh.

“Yes, and it feels good, but then I wonder who you’re talking to. If you’re laughing or smiling, if you’re mad, how your scars are feeling, if you’re screwing someone else.”

“I haven’t touched nobody else. Don’t want to. Only you, Serena.” His breath heated my skin, his arms wrapping around me. “You and Tania? Have you two…”

“No. No.” My legs rubbed against his. “No.”

He stroked my thigh. “I don’t want there to be any distance between us during sex. The last time we were real good there, amazing, but we had Tania as a buffer.”

“A buffer?” I asked.

“That night in the motel, the three of us said fuck it to everything. Getting Tania off, getting each other off, was this mutual goal we shared, and it morphed into a whole lot more. It was a perfect ice breaker and an awesome distraction.” His thumb rubbed the corner of my mouth.

“It was.” I flicked my tongue over his thumb.

“But now you and me alone is gonna be intense on a whole other level. I know I’ve built it up in my head.” He cleared his throat. “You know, it’s cool if you’re not ready. We can do other stuff, go slow.”

“I don’t want to go slow.”

“I can tell.” He rubbed my back, a dirty smile enlivened his face. “Whichever way you want it. You call it.”

I’d rarely felt lucky in my life, but I felt lucky now. This wonderful man wanted to give to me, help me reclaim myself, my sense of worth.

His thumb tugged at my lower lip. “You been sleeping through the night? Because I haven’t been.”

“Not really.” I sucked on his thumb and released it, and he let out a hiss of air. “It’s getting better, though. I can’t wait to sleep with you again tonight, after we exhaust each other first, of course.”

His hands pressed over my ass, squeezing. “You feel so good.”

“So good.” My body moved against his again, needing more. I bit his upper lip. “Now fuck me.”

He let out a groan. “You want to stop, you stop. Don’t worry about me, you hear?”

My eyes held his. “I want it to be good for you too.”

He pushed my hair back from my face and whispered, “Right now, I want to make you come.”

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