Page 77 of Dirty Rock

My smile faded as I studied her.

“I want to be here, Rhett. It’s taken everything in me to wait twenty-four hours. I’ve tried to tell myself I don’t want it again—you again—but the lies I tell myself are the ones that hurt the most, and I can’t deny it anymore. You’re more than I ever expected you to be. You’re more than I…”

“What?” I whispered, desperate to hear such soothing words from her panicked heart.

“You’re more than I can handle.”

“No.” I pressed my lips to the curve of her neck, feeling her react instantly. The way she arched her back from the wall, the way she wanted to get closer to me—it set me on fire when my bones should have been shivering from the cold. “You’re the only one who can handle me. No one else can do what you do. You and I are the only ones awake and ready for each other. Everyone else in the world is asleep. I don’t want to end up like them. You’re the only one who can save me. You’re the only one strong enough, Jules.”

“You won’t want me forever. I know you better than you know yourself.”

“The fuck you do.”

I hoisted her up into my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist. I was desperate to be inside her as I walked across the room and looked up into her eyes. Sober and struck by her beauty, I laid her down on the bed and stood back. The two of us were still fully dressed, and I had no desire to strip her naked and rush this through. She was here with me, and I wanted to take every second of it slowly.

With Jules, I never knew which time would be the last.

I ran a finger down her neck, through the dip of her breasts, over her stomach, and brought it to a stop at the edge of her jeans. I teased her belly with the stroke of my finger before I leaned over her and pressed my hands into the mattress at the sides of her head.

“I’ve got you,” I breathed down on her. “Bet on me. Bet on Rhett.”

Her smile grew slowly. “Bet on Rhett, huh?”

“Yeah.” I grinned back. “Put your money on the underdog and see what happens. If anyone’s going to surprise you, it’s him. It’s me.”

Then I kissed her, and I took my time stripping her out of her clothes.

I tasted every inch of her skin, and whenever Jules trembled, I ran a hand over her muscles and calmed them with my touch. Every time her eyes flickered, and I thought she looked worried, I held her face in both hands and told her to bet on me. Every time she closed her eyes, I told her to open them up and watch.

I needed her to see…

I needed her to take this all in and remember it on the days when we’d forget.

I needed her to look at my face when I pushed inside her—to see that it meant more because she meant more. I needed her to watch how she built me up, made my chest feel like it was going to explode, and how fucking much I struggled not to come inside her after two minutes flat. I needed her to feel this thing I was feeling, whatever the fuck it was, because it wasn’t normal, and I was just as freaked out as her.

I missed that ache in my chest when it wasn’t there now.

It was only ever there when she was.

My hair fell forward as I laid over her, holding one of her knees up against her chest while I drove into her slowly, devouring that expression she wore every time I hit her sweet spot over and over again.

“Jules,” I croaked, tensing my jaw as her eyes flickered open to latch onto mine.

Her hand gripped my wrist, and she rode that final high wave with me. “I know, Rhett. I know.”

She didn’t, but I let her believe she had me all figured out.

She had no idea what I was beginning to feel as I came hard and held us together.

Because that had just felt like making love.

Something I’d never done with anyone else before her in my entire life.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ilooked around the bathroom and found some fancy bubble shit to throw in the bath I was drawing for Jules. I heard women liked that stuff. When I turned and got a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror, I paused and studied my reflection.

For as long as I could remember, every time I’d stared at my own blue-grey eyes, I’d seen such intensity. Such fire. I thought it had been my secret gift, something I had that nobody else did. That intensity was meant to be there, to fuel the drive that would lead me to chase my dreams. Passionate, brooding, sarcastic, driven, focused, challenging, a rebel with a cause… I was all those things, and I’d admired that about myself for so long. The black hair. The strong, stubbled jaw. The dark tattoos on fair skin that made the muscles in my arms pop. The etchings over my pecs and toned stomach. I’d gotten off on being the bad boy for so long. A man with his own demons. A man with his own reasons to succeed.

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