Page 52 of Dark Secrets

He reached into the cabinet for two plates and set them on the counter. “When I woke up, you were still out, so I went to meet my cousin to handle a little business and brought back some of the best donuts in Philly.”

He’d come in not once but twice, and she hadn’t woken up? How could that be? She’d slept on high alert for years, her body and her brain constantly scanning for imminent threats. Her ears always perked for the slightest whisper of a sound.

It was hard to remember a time when she would have let herself relax so completely, sleep so deeply that she wouldn’t hear someone come into the room. Hard to remember a time when she hadn’t barricaded herself behind a locked door in order to get even just a few hours of sleep.

Tears pricked her eyes at the realization. It was like something cracked open inside her, and she could cry from the relief of it. It had been so long since she’d felt well and truly safe. James had given her that, and he didn’t even know it.

“Are you okay?”

She looked up at him and smiled. “You let me sleep.”

“You say that like you’re surprised.”

Closing the distance between them, she stopped in front of him and laid her hands against his chest. “I am. You’re always surprising me.” She glanced over his shoulder at the open bakery box. “I love donuts, by the way.”

“Good. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got one of everything.”

“I don’t discriminate against donuts.”

He chuckled, then sobered, reaching up to cup her cheek. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m sure. But I want one thing before breakfast.”

“Coffee?”

She shook her head. “This.”

Sliding her hands up his chest and over his shoulders, she laced them behind his neck and pulled his mouth down for a kiss, groaning softly when his hands instantly gripped her hips and pulled her tight against him. He reached down to squeeze her ass, lifting her onto her tiptoes, and she nibbled his bottom lip in response.

He growled against her lips and turned them so his body pressed hers against the counter. She teased her tongue against his, shivering when he ground his hips into hers.

“I should have brought donuts home a long time ago,” he said when she tilted her head to press kisses along his jaw, dragging her teeth over his earlobe, his fingers digging into her ass in response.

“I just realized something,” she said, tracing a line down the column of his throat with her tongue.

“Tell me.” His hand slid up her side, his fingertips brushing against the underside of her breast.

“I’ve never had sex in a kitchen before.”

He cupped her breast and squeezed, and she hissed. “Never?”

“Never.”

“We should fix that.” His fingers deftly undid the button of her jeans, dragging down the zipper. “Right now.”

“I agree.”

They tore at each other’s clothes. Him shoving her jeans and panties down her thighs, pressing kisses along her hip as he helped her out of them, her yanking his sweater over his head and throwing it somewhere behind her. Her Black Orchid shirt was followed quickly by her bra, and while his tongue circled her nipple, she seriously considered buying some sexier bra and panty sets.

“Why do I always end up naked before you?” she panted as he lifted her onto the counter.

He sucked her nipple, pulling back until it fell out of his mouth with a pop. “Because I love to look at you.”

She ran her hand over the front of his jeans, squeezing the length of his cock through the fabric and making him groan. “I like to look at you too.”

“Well, don’t let me deprive you.”

He dragged his thumb over her nipple, making her shiver while she undid the button of his jeans and worked down the zipper. Pushing his jeans and boxers down over his ass, she wrapped her fingers around his cock and stroked him from base to tip, sighing when his fingers tightened on her nipple.

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