Page 51 of Loving You

“If I told you how much I loved hearing that—”

“It’s true, though,” I said, trying again for a kiss, and smiling against his lips when I caught him for a brief peck before he could pull away. “The way I feel right now—about you, because of you—I’ve never felt like this before.”

He pressed a kiss to my forehead as he circled his arms around me, pulling me against him until every inch of our bodies touched. Then he rested his forehead against mine and let out a shaky breath, his voice deadly serious. “You know what that makes you, right?”

I knew what he meant.

I knew what he wanted me to say, what he wanted to tell me. I may not have had much experience with his brand of sexy talk, but I could see where this was going.

Lust and desire pooled hot and low within me, and I couldn’t wait a second longer to get this show on the road.

“Yours,” I whispered, stifling a gasp when I felt the rock-hard length of him twitch against my stomach at the word.

“Mine,” he confirmed. Then he leaned in and finally gave me the kiss I’d have happily begged him for if he’d wanted me to.

My veins hummed with life and heat and wholeness as he claimed me with the kiss, almost like an exclamation point at the end of his proclamation.

No, not an exclamation point. It was a period. I washis, period.

And I was good with it. In fact, it hazily occurred to me that I shouldn’t be for some reason. After everything I’d been through, I shouldn’t want to behis.I shouldn’t be writhing against him, my body begging for his touch, enjoying the way he bossed me around.

But I was, because nothing about this came from a place of needing to controlme. It was because the man was just plain bossy and he knew what he liked and how he liked it to be done, so of course that would come out in the bedroom.

And one day—since he’d done so much to help me find myself in the midst of the two versions of me I’d been for years—I’d take a hell of a lot of pleasure out of bossinghimaround in the bedroom, too.

Knowing Eric and that banter-filled dynamic we used to share, he’d fucking love it.

In one swift move, he lifted me off my feet with his hands under my thighs, not even breaking the kiss as he carried me into his room. The scent that was so veryhimhit me the second we stepped inside, and I let the clean aroma of pine and sandalwood wrap around me.

I hadn’t been in here since I’d wanted to respect his privacy, and I wondered if it’d be as neat and tidy as I’d imagined.

But you know what they say about curiosity and cats. The moment I pulled my lips from his so I could check out my surroundings, Eric halted in place. “You still with me?”

I frowned. “Yeah, why?”

“You seemed a little… distracted. If you don’t want to—”

Putting a finger over his thick, soft lips to shush him, I grinned. “I was just curious.”

“About what?”

I shrugged. “Your room.”

“If you’re more curious about my room than about what’s going to happen while we’re in it, I don’t think I’m doing my job.”

“We can’t all have your laser focus, Mr. Walker.”

He growled, leaning in to take a playful bite of my lower lip. Then his hand wandered from where it gripped my thigh to palm my ass, giving it a firm squeeze. “I want your focus on me and only me tonight.”

I purred as he nuzzled my neck, trailing kisses over my shoulder and back up again. “And if I keep getting distracted? Then what?”

He’d taken a step toward the bed right before I spoke, but he halted again, staring intently at me with a clenched jaw. “It wasn’t a threat, April. We don’t have to play like that. Bossing you around is one thing, but…”

I gaped at him. “But you’re not going to… I don’t know…spankme or anything? Seems like something you’d be into.”

I gave him a little wag of my brows, feeling ridiculously safe asking such a bold question because I knew how much care he was taking to make me feel this safe.

And I knew it wasn’t an act; it was just him. It made me want to tease some truth out of him, just to see what kind of fun he normally liked to get into when he wasn’t so focused on me and what I’d like.

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