Page 118 of Breakaway Hearts

I blink, my head jerking back a little. “What?”

She narrows her eyes at me, her chest rising and falling fast as she tries to catch her breath. “That’s bullshit. You can’t come home and kiss me like that and then tell me nothing is happening between us.”

My heart squeezes in my chest. Is that what she thinks I mean? I shake my head, leaning over her again as I wrap one hand lightly around her throat, tipping her chin up to meet my gaze.

“Hey,” I tell her in a low, intense voice. “I didn’t say nothing is happening between us. That’s not what I meant. I—fuck, I want you so much. But if I hurt you, I’ll never forgive myself.”

She swallows, and I feel the movement of her muscles against my palm. There’s a hint of worry in her gaze, and I can’t tell anymore if we’re talking about me not fucking her because she’s still recovering, or about something a whole lot bigger.

“You won’t hurt me,” she whispers. “I trust you, Reese. You’re the only person I’ve ever trusted this much.”

A shuddery breath falls from my lips, and I drop my head, pressing my forehead against hers.

“I’m scared,” I admit. “You matter to me so much, Callie, and if—”

“I know.”

Her hands are in my hair again, and they feel so fucking good there. This feels so right—all of it. Callie in my arms, beneath me, her soft body cradling mine. Our breath mingling as our mouths hover only inches apart.

“You won’t hurt me,” she promises again, her breath teasing my lips. Something lights in her eyes as she adds, “But ifyouwon’t touch me, then I could always…”

She lets the words trail off, and an instant rush of jealousy fills me as I imagine her telling me that she’ll go find someone else who will. Wasn’t that what this deal was supposed to be about in the first place? I’d teach her more about sex so that she could jump back into the dating pool with more confidence? So that some other man could claim all of her sighs, her laughs, and her breathless moans?

No. Fuckingno.

That thought sends a visceral reaction through me, making me want to go find every asshole on the planet who might ever think he’s worthy of her and flatten them with my fists.

“Could always what?” I ask, my jaw clenching.

Callie pushes against my chest, and I lean back reluctantly. I was the one who stopped things a moment ago, but fucking hell, it’s torture pulling myself away from her. She gazes up at me as I kneel between her legs, resting on my heels, and her lips curve upward just a bit at the corners.

“Well, if you won’t touch me, I could do it myself.”

The relief that she’s not talking about another man is almost as strong as the arousal that rushes through me at her words.

Dirty fucking girl.

Mydirty fucking girl.

“Oh yeah?” I reach down to palm my cock, desire for the woman splayed out in front of me suffusing every cell in my body. “You think you can take care of yourself better than I could?”

She smirks, and the sight makes my heart pound. “I didn’t saybetter. But sometimes a girl has to make do.”

“Then show me,” I rasp, well aware that my words are an echo of what I said to her the night she first suggested that I teach her. The night everything changed between us. Or, hell, maybe it wasn’t the night everything changed at all. Maybe it was just the first time I finally admitted to myself how much I wanted her. “Let me see you, Firefly.”

Warmth burns in Callie’s eyes, and she bites down on her plush lower lip as she tugs off her shirt. She tosses it aside and unhooks her bra, and it takes everything in me not to lower my head and draw her perfect breasts into my mouth. The fading bruises are still visible on her skin, and when I can’t stop myself from reaching out to brush my fingers against one, she shivers.

I draw back as she slides her stretchy pants over her hips and down her legs, taking her panties with them.

They hit the floor somewhere, but I don’t pay any attention. My gaze is riveted to her as she slides one hand down between her legs, opening her thighs a little wider.

She slips her fingers between her folds, spreading them for me and giving me an even better view as her index finger starts to tease her clit.

My breath catches, my hands clenching where they rest on my thighs.

Watching someone pleasure themselves is one of the most intimate things in the world, so maybe it’s crazy that that was the first thing I told Callie to do for me after she asked me to teach her. I did it because I wanted to make sure she knew what she was asking for, to test her boundaries a little without taking things too far. But looking back on it, maybe I also told her to do it because I wantedthis.

This intimacy, this connection.

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