Page 121 of Breakaway Hearts

Does he regret what happened last night?

Please don’t regret it. Please, god, don’t regret it.

I roll over onto my other side so that we’re facing each other. His brown eyes are warm and soft, and I run my finger along his ever-so-slightly crooked nose, which he broke long before his professional hockey days.

“Hi,” I murmur.

“Hey.” He brushes my hair back and smiles at me before leaning in and kissing my forehead. “Did you sleep okay? Are you sore?”

“Yes.” I grin before he can get worried and add, “In all the right places.”

He lets out a sound that’s almost like a growl at that, and I kiss the edges of his lips and nuzzle my face into his shoulder. But he pulls me back before I can get really into the morning cuddling.

“About last night,” he says slowly.

Oh, fuck.

My heart skips a beat, but then he continues, his gaze intense. “You’re not going to take it back, are you?”

“Are you?” I whisper. “Are you going to take back what you said? About it being real?”

“Fuck, no.”

Relief floods me, sending a cool rush through my limbs. “Thank god. Because neither am I.”

Reese’s shoulders soften. I didn’t even realize he was tense because of how anxiousIwas feeling. He lets out a sigh and then a laugh.

“Shit,” he whispers, gazing at me with something almost like awe on his face. “Oh my god, you have no idea how happy I am.”

A grin tugs at my lips. “Well, I think I havesomeidea.”

He palms the back of my neck, pulling me in for a kiss, and I reciprocate until we’re both breathless. His large hands come up to frame my face when we finally break apart.

“I don’t want this to be fake anymore,” he says. “Everything we’re doing? I want to keep doing it. I want to spend all my free time with you. I want to make you smile, make you laugh. I want to kiss you every fucking day. I want to make you come until you’re so exhausted and sated that the only word you remember is my name. I don’t just want you to be my best friend, Callie. I want so much more.”

“I don’t just want you to be my best friend either,” I breathe, a giddy feeling of elation filling me. I feel like I’m at the top of a rollercoaster, about to go flying down the other side. “I want all of that too. Everything.”

Something lights in Reese’s eyes, and he kisses me again, rolling me onto my back as his hands wander over my naked body. My skin tingles everywhere he touches me, arousal thrumming through my veins. We’ve had sex plenty of times by now, but everything feels different this morning, as if something monumental has shifted between us.

Which I guess it has.

Reese’s lips trail lower, and he presses kisses to my jaw and throat as I tip my head back. He knows by now that this is one of my favorite spots, one of the most sensitive parts of my body, and he always takes advantage of that fact, paying special attention to it.

“So, just to be clear…” His teeth scrape gently over the delicate skin. “When I do this, I’m doing it as yourboyfriend.”

The word makes my heart race, and I nod, tilting my head to one side. “Yes.”

“Good. And when I do this…” He bites down on the spot where my neck meets my shoulder, then licks away the sting. “It’s as your boyfriend.”

“Yes,” I whimper, nodding again. “Fuck, I love that.”

“I know, baby.”

He does it again, then moves his mouth lower, pressing kisses to my breasts. He palms one of them with a large hand, squeezing it before he brings my nipple to his mouth and sucks on it hard. When he releases it with a wet pop, he teases the peaked bud with his tongue and looks up at me through his lashes.

“What am I doing now?”

“You’re sucking on my nipple,” I breathe.

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