Page 58 of South of The Skyway

Pleasure didn’t begin to describe the sensation that roared through my bloodstream. I’d meant the words. This woman, frantically searching for handholds against my skin, meeting my thrusts, was perfect for me. Fit me like a glove, her touch like fire in my veins, sparks bouncing every time we locked eyes. I moved faster, harder. A familiar tug built at the base of my spine as she moaned, muscles fluttering around me, body shaking beneath me. Everything she did made me want more of her. That should have terrified me. Should have fired off all those red flags that marked the gentlemanly path to the exit lane. Still, I’d never felt more at home, more wanted, more needed. Sweat dripped down my back by the time she detonated again, a cry of absolute ecstasy clawing up her throat. However, it was the sound of her voice crying out my name that took me over the edge on a roar.

TWENTY-FIVE

BREXLEY

Best. Sex. Ever.I’d told Noel the man had been the best I’d had, but that first night had been nothing—nothing—compared to the second. I still hadn’t set him free on a damn bed. The couch had shown me enough.

Rhyett had carried me upstairs when my body had gone limp, wordlessly opening doors until he found my bedroom. I silently thanked myself for having the foresight to clean that morning. Not that I could take credit for it; it was a compulsion at this point. When he climbed into bed beside me, spooning our naked bodies together, something inside me liquified.

“So fucking beautiful,” he whispered, his breath hot against my cheek. Goosebumps trailed away from the touchless caress, and I shivered as Rhyett nestled in against me.Friends with benefits. That’s what I’d told him. But nothing about this embrace felt like friends, every inch of exposed skin squeezing together in a way that felt somehow more intimate than the sex…which had been…indescribable. Amazing.Terrifying. I’d been with partners, but never one who saw me, one who served me so intimately. Like my pleasure was a battle. His body was his weapon, deftly destroying everything else as he connected our souls. Other women talked about that spiritual rapture, but there’d never been a moment I’d come close. Not until Rhyett. Not until the man who undid me completely.

Still panting as his arms caged around me, I managed a feeble, “You’re…incredible.”

“Good, now get some rest, pretty girl.”

I wasn’t sure if I actually managed to nod or if it was just in my head, but the anxiety of the day seemed to hit a wall, my body letting down once he’d safely cocooned me in his arms, and I drifted into a contented, dreamless sleep.

The snickof a door closing woke me up, fingers reaching for a body that wasn’t there to find. Disappointment jolted me upright, only to collide with relief when I spotted Rhyett, shorts slung low on his hips, leaving that mouthwatering body mostly on display as he stood on my balcony with a phone to his ear. An alien combination of satisfaction and hope tangled in my chest.

I wanted him here. Hell, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d wanted a man around after the orgasm faded. Groggily rubbing at my eyes before glancing at the bedside table, I spotted the time. I’d slept for well over an hour. He’d orgasmed me to sleep. In the middle of a workday.

Blinking and still a bit disoriented, I slid off the bed, wrapping the sheet around me and padding for the door. It was as the coffee pot filled, and I was yanking my shirt back over my head that a grinning Rhyett Rhodes descended the stairs.

“Afternoon,Sleeping Beauty.”

“Hi.”

Hi. Seriously? Had I forgotten how to speak around this man? Nerves entirely ruling, I tucked my hair behind my ear. I’d already smoothed down the chaos, but it still felt as disarrayed as the rest of my life today. Mainly to occupy my hands, I turned for the cabinets, pulling out two mugs and filling mine before lifting his in question.

“I could go for a cup, I suppose. You’ve got cream and sugar?”

“Ahh, yes,” I said in mock disapproval. “My frilly coffee man.” Rhyett’s hard body pinned my hips to the counter before the last word left my tongue. His nose tickled my temple as he gently traced the side of my face, drawing a sigh from my lips, eyes slipping closed. His broad palm settled on my belly, pulling us tighter together as the other wrapped around me to run gentle fingers across my collarbone.

“Thank you for calling me today,” he said softly, the words scraping over my skin as his erection pressed against me. “Not just for this—” he tightened his hold, “—but for thinking of me when you needed help.”

Speechless, I just nodded against him, swallowing suddenly painfully audible. His presence, the weight of this connection, overwhelmed all my senses. I’d gotten rusty during my hiatus, and had somehow lost the ability to keep speaking and thinking through the sensations running rampant as they spun a hot spool in my belly, sending electricity up my limbs.

“Thank you for coming to help.” Okay, good, I could form coherent words, even if they came out without gusto. But that was, at least, a complete sentence.

“Anytime, beautiful.”

Drinks prepared adequately with cream and sugar, I turned to deliver his. “I need to go pick up Royal. Make sure the girls have the shop under control.”

“They seem perfectly capable. You’ve trained them well.”

“Eh, they came to me like that.”

“They certainly don’t seem to look at it that way.”

Coffee still nearly hot enough to scald, I took a very tentative sip off the top. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

God, his smile was beautiful. Everything about the man was gorgeous, magnetic, daring me to move forward. “Wren and Noel both adore you to high heaven.”

“They’re generous.”

“They’re honest.”

“Well, thank you, then.” We were all close, I knew that to my core, but I’d never had the opportunity of being a fly on the wall, either. “They’ve closed before, but they had advanced notice. I didn’t just dump it on them.”

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