Page 146 of Head Over Heels

We stayed like that for a long moment, just breathing each other in.

Then she looked up. “What was the best Christmas present you ever got?”

Warmth radiated through my chest at the look in her eyes. It almost hurt because it felt so good.

That was probably the scariest part about shifting from I could love this person to the fall itself. It wasn’t messy or painful or loud. It was quiet moments like this, when you saw the moment that what you’re feeling was anchored in something real, and it was built in a hundred different exchanges that all felt small at the time.

“Poppy,” I answered easily. “She was born on Christmas Eve, and when we all went into the hospital to meet her, Sheila had put this big red bow on top of the blanket they’d wrapped her in.” I smiled. “It was just … chaos in that hospital room with all us kids. Loud and noisy and we were all fighting about who got to hold her first. But I remember looking down on her sound asleep in that plastic bassinet with the red ribbon and thinking, there won’t ever be a Christmas present to top this.” I shrugged. “And there wasn’t.”

Ivy shook her head slowly, gaze tracing fondly over my face. “Unbelievable.”

“What?”

Her eyes shimmered. “That’s such a perfect answer, it makes me sick.”

With a deep laugh, I tightened my arms, and then kissed her.

Her lips were so sweet, the sounds she made so perfect. Her body arched into mine, and I wished for nothing more than the power to freeze time.

Ivy’s hands clutched at my back, and she wouldn’t let me pull away, even when I broke the kiss to try to steady my breathing.

Eventually, she stepped back, and wrapped her hand through the crook of my elbow when I offered it to her. We walked the rest of the way to my truck like that, and she still looked deep in thought when I opened the door for her and gave her my hand to help her into the truck.

Our drive home was comfortably quiet, her hand tight in mine.

Back at my house, we undressed each other slowly, trading long, luxurious kisses and wandering hands. For the first time, Ivy wanted to be in control, and God, I was so far gone for her that there was no argument from me. She pushed me back on the bed and anchored her hands on my chest as she swung her leg over my lap.

With her breasts brushing against my chest, we kissed and kissed until my hands gripped her hips with barely leashed strength.

“Ivy,” I begged.

She sat up, arching her back like a cat, eyes locked on mine and a smile teasing her lips, and only broke the gaze as she tipped her head back and sank down over me with a satisfied hiss.

Heaven.

Somehow, it only got better. My craving for her was never satisfied.

This only ever made me want more and more and more.

Slowly, she rocked back and forth, and I fought the urge to increase the pace and snap my hips up from underneath her. So I lay back and watched her chase her pleasure, gritting my teeth when she dragged her nails along my chest and stomach as her hips began to move faster, as she ground down against my stomach and found just the right angle.

Her brow pinched when my fingers tightened around her backside.

She came with a slow, soft moan, and I sat up, slanting my mouth over hers in a searing kiss. We turned, and she hitched her hip up my side, kissing me with lazy, tongue-tangling kisses when it was my turn to chase.

And I did.

It hit me like a freight train, barreling down along my spine when she tilted her hips up in time with my thrusting hips.

“That’s it,” I told her, then kissed her sweet, sweet lips. “That’s it.”

We turned onto our sides, legs and arms entangled. I kissed her forehead, and she tucked her arms between us while I held her tight to my chest. I’d hold her there forever if she’d let me, and that was the scariest part of falling in love with someone.

There was no guarantee that she felt anything close to the same.

My arms tightened, and I pressed a kiss to the top of her head while she caught her breath.

“That was the best first date I’ve ever had,” she whispered.

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