CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

VALERIE

My legs shook. My heart raced at an unnatural rate.

Spread out for him, I should have felt vulnerable or at the very least exposed. But I didn’t. Nothing about the sexual things we did left me feeling that way. If anything, it was the opposite. I felt adored, cared for, appreciated, and protected. How the hell that was possible, I had no idea. It was what he did for me. How he made me feel. And I was done questioning it. I was determined to let it ride for however long it would last.

His thumb skimmed my slit, and I stopped thinking. Instead, my body bucked, my ass lifting from the counter, trying to gain more of his touch. His deep chuckle told me he wasn’t going to let me have my way.

“Still,” he ordered deeply. I wanted to scream. Beg for more. If I didn’t do as he wanted, I knew he would tease me until I went crazy. With a deep cleansing breath, I stilled as much as I could, my thighs trembling, my teeth biting my lip, my fists clenching together.

“Good girl,” his deep voice hummed against my thigh, his nose skimming my skin, making my eyes flutter shut. “Look at me, Val.” Opening my eyes, I swallowed hard, more than enjoying the view.

His dark, slightly too long hair was disheveled, his grey-blue eyes fixed on me as he kissed my inner thigh.

“You have a beauty mark right here,” he mumbled. Breathing felt close to impossible as his lips kissed the spot he was talking about so damn tenderly it made my eyes water.

“So fucking pretty. It’s like a starburst or a sun. Fucking love it.” His lips lifted off my skin, moving right to where I wanted him, where I was dying to feel him.

With our eyes on each other, his tongue touched my flesh. My eyes almost shut, my head falling back slightly. Fighting the need to close my eyes, I watched while he ate me. Everything around us fading from my vision, only Bryan in my line of sight. The air grew warmer and warmer. A light sheen of sweat formed on the back of my neck and forehead. When two of his thick fingers entered me, I gasped in pleasure, but I didn’t look away from him. As he filled and stretched me, I had no idea where the sounds I was making were coming from. I probably rivaled any porn star. But at that moment, I couldn’t get myself to care. If anything, it turned me on further.

“You like that, baby?” His voice was tight, and all I could do was nod, my legs weak, my breathing off. I wanted him to take me over the edge so I could fly. “Tell me, baby,” he coaxed, drizzling chocolate over my mound.

“Yes. Bryan… fuck. More,” I begged incoherently, my voice raspy with need.

“Shit,” he hissed. “So damn greedy.”

“For you.”

“Fuck, yeah, for me. Mine!” His mouth came down on me, while his fingers worked me in and out, his tongue licking the swollen pearl of nerves. It was too much.

I didn’t fly.

I soared.

BRYAN

He was lying down in his bed, Valerie’s sexy-as-sin body draped over his, and all he could do was breathe in deeply while stroking her hair. After making her come on the counter, he took her, burying his dick so deep inside her that even hours later he could feel her.

After he had made her come two more times, he let himself go then somehow rallied his last shred of energy to carry her back to his bed. She stirred, and he looked down at her. Unable to get sleep, he’d just enjoyed having her in his arms. She kissed the skin above his pec before looking at him.

“Hey,” she breathed in, and he looked at her warmly.

“Hey.”

“You’re not sleeping,” she mumbled sleepily.

“I love you.” The need to tell her those words were completely overpowering. He waited for her to respond, and maybe it was the sleep she was trying to brush away, but she didn’t say a thing. He watched her stare at him and blink, and he kept running his mouth like some kind of love-sick puppy. “I love you. This is new between us. I know that and you know that. We both don’t think we’re good at this stuff, but I need you to know I love you.”

“Okay,” she said slowly, shifting so that they were at eye level and on their sides. “What’s going on in that head of yours, handsome?”

“You’re mine.” Her lips twitched at his announcement.

“Handsome—” She was going to say something smart, but he stopped her.

“You’re my woman. My girlfriend. Whatever the fuck you wanna call it, you are it. Don’t ask me how I know, but I do.”

“Baby—“

“This is the one and only time I will ever bring her up in our bed—“

“Your bed,” she corrected, but he shook his head.

“Our bed. Because whatever the hell I have is yours. That makes it ours,” he told her and kept going. “I didn’t know with her. Not like this. With you, Val, what we have, this is on a whole other level, Blondie. I’m not playing around and I need you to know.”

“Are you trying to state your intentions?”

“Fuck, yeah.” He grinned, kissing her lightly. “My intention is to never let you go.”

“Never, huh?

“Never ever.”

“That’s a little backwards, handsome.” Her eyebrow rose, and he shrugged.

“I know what I want.”

“Well… thank you,” she told him, her face serious, which was not at all the reaction he had been expecting

“Thank you?”

“Yeah. Thank you for letting me know your intentions. I’ll sleep on it and get back to you.” He saw the twinkle in her eyes and knew she was fucking with him.

“Get back to me, huh?”

“Well, a girl always has to see what other offers come in.” Her lips twitched, and he shook his head.

“Other… oh, hell, no.” He pounced on her playfully.

Their laughter rang in the air as he tickled her. She squealed until she called uncle and he stopped.

“I love you. I don’t want you to let go of me, either,” she whispered. He kissed her hard.

“Sleep. We gotta work.”

“I’m not the one doing middle-of-the-night hearts and flowers, Bryan.”

“Shut up.” He chuckled, settling her against his side. His mind clearer than ever as he drifted off to sleep with his world in his arms.