A Place Without You

I jerk my hips, sensitive to his touch after my orgasm.

“Please … tell me.” He slides a finger partway inside of me then pulls it out and spreads my arousal all around.

I’m a lot of things, but tonight I’m not his savior.

“Get a condom,” I whisper in his ear.

“Henna …” He says my name like the most desperate plea.

I reach for his jeans. He brings his body up so he’s hovering over me, both of us watching my shaky hands unfasten his jeans. When they’re fully unfastened, I flit my gaze to his. He parts his lips, letting his tongue make a lazy swipe over his lower lip. We say things in this one look that don’t require words.

My fingers push the elastic band of his briefs down just enough to expose the swollen head of his erection. His eyes flare, watching me, breathless, with every muscle in his body flexed and hard as steel with anticipation.

“More,” he says on a jagged breath.

I ease the black material down the rest of the way, completely releasing him. Our eyes meet again—his glazed over, mine slightly widened.

“Fuck,” he seethes as I wrap my hand around him.

I’m so inexplicably fascinated by his reaction to me touching him, and I’m surprisingly comfortable with it as well.

Henna and Bodhi …

It’s like my body knows that he’s mine to touch. My nerves dissolve into a confidence that I can’t explain. I slide my fisted hand up his full length, watching his facial reaction the whole time. He’s mine. Even if he doesn’t really know it yet—he’s mine.

After a few more slow strokes, he stands on his knees between my spread legs, shrugs off his shirt and rids me of the rest of my clothes. Sliding out of his briefs and jeans, he rolls on a condom and kneels between my legs again. He grabs under my knees, pulling my pelvis and my whole body toward him. I hold myself there as he guides his cock between my folds, sliding it up to tease my clit before sliding it back to my entrance.

He does this over and over, stopping every so many times to press just the head of it into me an inch or so.

“Henna?” He continues to stimulate me with his full length, adding his thumb to circle my clit when he presses into me an inch or so.

My lips part to let out ragged breaths that come faster as the heaviness grows again between my legs. “Huh?” I lift my hips higher, approaching another release.

God … he feels so good. I close my eyes.

“Henna?”

I force them open, teetering on the edge of my orgasm.

“Look at me, baby.”

I look at him. All the pain and worry have been replaced with something else.

“Henna Eve Lane …” He inches into me a little more.

My breath catches.

He pulls back out, leaving just the head of his cock kissing my entrance. “I love you.”

Tears sting my eyes.

“No matter where I am on this earth, I’m loving you … forever.” His thumb circles my clit faster and my hips buck. He slows his circles when I come undone, a deep pulse spreading in all directions like the Mediterranean painting the shores of Italy. “Bodhi and Henna …” he says while grabbing my hips and plunging all the way into me.

“Fuck—”

He covers my mouth with his hand and stills himself, buried completely inside of me. He bends down, ghosting his lips over my ear. “Thank you,” he whispers.

Tears run down my face, but not just from the pain of him inside of me. I cry because he knows that I gave it to him—not to Warren, not to Leo, and not to a hundred other opportunities before him.

“Forever,” he says over and over as he kisses the tears from my cheeks and slowly begins to move inside of me.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Bodhi

She’s everything I can never be. It’s all I think as I watch her sleep. She’s also Hell, and taming Hell is a job for the Devil. Right now, I feel like the Devil—stealer of innocence, breaker of rules, keeper of lies.

“Bodhi …” She stretches her arms above her head, arching her back.

I remain on my side, propped up on my bent elbow, admiring the way the early morning light dances along her fair skin.

Henna’s blue eyes flutter open, making her look ethereal with her red hair fanned out around her on my white sheets. I grin, fighting with the guilt I feel for not feeling more guilt over what happened last night.

“Good morning.” I press a featherlight kiss to her lips.

She smiles and it chases away all the misplaced guilt. I do believe we are meant to be … something. I just feel bad for her that she’s destined to experience this part of life with me. As long as I’m tethered to my own unfortunate fate, I can never give her the life she deserves.

And Henna deserves everything.

“I love you, Bodhi Kaden Malone.”

I grin, a really damn big one. It takes superhuman force to not jump on the bed and bang my chest. This girl in this moment is mine, and I’m over the fucking moon about it. I don’t know if I’ll have a job on Monday, or if she will hate me tomorrow, but right now … we are perfection.

Bodhi and Henna.

“Say something.” She bites her lip, concealing her grin as she pulls the sheet up to cover her breasts. “Don’t just stare at me with that cocky grin, looking all perfectly messy and utterly intoxicating this morning.”

My grin intensifies as my fingers brush away a few strands of hair from her face.

“Seriously … Say. Something. I haven’t woken up in a guy’s bed before. I don’t know what the protocol is. Do I get dressed and leave? Should I not have stayed? Do we have sex again?”

“I love you.” Pulling her into my arms, I bring our naked bodies flush. She nuzzles her face in my neck and slides a leg between mine.

“I won’t let you get fired.”

“Shh …” I kiss her head, tickling her back with my fingertips. “We’ll deal with your guidance counselor later. He’s kind of a dick anyway. Today we’re—”

“Henna and Bodhi.” She giggles.

“Yeah.”

“Was it …” She pulls back just enough to see my face. “Good? Last night?” Worry wrinkles her nose. “I mean, I just sort of lay there while you um … did your thing. Because it um …”

“Hurt?”

Rolling her lips between her teeth, she nods.

“I’m sorry. Was I too rough? I tried not to be, but it’s also really hard to go slow at a certain point.”

“No. It’s …” She shakes her head.

I love that my untamed Hell has fire in her cheeks, that our intimacy makes her blush. I love how a woman who could rule the world surrenders her confidence to me—trusts me with her complete vulnerability.

“I’m worried you didn’t enjoy it.”

I exhale a laugh, eyes widening. “Henna, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“But I do. I just laid there trying not to grimace. In my mind, I was so turned on by what we were doing. You inside of me. Us. But my body refused to cooperate. I just watched the clock, counting down the minutes until it was over. That’s not sexy, Bodhi. It’s like having sex with a corpse.”

Rolling onto my back, I chuckle, covering my eyes with my forearm. “I haven’t had sex with a corpse, so I can’t confirm or deny anything, but I’m inclined to say it was not at all like that.”

She rests her head on my chest, tracing the outline of my abs. “Well, you were incredible. Dare I say the best I’ve ever had?”

I laugh, smoothing my hand over her hair. After a few moments of silence, I ask the question. “What happened with Warren?”

Turning her head, she drops light kisses to my chest before peering up through her long eyelashes at me. “I said no.”

“You said no …” My mind plays with the meaning behind her words. “Did he ask?”

She rolls her chin against my chest, side to side. “Not exactly. It just sort of naturally went in that direction.”

I hate hearing this, but not knowing will eat me alive. “How far, Henna?”

On a slow blink, she returns her gaze to my chest. “Pretty far.”

My stomach tightens, and I have to remind myself that I pushed her away. “But he stopped the second you said no?”

She nods, regret pulling at her brow.

“Then that’s all that matters.”

Henna scoots up, lining her body on top of mine, grinning when she feels my uncontrollable dick stiffen beneath her. “That’s all that matters?” Her face hovers over mine, canted a fraction to the side.

“Yep.”

She shakes her head. “That’s Mr. Malone talking. My Bodhi would need to know every detail.”

“Then your Bodhi is an idiot.”

“Careful … call him names like that and you’ll have me to deal with.”

I smile. “Oh, Henna … I thoroughly enjoy dealing with you.” My hands slide down her naked body, palming her ass.

She wrinkles her nose, giving me another head shake. “No dealing with me today. Too many parts of my body have been dealt with a little too much in the past twenty-four hours. I’m going home to shower, numb the pain with a tasty snack, and binge-watch Riverdale while wolfing down a bag of chips.”