Chapter 18

Elizabeth

I woke the next morning tucked against someone. Fear raced through me that I'd gotten completely drunk and let Parks take me to bed, but then I realized the color of the sheets beneath me. Aiden. I stiffened in the bed, trying like hell to remember the night before, and only getting quick glimpses of Parks dancing with me sensually.

"Fuck," I whispered, hating myself. I might have been mad at Aiden, but cheating on him wasn't part of the deal. Was it cheating if we weren't really together?

"You awake?" His lips brushed by the back of my shoulder, and I realized that I was naked.

"Yes. What happened?" I turned onto my back and pulled the cover up as I looked over at him. My heart melted in my chest and tears filled my eyes at the dark circles under his eyes, coupled with the worried look on his devastatingly handsome face.

"You got sick, so I held you over the toilet. Your clothes are probably dry by now." He moved up beside me and lifted to his elbow, which caused the sheet to slide from his chest and leave his upper body on display.

Desire shot through me and I reached out, rubbing my hand up his arm to his shoulder. "Thank you. I'm so sorry. I think I danced with Parks. I was so drunk."

"Shh... it's okay. It was my fault." He leaned over and brushed his lips against mine tentatively.

Gratefulness that he was willing to care for me after what I'd done drove me to press into the kiss. I pulled at his neck and he moved to rest on top of me, the sheet getting stuck between us.

"Take it easy, Elizabeth. I've been watching you all night, and it's not going to take much to have me starving for your touch." He pressed his nose to the side of my neck and breathed in deeply.

"Oh God." I arched my back and tugged at the covers. "Get under here. I need to feel you against me so fucking bad."

He moved the covers, giving me a glimpse of his rock-hard erection. I reached down and stroked it as he growled softly at me.

"Woman. I'm serious. Take it easy. I know you're not feeling well." He settled down on top of me, and I closed my eyes as tears burned my vision. It felt like heaven to have him against me.

Fear wrapped around me so tightly that I couldn't breathe. I would have him for an hour or two, and then he would belong to the world he lived in and not me anymore. I would be a burden, a hindrance, until it was time to make love again.

"I can't do this," I whispered as a sob bubbled up inside of me.

He stroked my hair back and placed soft kisses all over my face before brushing his nose along mine. I opened my eyes to find his deep blue eyes filled with tears too.

"I can't either. Let's not do this anymore." He kissed me softly, and I expected him to move, but instead, he pressed into me as I gripped the sheets and let out a cry from the pleasure that swelled in my stomach. "Let's not pretend that we're not in love with each other, Lizzy. Let's let down our guard and fall so far that we can't imagine breathing if something were to happen to the other."

I cried out as he pressed in farther. His hands tightened around my face and he licked at my mouth before kissing me a few times and starting to pump in and out of me. I reached up and gripped him as if I might lose him.

"I want to be on top," I whispered, and he rolled us over, never losing contact.

I sat up and pressed back to take him fully inside me, and it was his turn to cry out. I pressed my hands to his strong chest and rocked against him as I whimpered due to his size.

He reached up and palmed my breasts, squeezing and massaging them as his eyes bore into mine.

"I love you. I've fallen so far in love with you that it scares me. Tell me that I'm not alone. I don't want to be alone anymore. Tell me that you feel the same." His hand brushed my cheek, and he pulled me down to lay flush against him as his other hand squeezed my ass tightly. "Tell me."

I nodded, and wrapped my arms around his neck as we continued to give and take from one another. "I love you too. So much that it hurts sometimes."

He nodded and closed his eyes, lifting his hips and working me from underneath as he groaned in pleasure with each thrust.

His words opened up a part of me that I didn't realize existed. I wanted forever with him, and even though it had started out as something so far from good and wholesome, it was turning into all those things now. My pain would dissipate the more I began to believe his desires were true.

"Hold on, baby. I'm going to get up and put on a condom." He kissed me once more and rolled us back over, working me for a few more minutes before getting up and walking to his nightstand.

"Aiden. What about tomorrow when we're back at work? Will you still love me then?" I knew I sounded needy and maybe a little pathetic, but I didn't care. I needed to know. If he was only willing to love me behind closed doors, then I needed to gather my things and leave. My heart couldn't handle us not truly being together. It was wrecking the parts of my life that mattered most.

"Yes. Forever." He rolled the condom on and walked back toward me as I let my eyes run along him. A soft moan left my lips as he pushed at my shoulder and curled in behind me, spooning me tightly. "I'm not telling you that it's going to be easy, but I don't care. If one of us has to leave the hospital, then I'll go."

He gripped my hip and impaled me with a loud groan. I reached up and grabbed the headboard, far too out of breath to tell him that I would go. He'd been there for the last ten years. I would take one for the team and do my residency elsewhere.

"I need to release all of this shit I've been building up inside of me for the last three weeks. Tell me you can take it." He shifted a little and half lay on top of me, forcing me more onto my stomach as he pressed in so deeply that it almost hurt.

"I want it." I gripped the bed tightly as he thanked me, and started to fuck me fast and hard, his body opening mine up as if it were his to command. I came so hard that tears filled my eyes, and he followed me quickly, rocking himself against me until he collapsed and wrapped me in a tight hold.

"I love you. So much, Elizabeth. Tell Parks and every other man in the world to fuck off. You're mine. We don't need to figure out what that means, but we do need to work through the details."

I nodded and wiped at my tears. "I love you too. I need to get into the hospital soon. My boss has been a dick lately, and I don't want to upset him."

He chuckled low in his chest. "Your boss says that you're at work already. Today's going to be a test in longevity. You up for it?"

I smirked and pushed him back before crawling out of the bed and grabbing the rest of the condoms. I tossed them at him and pulled my hair up before cracking my neck and walking back to the bed.

"Get another one of those on. I've always wanted to try reverse cowgirl." I crawled onto the bed as his eyes widened slightly.

"You play mentor then. Just promise to make me your mentee." He reached for me, pulling me down and wrapping his arms and legs around me as we rolled to a comfortable spot on the bed. "Forgive me for all of this. I wanted your heart, not your body or your time. That all would have come along with it if I hadn't twisted your offer. I'm sorry."

I brushed my hand down his face and took a deep breath. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I offered you me. My heart wasn't part of the deal, but like most cocky doctors... you just assumed it was all yours."

He laughed and squeezed my ass before tucking his face against my neck. "And I want it all, but can we start with the reverse cowgirl stuff first?"

I laughed and swatted at him. "Anything you want."

"There's my girl. Get up here and remind me why I'm going to shower you in everything I have for the rest of our lives." He gripped my hips tightly as I moved up to straddle him.

"Because my ass is cute?" I glanced over my shoulder to watch him put on a new condom.

"Because you're everything I want, and far more than I deserve." He pulled me back to take him in. "I'll always be right here behind you, supporting you, loving you, needing you."

"And fucking me?" I rocked my hips as he sat up and moved his fingers to play between my thighs as the world lit on fire.

"Always fucking you. Every time you let me." He kissed my neck as I closed my eyes and lost myself in the feeling of his touch.

There wouldn't be an every time, but an any time. I was his, and he could have anything he wanted. Whenever he wanted it. Wherever he wanted it.

He was my future, and I was fully invested.