"Hurry."
He's gone for ten seconds, long enough for me to draw in some deep breaths. He rolls the condom on and lines himself up, watching my face the entire time.
"You sure?"
For one suspended second, every reason I've ever told myselfnolines up neatly in my head like soldiers waiting for orders.
The voice that lives in the back of my brain whispersdon't be stupid, Zoey, you know how this ends.
But there's another voice too. The one I've been smothering for eight years under aprons and school drop-offs and 4 AM alarms.
The one that wants this.
The one that wantshim.
He doesn't rush me. He just waits, propped above me, his thumb stroking a slow, patient circle against my hip like he has all the time in the world. Like he'd wait all night if I needed him to.
And maybe that's the thing that breaks it open… that he's lettingmedecide. That this isn't a man trying to talk me into something. This is a man asking permission to give me something I've been starving for.
I'm scared. God, I'm so scared.
But maybe that's okay.
I lift my hand to his face, brush my thumb along his stubble, and nod.
"Yes."
And when he sinks into me, slow and deep andfull, the sound that comes out of me, for the first time inyears—
It'sreal.
It bounces off the high ceilings of his apartment and fills every empty corner, and Colt groans against my throat like that sound just took ten years off his life.
"Fuck, baby. Yes, that's it. Let me hear you."
He moves slow at first, watching me carefully. Adjusting his hips, his angle, his rhythm, until he finds the place that makes my eyes flutter closed and my nails dig into his back.
"There?"
"Yes.There."
He staysrightthere, and the heat builds. I hear myself for the first time in years, and the sounds I make grow stronger.
Colt is whispering things into my hair that I will replay for the rest of my life.
You feel so good. You're so beautiful. I've got you. Let go, baby. Let go for me.
And when he reaches for my clit and circles it, driving deeper into me at the same time, Idolet go. He follows me a few strokes later, groaning into my neck, his whole body trembling against mine as he roars a deep grunt that makes my body shiver.
For a long minute, he's heavy on me, in the best way. Eventually, he eases out of me, deals with the condom, and pulls me against his chest on the sofa, dragging the throw over us.
His finger traces a slow line up my arm.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." I clear my throat and smile up at him. "That was…yeah."
But I can feel him noticing. The way I held back at the end. The way my sounds caught even when my body was clearly trying to let go. The way I stopped him on his knees when he was saying how badly he wanted me.
