I trace my fingers along her collarbone, watching goosebumps rise on her skin. “But I also thought about other things.” My voice drops lower. “Like how I’d bend you over every surface in the house. How I’d fuck you until you couldn’t remember your own name, just mine.”
Her breath catches, nipples hardening against my chest.
“I’d think about how you’d taste on my tongue,” I continue, my hand sliding down to cup her breast, thumb circling her sensitive peak. “How you’d sound when you came for me. How tight and wet you’d be when I finally got inside you.” I lean closer, my lips caressing her ear. “And now I know, and it’s even better than I imagined. Next time, I’m going to take you from behind so I can watch that perfect ass bounce against me while I make you scream.”
She shivers against me, her pupils dilating as she presses her thighs together. “Rowan...”
“Too much?”
She shakes her head quickly. “No. I kind of love it when you talk to me like that.” Her fingers trace the outline of my jaw. “It makes me feel…wanted.”
“You are wanted,” I growl, rolling her beneath me again. “I need you in ways I don’t know how to describe. Icraveyou, Violet. Every part of you.”
Her hands slide up my chest, then wrap around my neck, pulling me down for a kiss that’s both tender and hungry. Her heart races against mine.
When we break apart, her eyes are serious and search mine. “I need to ask you something.”
I tuck her hair back from her face. “Anything.”
“The job…” She hesitates, biting her lower lip. “Are you going to take more assignments like that one?”
The question hangs between us, heavy with everything we haven’t said. I take a deep breath, knowing my answer matters more than she’s letting on.
“No,” I say firmly.
Relief floods her face. “Really?”
“Really,” I say, dragging my thumb across her cheek. “That month away from you nearly destroyed me. I’m not doing that again.”
Her eyes shine, soft and a little watery. “Okay,” she whispers. “Okay.”
I lean in, pressing a kiss to the center of her forehead, then one to her lips in a way that seals my love for her. “Let me run you a bath.”
She gives me a real smile then, and for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I’m taking something I don’t deserve.
thirty
. . .
Violet
The morning sun filters through Rowan’s bedroom curtains, casting golden stripes across the crumpled sheets. His scent clings to the pillow beside me. I burrow into it, eyes closed, heart too full for my chest.
I feel him everywhere. Not just in my body, which is somehow both sore and aching for more, but in the echo of his hands, the way he looked at me like I was something sacred. Like he’d been starving for years and was finally allowed a taste, only to pull back before he could lose control.
Because he did pull back. Eventually.
We kissed, talked, touched, but when I tried to pull him in again later, he just tucked the blanket around me tighter and kissed my forehead.
“We’ve got time, baby,”he whispered.
It was sweet. Kind. Thoughtful.
And so verynotwhat I wanted. I think it put him at ease, protecting me instead of pushing a boundary I never set. He kissed my shoulder, whispered something about how he didn’t want to hurt me, how he wanted to make sure I was okay. I nodded, even though what I really wanted to say wasI want to beruined a little, Rowan. I want to feel you tomorrow, and the next day, and the one after that.
I let him play the gentleman. Let him hold me like I was precious and breakable. Let him sleep with his arm draped over my waist and his breath warm against the back of my neck.
I think he needed that. Maybe I did, too.
