Page 128 of My Unfinished Heart

He keeps going, though. “No one will ever understand you like I do. No one could possibly want you more. But if you need a couple more years to figure that out all by yourself, then fine. I’ll still be young.”

I take him by the shoulders, more moved than I’ve ever been by anything he’s said—and he’s said some pretty awesome things to me. “Whoa—cool off, all right? I’m not that old. And I definitely don’t need a couple more years to know what I’ve got here, okay? I know. I get it.”

“Then stop trying to protect me from who you are. I can handle it. I know you better than you think I do.”

“Do you? How?”

He narrows his eyes and closes his lips, like there’s some universal mystery he’s hell-bent on keeping from me. The shine in his eyes tortures me. Ever the more fascinating…

Right now, his love for me is almost suffocating in its pure ferocity. It heats my blood and arouses me in a way I can’t really explain because there’s no precedent for it. Nothing else compares.

“Explain it to me later then,” I say in the breath I take before I pull him up against me and grab his face in my hands. My mouth lands hard on his, and his response is immediate and overwhelming. His lips give way, and his tongue meets mine with all the passion he just poured into his words.

I lift him and put him on the counter, having better luck with the buttons on his shirt this time. He shucks his pants while I shove the shirt off his shoulders. “You’re so fucking beautiful.” I pull his cock from the slit in his boxer briefs and lower myself to take it into my mouth.

His head bangs against the cabinet as he shoves his hand into my hair, getting a good grip as I suck him and he thrusts.

“Archer—no,” he whimpers.

Devastation plows through my chest. I let him go and press my head against his abs. He yanks at my hair.

“I don’t want to feel good when you’re hurting. Let me be with you. Take me with you.”

I understand he’s not asking to go to the Four Seasons. “I need you,” I whisper against his skin. “I need you so fucking much.”

“I need you, too. All of you.”

I drag my mouth up his chest, pushing his underwear down. He scoots his ass to the edge of the counter, and I slide two fingers past his lips. He sucks on them as we stare into each other’s eyes. With my other hand, I pull his briefs off his legs and fling them behind me.

“Lube,” I say softly, as in there’s none on the kitchen counter.

He sucks himself off my fingers and says, “Go get it. I’ll get myself ready.”

I groan, my mouth taking his again in a heated, messy kiss. His hand snakes between us. He lets out a soft grunt when he penetrates himself.

“Let’s go to bed.”

“No. I want you right here. I don’t even want lube, but if you insist…I’ll wait.”

I glance down to watch as his fingers glide smoothly in and out of his hole. I open my pants, freeing my fiercely hard erection. He takes my hand and spits into it, a decent amount. I add my own and coat my cock with it. It’s barely enough, but it is enough.

“This is what you want?”

“Yes. Now.”

He moves his hand out of the way, and I poise myself at his entrance, kissing him as I shove my cock inside. He grunts, the sound coming from deep in his chest. He got himself wet enough that I’m able to move. To fuck him. With his ass in my tight grip, I punch through all the pain, all the memories, all the fear, and hope he doesn’t feel too much of it. He doesn’t deserve it.

“Touch yourself.”

He murmurs a refusal with a small shake of his head.

“Please, angel. Come for me. Show me it’s okay what I’m doing to you.”

“Archer, Jesus.” He grabs the back of my neck and hauls my mouth to his for a long, deep kiss. When he ends it, he says, “Tell me I feel good.”

“You feel so fucking good. There’s no one for me if there isn’t you. Please touch yourself.”

“I love you so much.”