Page 76 of The Penalty

“Oh my god,” she moans as I stretch her, curling my fingers up and thrusting against the spot I know she needs. Her legs shake on either side of my head until I feel her muscles spasm around my fingers and she comes.

She’s so damn beautiful when she comes.

Once she rides out her orgasm, I remove my fingers and smile at her from between her legs. I love this view of her. Her flushed cheeks, her hard nipples, her chest moving up and down as she catches her breath. She’s a walking wet dream, and she’s all mine.

I climb over her body, wasting no time sliding my cock inside her. She wraps her legs around me and claws at my back and shoulders as I thrust into her over and over again. Our kisses are sloppy, but I couldn’t care less. I love it when we’re like this. The passion takes over so our bodies can just connect.

My orgasm hits me fast and hard and way before I’m ready, but I’m too far gone to stop it. I go still inside her as I fill her with my cum.

I kiss her gently before I slide out and lay next to her.

“Hey,” I say a little awkwardly.

But she turns her head towards me and smiles. “Hi.”

“I didn’t mean to pounce on you like that. I just saw you and. . . I don’t know. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“It’s ok. I like it when you’re like that.”

“Good, because I don’t see that changing any time soon.”

My feelings for McKenzie continue to grow, and while I try to tell myself that nothing good can come from what we’ve been doing, I know I’m in love with her.

I’m also not an idiot. I know it’s not a good look for a man my age to be with a woman her age. I know we can’t go public until she’s no longer a student. That’s if she even wants to go public with me. McKenzie is young. She has her whole life ahead of her. I’ve already lived almost half of my life. As much as I want her to be mine forever, I know there’s a good chance she’ll realize that she should be with someone her own age.

But I’m a selfish bastard, so until she kicks me to the curb, I’m keeping her as close to me as I can. She has my heart, even if she doesn’t know it yet. She has my heart, even if she doesn’t want it.

McKenzie’s stomach growls, pulling me out of my love-sick thoughts. “Let’s order room service.”

“We can do that?” she asks.

“What do you mean? Of course, we can do that. You’re hungry, and I’m not letting you out of this room tonight.”

“I’ve never ordered room service before,” she admits. “They don’t have that at the hotels I usually stay at.”

She says it in a joking tone, but it still doesn’t sit right with me. I know we had vastly different childhoods. Even when I became a teen dad, I still had my family’s support. I never went without. McKenzie has been through so much and has become the person she is because of it. But now that I’m in her life, I want to spoil the hell out of her because I can. Because she deserves it. If that means ordering her everything from the room service menu at the nicest hotel she’s ever stayed at, then so be it.

I grab the menu off the side table and call in our order, then flip through channels to watch the New Year’s countdowns all across the world.

We eat, drink champagne, and play cards while we watch the countdown. It’s honestly the perfect evening. There is nowhere else I’d rather be than right here with her.

As the clock counts down to midnight, I lay beside her in bed. I tuck her hair behind her ear as we count down from ten. When the TV announcer says, “One,” I whisper, “Happy New Year’s, baby,” before I kiss her gently. When I pull back up and look into her eyes, the words tumble out of my mouth before I can think twice. “I love you, McKenzie.”

Her eyes go wide. “What?”

“I’m in love with you,” I say again as I watch the smile form on her perfect lips.

“You love me?” she asks.

“So much,” I confirm.

“I love you, too.”

I didn’t realize how badly I wanted to hear her say that until the words came out of her mouth. I pull her on top of me. She’s got tears in her eyes as I slide inside her. At this moment, it feels like everything is right in the world.

“Are you sure you want me to come to this?” McKenzie asks for the tenth time since the game ended this afternoon.

My parents planned a late-night dinner for me and Kylie, but Kylie invited McKenzie to come, too, and I thought it was a great idea. I want her to meet my family, even if it isn’t in the capacity that I wish it was.