Page 54 of Hot Under the Collar

“And this.” His tongue delivered one delicious, wide, flat lick from the bottom to the top of her slit. “There isn’t anything I love more than making you come.”

She arched up as his tongue stroked her clit. Rhythmic, relentless, and filling her with heat. His hands dragged from her ribcage down to her belly as her hips writhed, pinned between the tussled bedsheet and his inviting mouth.

“Fuck,” she whimpered. “Leo. I—” Her hand reached down and gripped his hair, her hips bucking a little against his face. She wanted his name to be the only word she said the rest of the day. “If you keep doing that, I’m gonna come.”

He lifted his head, and for a moment their eyes locked. His hands reached for hers and their fingers laced together and rested against her hips. A devious grin spread across his face, and his voice lowered. “Then come for me, Lynne.”

He bent his head so his tongue could work her clit, slow at first, then faster. Her thighs hugged his head as she tried to control the quiver. Her pulse climbed and her hands gripped tighter around his, until she was seeing stars. When she came, she cried out and babbled his name at the ceiling as she came back down from the high.

He paused to let her catch her breath, but when their eyes met, and she could tell he was far from done with her.

“Come here,” he said.

He repositioned them so he was seated on the edge of the bed, her on his lap, all her limbs wrapped around him in a hug. “Tell me to stop if you need to.”

His cock throbbed against her belly, and although he’d just sent her over the edge, the feel of his body pressed against hers—so close there was nowhere to hide—just made her want more.

“Don’t hold back,” she whispered. “You’re exactly what I want.”

She lifted her hips and guided Leo inside her. His breath caught, his hands tightening on her hips before they slid up her spine. He exhaled deeply as she combed her fingers through his hair.

“Still think we’re not a team?” she asked, biting at his lower lip and rocking her hips in a slow, tortuous motion.

“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you? Careful. I can still flip you over.”

“Mmm,” she said, grinding until she felt him shudder beneath her. “I love when you take control.”

He buried his face in her neck and gripped her ass, speeding them up and slowing them down as he pleased. And she let him, that hot breath against her neck sending her into a tizzy all over again. “Fuck,” she whispered.

“God, Lynne … you feel so fucking good right now. So perfect.” He lifted his brown eyes to hers, and his gaze softened—not with hunger but something steadier. “I want every morning to be like this. And every night,” he said quietly. “I don’t ever want to lose you again.”

“I’m yours, Leo,” she repeated against his cheek. “For good this time.”

When the world finally narrowed to breath and heat and the way he said her name, she clung to him, riding it out until they both went still in each other’s arms.

For once, nothing crashed in behind it. No alarms. No bad news. Just the steady thump of his heart against hers and the soft weight of his hands at her back.

Maybe timing hadn’t been on their side before. But this—this she was choosing. She let herself feel all of it. The love, the want, the terrifying relief of being known. And she didn’t long for an escape route.

She was done pretending Leo March was anything less than home.

24

Leo (Now)

Leo kissed Lynne goodbye at her front door and made his way down the alley toward his apartment. The sun was fully out, air crisp, and a smile was plastered to his face. He balanced a cardboard box on his hip, the keys to his apartment warming in his palm, as he unlocked the back door of his apartment building. This hallway had felt like home for so many years. Today, it felt like a place he’d already halfway left.

Mike knew he was coming to pick up some of his stuff, knew what had unfolded between him and Lynne the past couple weeks—because they’d talked. But when Leo arrived, Mike was mid-brood in the living room, TV on mute, half-unpacked boxes all around him. He lifted his gaze from a stack of mail piled on the coffee table that he’d been flipping through and sorting.

“Hey, Mike.”

“Hey, man. Come on in. Sorry. I didn’t mean to still be in the middle of this mess when you got here. But I ended up dozing off in the middle of things. I’m a terrible roommate.”

Leo chuckled. “Not nearly as bad as Fred. At least the front door’s still on its hinge.”

“That’s a low bar,” Mike quipped. “But I’ll take it. I’m glad you can see the bright side of all this. How’s Fred doing, by the way?”

“Pretty sure he thinks he owns 51 percent of Lynne’s couch and 55 percent of the bed. But he’s had no desire to escape, which is saying something. He seems content there, near Mama and the kittens. Something about all this has settled him.” Leo sighed and glanced around the apartment, glad he wasn’t moving back into the mess with Mike. But he was also a little worried Mike was literally trying to bury himself. He fidgeted. “Is that one mine?” Leo asked, pointing at the medium-sized stack of mail in the middle of the piles.