Page 42 of Play Dirty

I could feel it all; the change in her breathing, the way she curled tighter against me, like she was holding onto something she wasn’t ready to let go. Neither was I, but it didn’t matter. Our hands kept moving together, inside what felt like a tiny satin thong. My fingers glided in and out of her; slowly, carefully, paying close attention to her cues.

Her breathing changed again. It grew rapid now, even desperate. Then her body shifted, and the tension building beneath my palm became even more palpable. I adjusted without thinking, following instinct, following her. She guided me even deeper, pressing a third finger downward…

That’s when she broke.

Not all at once, but just enough.

Haven inhaled sharply, letting loose a quiet sound she couldn’t manage to hold back. Her hand slid up my arm, gripping now — no hesitation left in it — her entire body tightening in a way that made me tighten with it.

“Sebastian—”

That was it. That was the moment.

Everything else fell away.

Haven let out a low, guttural cry of absolute pleasure. Then she flooded my fingers, contracting around them as her own hand locked mine firmly in place.

I held steady, maintaining the pressure as she bucked and writhed into my warm, wet palm. I focused on her pursed lips, and the sound escaping between them. The noises she was making were legendary. I wanted to remember every one of them.

I held her throughout it; I didn’t move, I didn’t speak. I just lay there, enjoying the changing expressions on her pretty face, as she rolled through wave after wave of her beautiful climax.

Eventually, the tension eased and she sagged against me. All the fight had gone out of her, in the best possible way.

For long minutes, neither of us said anything. Our breathing slowed, and the room felt quieter again. Haven melted into me, her weight settling like she trusted me with every part of her world. I wrapped my arms around her again, and looked out the window at the softly sweeping snow.

The hand holding my arm had loosened, sliding slowly downward until it rested against my chest. I reached down and pulled the blankets higher around us, tucking her in as her eyes remained glazed.

She was safe. Warm.

Mine.

I shut that last thought down quickly, before it went any further. But it didn’t matter. I didn’t want to think about that, now. I only wanted to hold her through the slowly moving storm.

Inside, everything felt gratefully still. And for the first time since walking into this house?

I didn’t feel like I was on the outside of something.

Haven was already sleeping, her body rising and falling with slow, even breaths. She barely stirred as I screwed my arms even tighter around her soft, feminine body.

And I stayed there, happily.

Until sleep pulled me under, too.

~ 16 ~

HAVEN

I’d finally found a seat at the table, so to speak. Sure, I was wedged into the last available inch of space between Caleb’s elbow and the wall, but hey, I was still there.

And that’s because I’d made it that way.

“I’m not standing,” I’d said again, earlier, when no one moved.

No one argued. No one made room for me, either.

And so I’d made my own.

I sat square shouldered, cradling my coffee like I belonged. Like I hadn’t spent the night somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be.