Page 28 of Temporarily in Love

“True. I guess we both grew up a lot since I…since I left.”

“Mmmhmm.”

I kissed the back of her palm and noticed she still wore the Claddagh ring on her right hand. The ring depicted hands holding a heart with a crown on the top. The heart was facing away from her, meaning she was single. When I gave this to her, she wore it facing her to show she was mine.

“You still have this?” I asked as I kissed my way from the back of her palm to her wrist, soothing the spot where I had restrained her.

“I never take it off,” she admitted.

“Oh.”

I wasn’t sure what to do with that information. Why would she never take off the ring I gave her back in high school? Why never speak to me again, but keep that ring?

We lay together in the dark of my bedroom in silence for a couple of moments. I stroked her hair gently while she laid across my chest, like she fit beside me.

“Declan?” she asked.

I kissed her forehead and lifted the comforter over our naked bodies. “Shush, love. Let’s go to bed,” I whispered.

She didn’t fight or struggle against me. Instead, she laid back down, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Chapter Nine

LILA

I should go. I should quietly find my clothes and slip out while Declan was still asleep. But I didn’t want to leave the comfort of his arms. Because he felt like home, and this was exactly why I avoided coming back to Drakesville. I knew if I saw him again, I would never leave. I would’ve let him and this town swallow me up, and I’d never have had the career I have now. Even if I was starting to question that career.

What did I have to show for it? I worked too many hours a week for a tech company that only saw me as a number. I’ve had countless failed relationships and two broken engagements. Chad wasn’t the first person to put a ring on my finger, but it hadn’t worked out the first time, either. The worst part? I didn’t care when it was over. Sure, it hurt, but I hadn’t been heartbroken over it.

Your high school boyfriend wasn’t supposed to be the one. You weren’t supposed to be hung up on him for the last sixteen years of your life. You certainly shouldn’t have slept with him again.

“Love?” Declan whispered in the dark of his bedroom.

“I should go,” I muttered and disentangled myself from his arms, but he flipped me onto my back and held my arms above my head, holding me in place.

“Stay,” he said, but more like commanded it.

I hadn’t expected Declan to be so dominating in bed. It made sense in high school we only ever had vanilla sex, but now, he was like all the fantasies come true. It was exhilarating when he told me to strip for him last night and then tied me to his bed to go at his pace. I had fought against the restraints, but that had been part of the fun.

“Stay,” he repeated, and he nuzzled his face into my neck and kissed me.

I arched up into his touch, straining to escape his grasp, but it was all pretend, because I liked being held down. I wrapped my long legs around his waist and felt his dick harden against me.

“Declan,” I moaned as he sucked on my flesh.

“Can I get you to stay now?”

He cupped my face and stared into my soul. I wanted to go, but I wanted him again. I wanted to be with the only man who had ever made me come again. Even though I’d slip out when he fell asleep, and avoid him for the rest of my life. All those old feelings were bubbling up to the surface, and my heart told me to stay for good, to stay for him. But I couldn’t. That didn’t stop me from giving in to his touch again.

I nodded at his question, and when he kissed me again, my heart sang. It reminded me that no one else ever made me feel like he did. That this man was my soulmate, and he had kept my heart under lock and key since the moment I shredded his all those years ago.

“Hands and knees,” Declan said when he pulled away from the kiss.

I did as he commanded. I would let him do anything he wanted to me tonight. I loved the growly voice he used in bed and how he ordered me around. Declan was a gentleman in the streets but a Dom in the sheets, and I loved it.

He gently pushed my hair off my shoulder and pressed a kiss to it. “You’re mine tonight.”

I nodded, keeping my head facing the bed, while behind me, he ran his hands down my body. He gave my ass a little slap. “You got that, love?”