Page 82

“Is this okay?” she asked quietly, hesitating in the door for a beat.

I scoffed and reached for her hand, careful not to yank her right off her feet as I pulled her into the cubicle with me. “I thought you were joking, but I’m definitely not mad that you weren’t.”

A shy, sweet kind of smile played at the corners of her lips, but she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her body right up against my chest. “Are you sure? It kind of looked like you were brooding in here. I can leave you to do it in peace.”

My hands slid to her hips and I flexed my fingers on them, holding her in place as I stared down into those blue-green-gold eyes and tried to figure out what to do here. I’d never even been in a serious relationship before, much less married, so while my body had a metric fuck-ton of ideas of what we could do with the naked, gorgeous girl in the shower, my mind was slightly more hesitant.

“Don’t leave,” I finally murmured. That seemed like a good place to start no matter where this led. “I’m sorry about the library, Alicia. I’m sorry that my family’s troubles have become yours.”

She scraped her fingernails lightly against the back of my neck as she pushed her hands into my hair. “That’s generally what happens when you marry someone, so I knew what I was signing up for. Your family is mine now too. We have the same troubles, but we also share the same joys. Despite everything else, I liked spending time with Deja yesterday.”

I groaned and lowered my forehead to hers. “If we’re going to keep talking about Deja or anyone else, I’m going to need you to stop doing that with your nails.”

A slight smirk appeared on her lips as she scraped them with a little more intention across my scalp this time. “What, that?”

I tightened my grip on her hips. “Yeah. That.”

“Oh.” She did it again, watching closely when I felt my lips part without any sort of conscious thought going into it. “You like that, do you?”

“When it’s you doing it, and you’re naked, and wet, then yes. I’d like pretty much anything you do.”

While I’d been trying very hard to keep it at bay, I was suddenly extremely aware of how soft she was against me, her front pressed so tight to mine that little dams of water were forming between us. Inhaling a deep breath, I slid my hands from her hips to her ass, tempted to smack it, but I wouldn’t take it quite that far yet.

Meanwhile, her eyes were still on my face, searching or perhaps only observing what she was doing to me. I wasn’t sure, but when I saw her pupils dilate as I squeezed her butt, it was game over.

I brought one hand to her chin and gently lifted it until her head was tilted. I claimed her mouth for a kiss that burned straight through the bullshit. No matter what else might be true at this point, I cared about this woman. I had genuine, deep feelings for her. I hadn’t told her yet, but that hardly mattered. Right now, she was the balm I needed. While I didn’t know if that was why she’d gotten into this shower with me, I was desperately grateful she was here.

Even more grateful when she kissed me back, evidently not caring about the bullshit, the noise, or everything we still had to talk about. It was only the two of us in this shower right now, and for as long as that was true, we got to just be us.

Suddenly, I pushed her up against the wall and kissed her deeper, leaning into her soft, tiny frame and groaning when she gasped into my mouth. Fuck, I love the sounds she makes. I love how surprised she always seems that she turns me on the way she does. I love…

Shit. I cut off the train of thought when it started going in a whole other direction, focusing instead on running my palm up her side until I was cupping one of her breasts. She moaned into my mouth, arching into me like she honestly thought she had to encourage me to touch her. I almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of that notion. We’d barely even touched each other and my cock was already painfully hard, eagerly awaiting further instruction. Every time she even looked at me a certain type of way, it sat up like a damn puppy, willing to beg for her attention.

As I stroked my tongue into her mouth again, I kept a tight hold on her hip, the thumb of my other hand flicking her nipple. I felt her knees buckle, almost losing it when I heard her sharp intake of breath as I did it again.

“Let’s wash up,” I murmured between kisses. “Then I’m taking you to bed.”

“Now?” she asked hoarsely, her eyes flying open to look into mine. “You want to wash up now?”

“How am I supposed to make love to you when I still smell like a donkey?”

My heart smacked into my ribs when I realized what I’d just said, Alicia’s widening eyes telling me she hadn’t missed it either, but neither of us mentioned it. Instead, I eased away from her and squeezed a generous dollop of shower gel into my palm. I lathered up every inch of her and quickly washed myself when I was done.

She watched every move I made, her breathing shallow and her cheeks flushed as I made sure we were both rinsed off. As soon as we stepped out of the shower, she threw her arms around my neck and I picked her up, still dripping wet, and carried her to bed, my mouth sealing over hers once more.

She held on tight, her ankles hooking together at the base of my spine, and she didn’t even squeal or laugh this time. It actually feels like she’s getting used to this.

I smiled against her mouth, murmuring between kisses. “You like that I’m so much bigger than you, don’t you? I think you’re learning to like that I can do this.”

“What, pick me up and carry me to bed whenever you get horny?” she teased breathlessly, but then shrugged. “Yeah, I think I can get used to it.”

I laughed, laying her down gently on her mattress and bringing my body down on top of hers. Those eyes were burning with lust and laughter as they held mine, but there something deeper in them too. Maybe even another L-word.

As I held myself up on my elbows and my knees, I kissed the tip of her nose and each of her eyelids, then dragged my mouth lower, planting kisses on her jaw, her throat, and right over her heart before sucking one hard nipple into my mouth.

Alicia let out a soft moan, her fingers tangling in my hair and tugging so sharply that my cock twitched. I made a sound too close to a growl, but I didn’t really give a shit. She needed to know what she did to me.

While I loved that she always seemed so surprised about it, I didn’t love that it meant she didn’t know yet that as far as I was concerned she was the sexiest woman on the planet. As I moved to her other breast, I ran my hand up her thigh to her pussy, groaning at the wet heat that met my fingertips.