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Laney
I faced the metal door. I had raced to town, the fear that he might be gone already hot on my heels. A simple goodbye and hanging up on him wasn’t enough. It wasn’t any more closure than we’d had before.
I knocked and waited, wringing my hands. How was he going to react?
When he opened the door, the dim light from the lamp by the bed illuminated his dark figure. All I could make out was that his hair wasn’t in the neat arrangement it usually was.
“Delaney?”
“I’m not here to go with you. I’m not going to beg you to stay. I just… need you right now.” I wasn’t sure what I was asking or what exactly I was there for. I just knew he hadn’t left town yet, and I wanted to be with him as long as possible.
He opened the door farther, and I stepped inside. His little office was set up on the table. He was working. Of course he was.
He closed and locked the door. Without taking his eyes off me, he closed his laptop.
Nerves shook my body. I didn’t want to argue. Neither did he. Being alone with him clarified why I had stared at the steering wheel for so long and didn’t go into my parents’ house.
“I thought we should have a proper goodbye.” I was proud my voice didn’t shake and I didn’t break down in tears. “One we didn’t get before.”
He closed the distance between us and stroked the back of his finger down my face.
“Say something,” I whispered.
“We’ve said it all.” He cupped my face and leaned down to touch his lips to mine.
It was like a switch flipped and we reverted to that day when he’d gotten me on the bed and into my pants.
My back hit the mattress, but our pace slowed. Archer savored me. I ran my hands through his hair, and he took his time kissing me. Lazy strokes of his tongue made me want to demand more but coaxed me into slowing down. The hard length behind his fly pressed between us, but he refused to rush.
He kissed his way down my neck, and I turned my head to give him better access.
“This is probably a bad idea,” he said.
“It’s all a bad idea.”
As if that was the final confirmation he needed that I wasn’t going to change my mind, he worked the hem of my shirt up.
“Thank fuck,” he growled when he saw I was wearing a lacy bra and not the unforgiving sports bras I had on while camping.
Cool air hit my nipples a heartbeat before his hot mouth closed on one. I groaned and rolled into him. Between his hard body between my legs and his lips on my skin, I was panting and ready to blow.
We hadn’t done anything intimate since our camping trip. With the lack of our own space and the unanswered questions between us, it hadn’t felt right. But it was done. We were done. This was being free to just be us, together.
His tongue lapped over my tight peak, and my moan was pure need. He switched sides but didn’t leave my wet nipple to get cold. His hand gripped and massaged the other breast.
Drawing back, he finished taking my shirt and bra all the way off. As soon as the material slipped over my head, I tugged his polo up. When his chest was bared to me, I spread both hands across it.
A sad smile that belied the raging need coursing through me touched my lips. “You have a farmer’s tan.”
He glanced at his arms, where the skin was darker than his shoulders, and softly chuckled. “It’s been a while.”
I traced the collar line at his neck. My ring finger was still bare, and after this summer, the tan line was gone. There would be no indicator I had ever been married after I signed the annulment papers. And I would. I wasn’t going to fight it, and no judge would know that Archer and I had spent three weeks together learning everything we hadn’t known about each other before.
God, this was hard. “Archer…”
He planted a firm kiss on my lips. “I know.”
Then his hands were at my pants. Impatience drove us both as I kicked my boots off so he could get me completely naked. I wanted to take my time, but I wanted to be so lost in him that sadness couldn’t touch me. The way he shucked his pants made me think he felt the same. He ripped the comforter away, so we lay on clean sheets.
