AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shaking my hands and wiping tears from beneath my eyes, I stood up and slumped to the door. I had to brace myself for what would come, whether it be him telling me I was as foolish as I thought, or maybe even apologizing for being a jerk who took my heart and stomped on it.
“What are you doing here?” His stare was intense when his eyes met mine, full of concern and beauty.
“I couldn’t wait until the wedding,” Rowan told me, lifting his hands to my face. His blue eyes burned darker than I’d ever seen, wide and staring into mine. “I love you, Meredith.”
His stare flicked between my eyes, my thoughts a blur as his four words settled into my heart.
“You don’t do romance, Rowan.” I lifted my hands to his as they cupped my cheeks. “You’re high on how successful you became.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” he snarled, stepping into my apartment and slamming the door behind us. “You’re not fooling anyone. Look at you right now. Look at,” he pulled my palm to his chest, his rapid pulse beating through me, “us.”
“I am.” I swallowed, the effort to contain my feelings futile. Slowly, his footsteps guided us further into my apartment until my back met my closed bedroom door.
My stomach burned, the pounding need for him consuming me as his arms lifted to cage me in. Rowan inhaled deeply, lowering his forehead to mine as my body ached for him. The strings from his sweatshirt grazed my chest, and I pulled them down, lowering Rowan closer to me.
“Can I kiss you?” His words were a whisper, a low and sexy sound against my cheek responded to with my weak nod.
Rowan’s mouth was warm, his touch gentle, as he took my bottom lip and slid his tongue across. I couldn’t fight it anymore. Standing on my tiptoes, I wrapped my arms around his neck with Rowan’s hands gliding along my back until they curved around my thighs as I held them around his hips. He opened my bedroom door, rushing us toward my bed. Falling into the mattress underneath Rowan, I couldn’t touch him fast enough. He was there, on top of me, knotting his perfect fingers into my hair while his teeth grazed my neck.
My hips lifted closer to him, my body desperate for Rowan. I scrambled to pull his sweatshirt off, grateful for the sight of him half naked above me. He rolled us over so I was on top, the view incredible. His grin widened as he held my thighs spread above his hips.
“I want to do more than kiss you,” I told him, moving backward with my fingers on the waistband of his sweatpants. The air was heavy, like right before a storm, and we were the thunder about to shatter it all.
Scooting back along his legs, I pulled down Rowan’s sweatpants and boxers, marveling at what so many women wanted, but I won. Before I could stare in awe, his hands latched around my arms and Rowan threw me back down on my back. The cool air from my cracked window tickled across my stomach as he lifted off my shirt, lowering his face to kiss a trail from my throat to my navel.
When he came back to kiss me, the pressure and warmth of his chest was euphoric, exploding even more when his fingers slid beneath my pants. If his touch could make my body do what it was doing, responding to him like he owned it, then I wasn’t ready for having him inside of me. Everything built up inside of me, my body moving in rhythm with his touch, as I reached for him while falling apart. From just his touch.
Frantically tearing off my clothes, I moved to be on top of him once more. Neither of us said anything, but his dark eyes egged me on. Spreading my palms over his chest, I lowered myself onto him, gasping for breath as Rowan stretched and filled me. Rocking my hips, each thrust against each other, I wanted more. Rowan was more. This was more. I wanted him.
“I need you,” he growled, his fingertips piercing my hips as he quickened our pace. Clawing my nails over the ridges of his stomach, I felt him stiffen, reveling in how I made him feel. When I leaned forward to kiss him, Rowan bit my lip and rolled me over to finish. Beads of sweat dripped from his body onto mine, heat building between us as we fell apart together. My name broke the silence, coming through Rowan’s lips with a panting breath.
Rowan rolled his head to meet mine as we lay on our backs. His gentle gaze crossed my face, stopping on my mouth as he combed my messy hair behind my ear.
“Did we just have our first fight?” I smiled, rolling to press myself against him, loving how his warm, hard body protected me.
“If they end in that, I’ll fight with you whenever you want.” He teased, tracing his fingers along my shoulder. When he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me closer to him, I closed my eyes and exhaled, my weak body perfectly content.
Cradling me in his arms, Rowan kissed each of my cheeks. “Be my girlfriend, Meredith.”
TWENTY
“This is where we fake break up,” he told me, grinning hopefully as I looked at him through blurry eyes. “So we can be real. It’s not over for me. It’s just getting started.”
Watching Rowan’s gaze move across my face, I listened to him while my heart felt at ease.
“We don’t have to date. We know each other. We know what we hate, what we love,” he tugged on my chin, lowering his mouth to mine, “so maybe we could just pick up where we left off.”
“Where was that?”
“In love,” he shrugged, “and happy as hell.”
I moved to settle next to him in bed, staring at the glow of passing headlights stream across my ceiling as I still tried to breathe.
Dripping in sweat, I woke up later, tangled in a knot with Rowan, sleeping deeper than I could ever remember. My everything ached. Except my heart and mind. Those were perfect.
Rowan’s right arm crossed my stomach, his hand folded beneath me as he cradled me against him in his sleep. His mess of hair tickled my skin whenever he moved, especially when I combed my fingers through it as he lay on my chest.
Trying not to wake my sleeping first baseman, I carefully rolled from beneath him. His shirt was the closest thing I could find on the floor, so I slipped into it and closed the door behind me. Even my ankles were sore as I crossed my small apartment to the kitchen.
