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The bed shifts and I watch Avery’s shadow slink across the room. He rounds the bed and slips in behind me, his body curling around mine. His lips touch my neck as he burrows in, fingers splayed over my hip, my belly.
“I need to hold you,” he whispers. Somehow everything is always better when he does.
With Avery’s hands on me, reminding me that I’m safe and so very loved, I remember the way Dex held me, let me snot and sob all over him while he promised me everything would be okay. I didn’t believe him. I didn’t think it would ever be okay. But now I know how right he was. Now it’s better than I ever could have imagined.
“When Aaron walked through the door, Dex was holding me. Aaron—” another bitter chuckle, “—accused me of cheating on him with Dex. He lost his mind, called me a slut, a whore, every name under the sun. Dex had him pinned against the wall in two seconds flat. He told Aaron he’d been at Rebel the night before, to be a man and come clean. He didn’t; not really. He tried every excuse in the book. It wasn’t me. I wasn’t there. I was drunk. I don’t remember anything.
“I kicked him out for the night. Later, I got a text from a number I didn’t recognize. It was another girl. He’d gone there for the night, but turns out her friends had seen him at the club the night before with that other girl, too. She went through his phone when he fell asleep and found out about me.” I snicker. I’m glad I can laugh about this now. “She threw a bucket of ice water on him and told him to get the fuck out. And it just kinda went from there. By the morning, I’d found out about four girls in total.” I snuggle a little deeper into the mattress, and into Avery’s hard, warm chest. “I didn’t go to work Monday. I went to get tested for STDs and packed his things. When he came home from work, I told him it was over.”
“I’m so sorry, Claire.” Avery’s lips touch my neck, my shoulder, my cheek, over and over again, his arms squeezing me tight, like he wants me to know he’s never, ever letting me go. At least, that’s what I hope.
“You know what?” I twist in his iron hold, taking his face between my hands. “I’m not sorry. Not at all. The opposite, really. I’m so, so grateful.” I trace the shape of his lips, his jaw, running the tip of my finger over his sharp cheekbones. “I never would have met you.”
He breathes out a tiny chuckle. “That’s not entirely true. I still would have walked into your conference room on Monday morning. The difference is I would have had to convince you to break up with your douchebag of a boyfriend before I got into your pants. Which I would have, by the way.” His mouth covers mine, the tip of his tongue sweeping across my top lip.
“Convinced me to break up with my boyfriend, or gotten into my pants?”
“Both,” he says so confidently.
“Arrogant,” I murmur against the velvet sweep of his tongue.
“Nah. Just persistent enough to not give up on the things I want.”
“I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”
“The thought never crossed my mind, regardless of how stubborn you were.”
“So stubborn,” I agree with a quiet sigh, trailing my lips down his neck.
“It’s one of the things I love about you.” He hooks my leg over his hip and rolls us both off the bed. Pressing me against the wall in the hallway outside the bedroom, his hips grind into mine. “You’re stubborn, I’m arrogant, we fight. It’s what makes the sex so damn explosive.”
His fingers slip beneath the hem of my top, dancing up my torso until they find one pert nipple, pinching gently. My fingers sink into his hair, nearly ripping it right out of his scalp when he pushes my shirt up, tongue lashing at the taut bud. His teeth pierce my sensitive skin and a puff of air escapes my lips.
A moment later, I’m over his shoulders, and my pajama shorts are on the ground.
“Where are we going?” I ask as innocently as I can manage as he stalks down the hall. Circling my arms around his middle, I sneak one hand into the elastic of his boxer briefs, my fingers wrapping around his thick cock, smiling when it jerks in my palm.
“Somewhere I can fuck your brains out without waking up your niece.”
He opens one of the spare bedroom doors, tosses me down on the bed, and licks his lips as he prowls toward me, the glint in his eye all devil, along with the delicious smirk that tips one side of his mouth.
“Now spread those legs and let me see that pretty pink pussy I love so much. I’m gonna show you all the reasons why you’ll never need another man but me for the rest of your life.”
***
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Avery
I’m distracted this afternoon. That’s probably why I’m staring out the window instead of at my computer. It’s not the first time I’ve caught myself doing it today.
I love my job. Really, I couldn’t love what I do more. Before Claire, work was my life, the only thing I was so certain of. I was here ’til dark most nights, and often brought projects home with me on the weekends. I didn’t mind.
Now I can’t wait to get out of here. I never stay past five. I never bring work home with me, unless I have a deadline to meet, and even then, I do it with Claire’s head on my shoulder, her body pressed next to mine on the couch.
For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m truly living it, rather than just moving through the days. I never felt like anything was missing, but now I know. Claire was missing. Intimacy. Love. Partnership. The things I never want to go without again.
This last month together has been nothing short of perfect and I can’t wait to take off to the cottage this weekend with the people I consider family, real or made.
