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I don’t think it’s the contact at all—it’s everything else. Being close to him after so many nights of forcing ourselves apart, of trying to pretend it wasn’t hard, of acting like there was nothing between us even as my heart screamed and begged for this, consequences be damned. My eyes fall closed too, and I feel him draw closer, the heat of his breath washing over me, but his lips don’t brush mine.
When I open my eyes again, he’s staring back at me, every emotion and thought and nameless sensation running rampant inside of me mirrored in his eyes. There’s barely any space left between us, and I skim my fingers up his shoulders, his neck, until they find the sides of his face, fitting perfectly against him like they belong there.
“Valerie,” he says, his voice a plea.
I wet my lips, the energy thrumming through me almost too much to bear. After so many nights of putting my own feelings aside, of doing the right thing…I’m so fucking tired.
So I close the rest of the distance between us, and I kiss him.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
There isno hesitation in the way Reid kisses me back. His tongue traces the seam of my lips, then mingles with mine, every movement slow and measured. I can’t help the small whimper that slips out as he takes my face with both hands.
But then just as suddenly, he pulls back an inch. “If you regret this tomorrow,” he breathes, “I’ll never be able to live with myself.”
“Reid.” I hold tight to the back of his head before he can pull away. “I haven’t regretted a single moment I’ve had with you. And I never will.”
His forehead presses to mine, and his fingers trace a line from my wrist to my elbow, to my shoulder, into my hair. When they reach my face, he opens his eyes, staring directly into mine, into my soul, as he traces my jaw. Then, barely audible, he says, “I love you.”
I pull his mouth to mine, and he backs me up a step, then another, until the smooth stone wall surrounding the fireplace presses against my back.
Even as the kiss deepens, our breathing growing heavier and our hands wandering over every inch of each other, we make no moves to remove the layers between us, not yet. And I wonder if he’s thinking the same thing I am. With how long it’s been, and who knows how long it will be after reality sets back in with the night, I want this to last as long as it possibly can. I want to stay here cocooned in his warmth, my body vibrating with each stroke of his tongue and brush of his fingers.
I gasp as something cold spreads along the side of my throat. Reid smirks before he ducks his head and licks the frosting from my skin.
“You’re defacing my cake.”
“Repurposing,” he counters as he hooks his hands behind my thighs and hoists me into his arms.
I can taste the sugar on his tongue as he carries me to the bed and gently lays me down. His knee pushes between my legs, and something between a sigh and a moan sounds in the back of my throat as he caresses my leg, my waist, his lips working slowly down my neck to my chest.
He hooks his fingers beneath the hem of my shirt and looks up at me through his lashes. I smile and run my hand through his hair as he pushes it up to my collarbones, exposing my breasts. My breaths quicken as he kisses my hip above the elastic of my underwear, then slowly up my ribs, beneath my breasts, on the sides, taking his time before finally taking my nipple into his mouth.
My head falls back against the pillow of its own volition, hand tightly wound in his hair.
“I love you. I love you. I love you,” I breathe, unable to form any other words, as if holding it in all these weeks has been like water building behind a dam just waiting to burst.
His mouth seals over mine before I can say it a fourth time, the hard length of him pressing against my core as he leans over me. I grind my hips up and hook a leg around his waist. Hell to taking our time—I need himnow.Judging by the low groan he makes, he feels the same.
“You are the greatest gift fate has ever brought into my life,” he whispers as he helps slip my top the rest of the way off. “And loving you is the best thing I’ve ever done.” He kisses his way back down my body until he reaches my hips, then removes my pants and underwear, pausing near my feet to kiss my ankle. “It’s made everything worth it.” My calf. “All of the terrible things that have happened, even before I met you, I would go through it all a hundred times over as long as I end up here.” My inner thigh. “I was always supposed to find you.”
“You make me so happy it scares me sometimes,” I whisper as I shove his boxers down. “Because I think no one can be this happy for too long without something going wrong.”
“I think we’ve already had enough things go wrong,” he says against my lips as he holds my face between his hands like something breakable. “I think it’s about time we get to the good part.”
I lay my hands over his and turn my face to kiss his palm, tears breaking free onto my cheeks as I do.
He tightens his hold and brings our noses an inch apart. “We are going to get to the good part,” he insists. He nudges my forehead with his, holding my gaze as his hand travels down my body and between my legs.
I already know what he’ll find, seeing as I’m so ready I can feel the slickness on my thighs.
“Kiss me,” I whisper.
His lips find mine at the same time his finger slowly glides inside of me, curling against my inner walls in a way that has my hips rising to meet him. I wedge my hand between us, finding him as hard as I am wet, and he exhales harshly against my lips. I feel like I might explode if I have to wait any longer.
“I need you inside of me, Reid. Now.”
The same hunger is mirrored in his eyes as he guides himself to my entrance. I nod, hands clasped behind his neck as he pushes inside excruciatingly slow, inch by inch. I’m panting by the time he fills me, desperate for more friction but also for him not to move, to never move. His jaw hardens into stone like it’s taking everything in him to hold back.
