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He smiled. “I hope you’re not too sad I stopped when I did. You should know that I’m a greedy bottom. But if you’re really nice, I’ll let you have a turn. Eventually.”
I laughed and nuzzled him, rubbing our noses together. “I knew you couldn’t be an angel all the time. But that’s okay. Be as selfish as you want. It’s all good with you, Clark. I like the thrill of discovering new things about myself, but being close to you is the most amazing part of all.”
He brushed my hair back, eyes holding mine. “If I’m honest, everything with you feels pretty thrilling to me too. Maybe that’s just how it is…with the right person.”
I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight, skin to skin. “Yeah,” I said around the lump in my throat. “Maybe so.”
After a minute, Clark said, “I really hope I was right about the windows.”
I glanced to the left, where the three tall windows stood like sentinels overlooking our frenzied lovemaking, and barked a laugh. “You and me both.”
He smiled impishly. “I guess no one will doubt we’re the real deal if they witnessed any of that.”
I shook my head. “I thought you were a respectable schoolteacher, but you’re a bad influence, aren’t you?”
He grinned. “Hey, I never said I was an angel. That was all you.”
I kissed him again, both of us smiling too much to turn it into much more than an affectionate brush of lips. I wished I could take him to my bed and hold him all night as I had at his place. I wished we could tell Toby tomorrow that Clark was it for me.
My heart knew it as the truth already, even if it did seem too soon.
But I suspected Clark wasn’t ready to say the same. Besides, even two people who loved each other didn’t always make a relationship last. We’d barely started down this path. I had to give it more time. Had to make sure we were committed to forever before rocking Toby’s world.
But damn it was hard to watch Clark clean up and walk out that door, unsure of when we’d be able to do this again.
CHAPTER24
CLARK
I shiftedin my seat at the dining room table while grading papers, my body complaining at the movement. I wasn’t sure if it was the two days of sanding floors at Hunter’s place or all the amazing sex, but my body wasn’t used to such strenuous activity. I checked the clock. I’d only been grading for thirty minutes, but it felt like thirty hours. I wanted a hot shower, then at least two beers to relax my muscles, and I hated to say it, but maybe my ass needed a break from the regular pounding Hunter had given me for the past two weeks.
Nah. I could be in a full body cast and I still couldn’t say no to a railing from that man. The sex was just too good. We hadn’t yet managed another weekend alone, but we’d squeezed in stolen kisses, frenzied makeouts, and late-night sex around our day-to-day schedule.
It wasn’t the same. There was no sleeping over. No long talks or hours spent cuddling in front of a television.
Our lives were both too full with jobs, kids, and renovating his house—but all those things that kept us from being alone also pulled us together. Our lives had become intertwined, and I felt closer to him than I had felt to anyone.
But daydreaming about my perfect boyfriend wasn’t going to get my quizzes graded. I forced my attention back to the paper before me and snorted with amusement.
The next to last question read: How did Napoleon die? The student’s answer: He stopped living.
I shook my head, chuckling. There was always one smartass in the bunch.
My phone buzzed with a text, and I grabbed it, eager for a distraction.
Alexa:I guess you don’t want to talk to me. I’ll stop trying, if that’s what you want. I just thought we could make things better. Maybe be friends again. I miss you. xo
Guilt hit me like a tidal wave. Ever since I’d watched Hunter take a call from his ex-wife while desperately horny—because it was the right thing to do—I’d known I couldn’t continue to avoid Alexa.
I didn’t want to be the kind of person who avoided hard things, and inevitably, that was what I’d been for a long time. Maybe my whole life, when I thought about it deeply.
When my parents divorced and dumped me with Nana, I hadn’t talked to them for years instead of sharing my deep hurt. Living with Nana was the best thing to ever happen to me in retrospect, but I’d felt rejected by them both. When my best friend in high school started dating an asshole and dropped me like a hot rock, I hadn’t demanded an explanation; I’d buried my head in books.
And when my closest teacher friend did the wrong thing and covered up a student’s cheating, I’d run home in an attempt to forget it happened.
But I was done with that. Like Hunter, I was a grown man, and the responsible thing to do was face my demons, not hide from them.
I picked up the phone and called her.
