Chapter 39

 

 

 

Afton

 

 

We don’t make it to my bed before our clothes hit the floor. Luke undressed me as he marched me backward through my apartment toward my bed.

Our kisses drowned out any words either of us wanted to say.

He took my mouth in a fevered frenzy, exploring with his tongue, nipping with his teeth.

“I want you,” he bites out each word like a threat, but it’s not that. It’s a promise. A promise that I’m about to feel his need as savagely as I feel my own.

He picks me up and tosses me on the bed as if I weigh nothing.

Giggling, I roll onto my side.

Luke is there, trailing kisses down my ribcage, over my hipbone, and onto my thigh.

“I’m as hard as nails,” he grunts. “I need to fuck you, but first...”

His hands roll me onto my back before he settles between my legs, pushing me wider to accommodate the breadth of his shoulders.

“You’re so fucking beautiful, Afton.” His breath whispers over my core. “This is magnificent.”

I don’t feel exposed. I feel desired and wanted in a way I’ve only ever felt with him.

I tangle my hands in his hair, tugging at him. “Luke, let’s fuck.”

The laugh that escapes him is deep. “No fucking way. Not yet.”

Yearning for more, I raise my ass off the bed. “Please.”

“Look at you.” He blows a breath over my pussy. “So swollen with need. If I take you now, it’ll hurt.”

“It won’t,” I protest with an arm over my eyes. “I’ll come as soon as you’re inside of me.”

“Or as soon as I do this.” He follows that with a long slow lick over my cleft.

I can’t protest because I’m so close already.

“Give me this, Afton,” he pleads in a groan. “I love watching you come. I fucking love everything about you.”

I close my eyes against the assault of emotions and give in to what my body craves; what only this man can give me.

 

***

 

“I need to buy more condoms,” Luke announces as he walks out of my bedroom and onto the patio.

It’s almost dusk now.

The day has given way to the cool air that comes when evening settles over the city.

I pulled on a pair of yoga shorts and a T-shirt before I grabbed a blanket and came out to the patio.

I left Luke in bed. He was fast asleep, and I didn’t have the heart to wake him.

We’d spent hours devouring each other.

I’m sore in the very best way and more content than I’ve ever been.

I glance at his bare chest. “Tell me about your tattoos.”

His fingers trace over them even though his gaze is stuck on me. “I got one for my mom, Gaia, and the other for my mom, Irena.”

They’re beautifully intricate designs that I knew told a story. I just didn’t know what that story was until now.

“They’re both gone,” he says softly as he takes a seat next to me.

My gaze falls to his muscular legs, visible since he’s only wearing a pair of white boxer briefs.

“You’ve had a lot of loss in your life.”

He takes a deep breath. “I have, but more love than loss. I used to think that wasn’t a fair way to balance the scales, but I think it is.”

I can’t speak to loss because mine have been few and far between.

“My Pop got married for the third time to a woman named April,” he goes on, “April is everything he needs. She’s a spitfire, beautiful, kind, and makes him laugh. Jesus, the way he laughs with her makes my heart sing.”

I listen to every word, stuck on how joyful he is despite everything.

“She’s ill but hanging in there.” He sighs. “My Pop isn’t going to get that forever he’s been planning on with her, but he’s happy-as-hell that he found her and that she’s his wife right now.”

“Your Pop sounds amazing.”

“He is,” he acknowledges with a curt nod of his chin. “You’ll see that for yourself when you meet him.”

My heart thunders inside my chest because that’s another proposed meeting of the parents.

“Luke,” I begin as I bundle the blanket tighter around my shoulders. “Meeting the parents feels like a big step.”

“It is,” he agrees. “You’re important to me, Afton. I want my Pop to know you.”

“I want my parents to know you too.”

It’s not a lie. I know they’ll have a few choice words for me when they realize I’m involved with the stranger who busted into my wedding ceremony, but fate dealt that hand, and I’m grateful for that.

“Look,” he starts as he taps my knee. “I’m no expert on relationships, but I need you to know that I’m not interested in anyone else. I know we said we would keep this lighthearted and fun. I want that, but I want you to understand that I don’t sleep with more than one woman at a time.”

It doesn’t clarify exactly what we are, but I’ll take it.

“I’m not sleeping with anyone else either.”

“Good.” He leans forward to brush his lips over my forehead. “I want you all to myself, Afton.”

“I’m yours,” I whisper, wishing those words meant as much to him as they do to me.