Isn't It Bromantic (Bromance Book Club #4) by Lyssa Kay Adams

            “Come here,” he said, holding out his arm. “I need to hold you.”

            She crawled across him and then stretched out along his side. With her hand pressed to her chest, she traced a lazy circle atop his heart.

            “How do you feel?” he asked.

            “Happy. How do you feel?”

            “Pushkin himself could not find the words.”

            She sighed and pressed her cheek to his chest. “You are absurdly romantic.”

            “Elena, I don’t know how to tell if you . . . Did you . . .”

            She kissed his chest. “No, but it doesn’t matter.”

            “It matters to me. I want you to feel everything I do.”

            “I do. And it was perfect.”

            “Next time, I will take care of you first.”

            She rose up on her elbow and grinned down at him. “There’s going to be a next time?”

            He scowled playfully. “There’s going to be a next time in about twenty minutes. Sooner, if I can recover quicker.”

            She laughed and lowered her brow to his. “We have to be careful with your leg.”

            “I don’t care about my leg. You healed my heart.”

            She lifted her head, lips trembling. “There you go again. Being absurdly romantic.”

            “Not romantic. Just happy.” A tear rolled down her cheek. He brushed it away with his thumb.

            Then he held her against him, heart to heart, stroking away her pain and scars, until finally, at long last, husband and wife fell asleep together for the first time.





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE





Elena couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so well. No bad dreams. No jaw-clenching headaches. No middle-of-the-night anxieties. Just a deep, cleansing sleep. Waking up was even better, because she opened her eyes to find a pair of soft brown pools of molasses staring down at her.

            “Hi,” she whispered.

            He dropped a gentle kiss on her lips. “Good morning.”

            “How long have you been awake?”

            “About ten minutes.” He brushed a curl from her face.

            “Have you been watching me sleep?” Her cheeks heated at the thought. She was not a cute sleeper. She drooled and made weird noises sometimes.

            “I have,” he said smoothly. “I’ve waited a really long time to wake up next to you. I wanted to remember it.”

            He kissed her again, this time with a little more intent. “I wish we could stay in bed all day.”

            “What time do you have to be at the arena?” He was supposed to start longer rehab sessions today with the on-site trainers.

            “Ten.”

            “What time is it now?”

            He nuzzled her neck. “A little before nine.”

            “I missed my plane again,” she whispered.

            “Money well wasted.” He hauled her across his lap. As he crunched to a sitting position, his arms came around her, and he kissed her deeply. And before long, he was hard and insistent between her legs. But when Elena reached between them to guide him inside her, he shook his head. “You first.”

            Vlad leaned back on one hand and slid his other hand between her legs. She gasped and tipped her head back as he began to stroke and circle. “Rub on me,” he coaxed.

            Her eyes flew open. She didn’t know what he meant. He flexed his hips, and his hard length slid back and forth through her wetness. “Like that,” he rasped. All the while, he continued to stroke her with his fingers.

            Elena gripped his shoulder to hold on. The sensations he generated were too much and not enough. When he crunched up again, bringing her sex against the coarse hair of his hard stomach, she lost all sense of time. She rocked against him.