Chapter 31
“What are you thinking about?” His question takes me by surprise because we’ve sat in blissful silence for so long.
We’re wrapped up in each other arms in the tub in my master bath. The water is the perfect temperature, just hot enough to coat your skin in that relaxing warmth but not so hot that we want to get out after five minutes.
We woke up around two this morning and decided that bath we talked about before we drifted off was calling our names.
Of course, once we got in here, there wasn’t much relaxing at first. His expert fingers brought me to another climax as water splashed all over the floor, and my panting was loud enough to wake the whole city. It was glorious, and I found out my new favorite thing about Colin Fucking Brooks.
His tongue.
I spin in his arms to face him. My bare chest presses against his, and he wraps his arms around me, each palm taking a handful of my ass. I giggle when he squeezes them.
“I was thinking about how much better this is than some measly sleep.”
He leans in and captures my lips with his in a scorching kiss. I feel it all the way down to my toes as a tingle runs down my spine, and warmth spreads in my belly.
“Who needs sleep anyway?” he jokes.
He reaches over to grab a loofah before reaching for the lavender soap sitting on the edge of the tub. He squirts a healthy amount of it on the loofah, lathers it, and washes my back with the soothing soap. I sigh and place my head down on his shoulder as he continues to bathe me meticulously and gently.
“What’s your favorite place on Earth?” I ask out of the blue. I want to know what makes Colin Brooks tick.
“Ummm, I don’t know if I’ve ever been asked that. Let me think.” He ponders his answer for a short minute then says, “I think it would have to be back home. There’s nothing exciting or fancy about it, but there’s also nothing like it in the world.”
“Where’s that?” I ask.
“Salem, Oregon.”
“Like the witch trials?” I ask, my curiosity piqued. I’ve always thought that whole part of history is fascinating and brutal in almost equal parts.
He laughs as he continues to run the loofah across my back and over my ass. I sigh a little every time he does. “No, that would be Massachusetts. We’re known for our cherry trees.”
“Oh, I guess that makes more sense now that you said it.” I giggle. “Is it just you and your mom?”
“Yep, us two against the world. Kind of like you and your dad.” He pulls me closer to his chest and leans down to gently kiss the upturn of my nose.
I feel like I’ve known Colin my whole life with how comfortable I am with him in this moment. I feel cherished and seen in a way that I don’t think I ever have in the past.
This man just gets me without even trying. I almost tear up at the thought because, for my whole damn life, I’ve struggled with people not understanding my intentions or my heart. It’s been a battle from the moment I meet someone new for them to look past the brash, overly confident persona I put on and for them to see the real me.
Sure, I couldn’t stand him at first, but I never felt the need or desire to prove myself to him. He took me for me, with all my faults and all my strengths. I can’t describe the relief I feel at that realization.
“Did she ever remarry?” I ask another question. I’m enjoying this moment with him more than I could ever express.
“No, she loved my dad with her entire heart. When he disappeared, she was devastated. The only thing that kept her going was me.”
“Just like how it is with my father,” I say. It dawns on me just how much we have in common.
“Just like you,” he answers with a nod as he reaches up to push a few wet strands of hair behind my ear. He doesn’t seem as surprised as I do.
“Did you ever want her to remarry?” I ask.
“Not for the longest time. I never thought another man was good enough to fill my father’s shoes or love her the way she deserves to be loved, but I’m realizing that maybe I was wrong.” His eyebrows knit together in the most serious and serene expressions I’ve ever seen on him.
“What were you wrong about?” I ask when he doesn’t continue.
“I think I was wrong to stand in the way of her finding happiness again. I don’t think I ever really understood until now,” he answers.
I place my forearms on his chest as I lean up to look at him. His expression is open and calm. It immediately puts me at ease.
“And what do you get now that you didn’t then?”
“How damn good it feels to be happy and content.” His answer is simple, but it feels monumental. It feels like he’s trying to tell me something big. “Do you want to know what makes me feel happy and content, Princess?”
I simply nod, and he leans down to capture my lips. He makes sure to take his time as he explores every centimeter of my already swollen lips from his kisses. I moan as his fingers find my opening once again to explore.
My hands skate down his washboard abs and find his waiting cock in turn. He’s already semi-hard, and when my fingers wrap around the enlarged head, it hardens even more.
“You.”
His one-word sentence has my core lighting up with white hot desire to claim him as mine.
“Me?” I ask just to be sure I heard him correctly because, if I did, this beautifully annoying, arrogant, kind, and warm man just told me that he wants me to be his.
“Yes, you. With all your sass and your smart mouth,” he says between kisses.
“You just think I’m a good lay.”
My insecurities rear their ugly heads. I need more than anything for this man to see past all the walls I put up in defense because he’s the only one I’ve ever wanted to let through. I want him to know all of me, not just the pieces I let the world see.
All the broken, jagged pieces.
I just don’t know how to fucking do it.
He goes still for a second, then his hands flex around my ass as he leans back on the tub. There’s a lazy smirk on his face that sends my heart dropping to my stomach. Why do I do this to myself? Why do I let my guard down? I brace myself to hear that I’m only a good lay to him and potentially have my heart shattered, but that isn’t what happens.
“You’re more than a good lay. You’re the catch of a lifetime and the best fucking lay of my life. Today, tomorrow, next week, next month, or a thousand years from now. Don’t ever doubt that I want you, Princess.”
His cocky response mixed with the sweetest words ever spoken to me pulls at my heart and deep within my soul. It soothes and exhilarates me at the same time. It’s the oddest, most compelling feeling I’ve ever had.
“You can’t possibly know that. We barely know each other,” I say. My heart may feel an undeniable pull toward this man, but it doesn’t trust easily. His words help settle my frantic thoughts, but I still have trouble believing him.
He pulls me flush with him before I even know what’s happening. His forehead goes to mine, and I can feel the gentle puff of air as he takes his next breath.
“I know you don’t believe me, and that’s okay because I’m not going anywhere, Jade. I’ll be right here, proving to you every day that I want this. I want you.”
His words help click into place another one of those jagged pieces of my heart.
“Promise?” I ask, and it’s the most vulnerable question I’ve ever asked.
“I promise, Princess.”
His promise is followed by the most intimate, slow, and gentle sex I’ve ever had. He seemed to know exactly what I needed right then and fulfilled it with everything he has to offer.
We spent the rest of the early morning hours with wrinkled skin from being in the water for entirely too long but surrounded in a bubble of bliss that settled deep in my chest.
Colin Fucking Brooks just healed a jagged, broken piece of my heart and claimed it as his.