29. Emma
29
EMMA
O ur kiss was hungry, desperate, like he had been holding back as long as I had. The papers James had gathered on Marcus and his family were still all over the bed, and they scattered to the floor as he laid me back. His weight pressed me into the mattress in a way that made me forget how to breathe.
"Are you sure?" he murmured against my throat. "We can stick to the rules if?—"
"James?" I threaded my fingers into his hair, pulling his mouth back to mine. "I'm done with rules. I want you. All of you."
He groaned, the sound vibrating through me. "Say it again."
"I want you." I rolled my hips against his growing hardness, drawing another groan. "I've wanted you for three years."
"Fuck, Emma." His hands slid under my shirt, callused fingers leaving trails of fire on my skin. "You have no idea what you do to me."
"Then show me."
He sat back just enough to help me out of my shirt, then his own joined it on the floor. I couldn't help running my hands over his chest, tracing the hard planes of muscle I'd been dreaming about.
"Like what you see?" He caught one of my hands, pressing a kiss to my palm that was somehow both tender and erotic.
"You know I do." I arched as his mouth found that spot behind my ear again. "Though your ego hardly needs the boost."
In answer, he pulled me to him, one hand tangling in my hair as his mouth found mine.
I melted into him, papers crunching beneath us as he lowered me to the bed. His body was solid and warm against me.
"I've wanted you for so long," he breathed against my neck. "Since that first night in Ireland. Since every day after."
"Me too." I arched as his teeth grazed my pulse point. "I tried to tell myself it was just physical, but?—"
"But it was never just that." His hands slid across my bare stomach, then unclasped my bra. He threw it to the ground with a satisfied smile, eyes lighting up as he studied my hardening nipples. "Was it?"
"No." I reached up again, fingertips slowly sliding down the ripples of his abs and tracing the hard lines between them. "It was always more."
“You’re so damn dangerous for me, Em.”
"Me?" I gasped as his teeth grazed my earlobe before he planted a warm, perfect kiss there. "You're the one who's dangerous."
"I can hardly hold back," He breathed between his teeth. His hands slid up my ribs, thumbs brushing the undersides of my breasts. "I've been thinking about this since that wine cellar in Ireland."
"Really?" Something warm bloomed in my chest at his admission.
He lifted his head to meet my eyes, his expression suddenly serious. "You have no idea how many times I've dreamed about you. About making you fall apart under my hands, my mouth..." He pushed his hips into me, making me gasp. "About being inside you."
"James..." I arched as his mouth found my breast, his tongue a warm jolt of ecstasy against my nipple. "Please..."
"Please what, beautiful?" He finished by kissing his way up from my breast to my neck, then lifted his eyes to meet mine. "Tell me what you want. Tell me exactly what you want, because all I want is to give it to you. Every. Fucking. Detail,” he said, punctuating each whispered word with a scorching kiss.
"You," I breathed, "just you. All of you."
His eyes darkened. "Say that again."
"I want you." I pulled him down for a kiss that was all heat and need. "I've always wanted you."
He groaned into my mouth, his hands everywhere at once. When he finally got us both naked and slid a condom on, I couldn't help staring. He was gorgeous—all hard muscle and smooth skin that I wanted to taste.
And for once, I didn’t hold back. I sat up, hooking my arms behind him as I kissed my way down his chest, scooting to my knees so I could reach everything.
His breath hitched as I moved lower. "Emma..."
"Hmm?"
"If you keep that up, this is going to be over embarrassingly fast."
I smiled against his skin. "Maybe I want to see you lose control."
He caught my chin, tilting my face up before I could take him in my mouth. "Later. Right now, I need to be inside you."
The raw honesty in his voice made me shiver. "Yes. Please, yes."
He took his time, touching and tasting until I was trembling beneath him. When he finally slid inside me, we both froze, overwhelmed by the sensation.
"Fuck," he breathed, "you feel incredible. So perfect..."
I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him deeper. "Move. Please, just?—"
He sucked my lower lip between his as he began to move, setting a rhythm that had me seeing stars. Every thrust hit exactly right, drawing sounds from me I didn't know I could make.
"That's it," he murmured against my neck. "Let me hear you. Let me feel how much you want this."
"James..." I raked my nails down his back. "I'm close. I need..."
"I know what you need." His fingers found my clit, circling in perfect time as he continued to work his body against me. "Come for me, beautiful. Let me feel you."
I felt myself come apart around him, crying out his name as waves of pleasure crashed through me. He followed right after, burying his face in my neck with a groan that I felt in my bones.
For a long moment, we just lay there tangled together, trading soft kisses and softer touches. James brushed hair from my face, his expression tender.
"That was..."
"Yeah," he agreed, "it really was."
I traced patterns on his chest, feeling his heart thundering beneath my fingers. "We should have done that ages ago."
"Maybe not,” he said. “I think we had to earn that. Everything leading up to this… it made it that much sweeter. The wine cellar was enough to keep you at the front of my mind for years, sure. But this?" He kissed my temple. "This wasn't just sex, Emma. It wasn’t just chemistry or clicking with a beautiful stranger."
My heart skipped. "No? What was it to you?”
He pulled back to meet my eyes. "This was... everything. You're everything."
I blinked back the threat of tears. "When did you get so smooth?"
He laughed, pulling me closer. "Must be all that practice pretending to be your boyfriend."
"Pretending, huh?" I nipped at his jaw. "Are we still calling it that?"
His expression changed. "No. This is as real as it gets, whether you like it or not."
"Good." I curled into him, loving how perfectly we fit together, "because I like how real feels with you. I like it a lot."
We lay there trading lazy kisses until the sweat cooled on our skin. James pulled the blanket over us, careful of the papers still scattered everywhere.
"We should probably clean up all these papers now," I said, but made no move to do so.
"Probably." His hand slid up my thigh. "Or I could show you all the other things I've been dreaming about for three years."
Heat pooled low in my belly. "That's a pretty big promise, Mr. Carter."
His eyes glinted with challenge. "I always deliver on my promises, Ms. Marshall." He rolled me beneath him again, his mouth hot on my neck. "Want me to prove it?"
I pulled him down for another kiss, already addicted to the taste of him. "Prove it."
Turned out, James Carter was almost better at keeping promises than he was at breaking rules.
We lay sweaty and exhausted with our cheeks on the pillows, eyes locked.
James stroked my cheek. "I love you," he said.
My heart stopped, then started again double-time. "Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be dropping the ‘L’ word, Mr. Carter?”
“Frankly, I don’t give a shit. I love you, Em. I’ve spent the last three years thinking about you every day—wondering what could’ve been.”
I felt a little light-headed as I stared into his dazzling eyes and let the words wash over me. I smiled, biting my lip. “What if I love you too?”
He chuckled, hooking a finger under my chin and lifting my face. “Was that a question mark I heard?”
I kissed him again, pouring everything I felt into it. "I love you too," I whispered against his lips. "Even if you did ruin my career that one time."
He laughed. "I’ll make that up to you. However long it takes..”
“Oh, is that right? We’re already planning a future together, now?”
“Why not?” he asked.
Why not?
The words echoed in my mind, both tempting and exciting.
It felt like something lifted from my mind—some artificial barrier I’d been holding between us. But he was right, wasn’t he? Why the hell not? We were happy together, so why shouldn’t we take this thing and run with it as far as we possibly could? And who was to say we might not make it all the way to our own happily ever after.
But first, we needed to make sure Lily got hers.