Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
W hat am I doing here?
Audra stood beside her car, her gaze lifting to encompass Damon’s condominium complex. She could hardly breathe, her heart was racing so fast. She hadn’t seen him in six weeks—in the flesh, anyway.
She had watched a couple of his games, rooting for him and the team, but seeing him had been unbearably painful—the heaviness of longing stifling her under its weight.
When Claudia said he’d sent a message about picking up her belongings or having them mailed to her, she jumped at the chance to come pick them up.
Pathetic .
She could have even asked him to leave the box with the concierge, but she wanted to see him. Who could blame her? She hadn’t stopped loving him. She hadn’t stopped thinking about him or missing him. Every day without Damon was like standing under storm clouds, yearning for the sun to break through and chase away the chill in her bones.
She entered the building and greeted the doorman.
“Hello, Ms. Connor,” he replied with a nod.
She took the elevator to Damon’s floor and then stood outside his door, staring at the gold numbers—eleven-fifty. This was where it had all started, and this was where it would end.
She rang the doorbell and waited.
The door opened, and Damon stood before her in a cream shirt that molded to his defined chest and showed off his biceps and tattooed arms.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
“I’m here for the box.” Stomach tight, Audra half-expected him to shove the box of clothes into her chest and send her away.
Instead, he stepped aside and widened the door, silently inviting her in. She crossed the threshold and spotted the cardboard box on the floor near one of the sofas.
“You want to check and make sure everything is in there? I can help you take it down when you’re done,” he said.
“Sure, thanks.” The box was large and probably heavy, so she wouldn’t mind the help.
Audra crouched in front of it and did a cursory inspection of the contents, unconcerned if everything was in there. Nothing she had left at his place was irreplaceable.
Standing, she rested her hands on her hips. “That looks like everything.”
“Good.” His gaze flicked over her.
She had taken extra care with her appearance. Fall had ushered in cooler weather, so she wore a cropped jacket over a plum-colored blouse and tight jeans that showed off her ass. She had also made sure her hair looked fabulous—fixing it into voluminous curls that cascaded around her face and onto her shoulders.
“You been okay?” he asked.
She nodded, his considerable attention leaving her tongue-tied.
A wary pause bloomed between them.
Damon cleared his throat. “How’s Little Bit doing?”
Audra smiled at the nickname he had given Kerilyn. “She’s fine, keeping me on my toes, as usual. She’s doing well in school.”
“That’s nothing new,” Damon said.
“No, it’s not,” Audra admitted proudly. “She asks about you.”
A pained expression crossed his face. “What do you tell her?”
“That you have to travel a lot, and…” Her breath hitched as her chest burned with emotion. “The last time I told her that, she looked sad, and I know she was feeling the same disappointment she experiences when her dad doesn’t have time for her—and it’s my fault. Maybe I shouldn’t have introduced you. Maybe I shouldn’t have ended things between us. I… I thought a clean break was best, but now I’m…” Her voice broke, and a runaway tear streamed down her cheek.
Damon quickly closed the small space between them and clasped her face in his big hands. “Do you want to take the box, leave, and we never see each other again? Or do you want to try again? Because that’s what I want. I want you.”
Audra took a quivering breath. “I want you too,” she said in a trembling whisper. “Everything I did—the lack of trust, cutting you off, was because I didn’t want to be what I had been with my ex. Weak . Giving in. I made a fool of myself over him. The harder I tried, the less he wanted me, and looking back, I behaved like such an idiot. He didn’t want the life I wanted—or at least, he didn’t want it with me. So I needed to be tough this time—to protect my sanity. That’s why I had to cut you off, Damon, because I was worried I’d give in and make a fool of myself again.” Her lower lip trembled. “I’m sorry.”
She saw nothing but empathy in his face. “I’m sorry too. I should have told you about the damn party with Nami right away.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t care. I miss you.”
They moved at the same time, and their mouths connected in a searing, sensual kiss. Audra sighed happily as their tongues touched, reigniting the flame that had extinguished inside her.
Straining onto her toes, she let her fingers climb into his hair so she could caress the curly strands and smooth her hand down the back of his strong neck. She had missed touching him, loving on him, feeling every inch of his tall frame pressed against her.
They stumbled toward the bedroom, hastily stripping away their clothes and shoes along the way. Standing beside the bed, Audra flattened against Damon and lost herself in the erotic sensation of skin on skin.
“I love you,” Damon said in a taut whisper against her neck, his hands moving lower to cup her bottom.
Audra jerked back and stared at him. “Wh-what did you say?”
His slumberous eyes gazed down at her. Whenever he looked at her like that, it made the blood in her veins pump hotter. “I’m in love with you, Audra.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I love you so much,” she admitted in a whisper.
A faint smile tucked into the corners of his lips. Then he kissed her hard, and they fell onto the bed as they devoured each other with feverish kisses and roaming hands.
Audra wrapped her legs around his backside and clenched her arms around his neck. His growl of satisfaction filled her ears as he sank his teeth into her soft earlobe and sucked.
She was overheating, dying from the exquisite pleasure of his amorous kisses and touches. She had missed the sensation of his weight on her and his warm breath on her skin. Reaching between them, she took him in her hand and stroked his rigid flesh. Damon shivered above her and buried his face in her neck, his butt tightening beneath the heel of her foot.
“Now. I need you now, baby.” His voice was a guttural plea.
Audra moaned, grinding against him in blatant invitation. Shoving his fingers into her silky hair, Damon surged into her with a low growl, and she gasped as electrifying shocks raced through her. He set the pace with rhythmic thrusts of his hips, rocking her on the mattress, forcing her throat muscles to expel whimpering cries.
Gasping and panting, Audra tightened her legs around Damon while her hands swept over his broad back and shoulders. Throwing back her head, she surrendered to the pleasure of his powerful body claiming hers. When his pace increased, she kept time with him, biting her lip as she savored each deep, deliberate stroke.
“You got that good shit, baby. That good shit ,” Damon groaned.
Angling his hips, he hit her spot, and Audra screamed and clawed his muscular back. She knew for sure they must have heard her all the way down in the parking lot.
“That’s it. Come for me, baby,” Damon coaxed huskily.
That was all it took. Her intimate muscles contracted around him, and he swelled inside her. Her thighs trembled around his hips, and they came at the same time, bodies bucking against each other, their cries filling the air in the room.
Damon collapsed on top of Audra, and she welcomed his weight. It had been so long since she experienced the pressure of his solid body between her thighs that she didn’t want to let him go.
Winded and shaken, she closed her eyes and let her thundering heart slowly return to a normal pace. She pressed her cheek against Damon’s and savored the scruff of his beard against her soft skin.
He kissed the underside of her jaw and then her chest before easing from between her legs.
“Well,” he said. “Welcome back.”
“That was quite the welcome.”
“I do what I can.” As if he couldn’t help himself, he dropped another kiss on her lips.
Enjoying the contact, Audra held his face between her hands to prolong it. Briefly, she swept the tip of her tongue along his lower lip, and he moaned.
“I missed you,” she whispered.
“Missed you, too, baby.” Damon rolled off the bed and strolled toward the bathroom.
Audra admired his graceful walk and the beauty of his muscular body and thought about how lucky she was. He returned from the bathroom with a warm washcloth. After they cleaned up, they lay facing each other under the covers.
“You know I’m never letting you go again, right?” Damon asked, rubbing his knuckles along the slope of her cheek.
“I don’t know, the makeup sex might be worth it,” Audra teased.
“Nah, we need to find another way to have crazy good sex,” he said.
She let out a little laugh and smoothed her palm over his chest. She never grew tired of touching him.
Damon frowned as he looked at her. “Everything okay?”
Despite their time apart, he was still attuned to her moods.
Audra licked her lips. “I have something to tell you.”
He sobered. “You’re making me nervous. What’s wrong?”
Her mother’s words came back to her: When the right man comes along, he’ll show you through his actions, not just his words—how important you are to him. She was about to find out how important she was to Damon.
“I don’t know how to say this because I can’t believe it happened again.”
He raised up on his elbow. “What’s happened again?”
Audra took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked directly into Damon’s face.
“I’m pregnant.”