Chapter 32
MILES
Aman can never actually hold his beating heart between his hands. Our palms will never feel the beat of the life force that keeps us alive. But London in my arms is pretty damn close.
Her lips on mine feels like I’ve made it past the mundane and into some place ethereal. Fine fingers tug at my hair as I stumble my way to the bathroom.
Petal is jumping up, desperate to see her mama.
Sorry girl, you’ll have to wait. Daddy has plans for this woman in his arms. Many, many plans.
Plans—well, dreams—I thought were lost until about five minutes ago. The weight of grieving what we had was starting to become too heavy. So now, with London in my arms, I feel . . . whole.
Whole and lighter.
My sneakers squeak over the bathroom tile, and I set her down. She’s exploring my face, like we’ve been apart so damn long she’s just now learning it all over again. My heart swells.
“Beautiful, this old man needs a shower.”
Her pert nose screws up as she pretends to sniff me.
I chuckle. “You’ll keep, yeah?”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll join you.”
Not what I was—
Her hands are tugging at the hem of my running shirt.
I lift my arms and she’s on her tiptoes, pulling the shirt over my head.
She kneels, big brown eyes looking up at me as her fingers curl around my shoelaces and loosen them.
When I’m shoeless, she taps my calf, and I lift it.
She peels one sock off and then the other.
My shorts go next and then my briefs, until I’m bare. Heart on my damn sleeve for this incredible woman who walked through fire, reset her compass, and came home, all at the same time.
I’ll never be more grateful for the blessings she’s sent my way just by returning the love I’ve craved from the start. And for her to choose us twice . . .
My blood bounds through my veins.
She hesitates, still on her knees.
I reach for her, but she shakes her head, her fingers brushing up my thighs.
My cock is achingly hard, body vibrating with the restraint it takes to keep my hands from seizing what I want.
My body is alive with need.
But I ran a ton of miles. I need a shower.
“Shower, baby. Promise I’m all yours after.”
Brows falling, she pushes to her feet. Then her hands are guiding me to the shower.
I turn on the water and spin back, claiming her face with my hands. She closes the gap, biting down on my bottom lip.
I groan, my hands sinking into her hair, tugging to tilt her face. I devour her like I’ve been starving for her for the longest time.
Because I have.
She looses a low, soft sound that’s akin to a huffy cry, and I’m lifting her shirt off her body. She works the button on her jeans, kicking them away. Her breaths come quick and hard as she stands in her underwear, waiting.
So damn perfect.
Electricity flings through my veins, reminding me how much this woman affects me.
“Miles,” she utters, her gaze drifting to the water pouring down, wetting everything with the shower curtain pulled to one side.
I close the distance.
“It’s big enough for two, beautiful.”
“I was starting to think you’d never say.”
I lift her to my waist, and she curls around me like she never left. I step into the old claw-foot tub and walk us into the heated spray. Her hands roam my face as she brushes her lips over mine, the only thing between us now the never-ending droplets of water and the panties and bra.
I turn in the spray until she’s shielded from the water by my back and release her to her feet.
“Beautiful, I love your curves in these, but they’re going.”
She runs a finger behind the strap of the bra and gives me a doe-eyed look. Damn brat.
“If you say so, sir.”
That’s fucking it.
I sink my teeth into the creamy column of her neck before suckling the spot. Starving is a hard thing to tamp back when you’ve been pining for one thing for so long.
A moan slips between her parted lips, and I suckle and kiss my way over her collarbone and across the top of one incredible breast.
Trembling fingers crawl into my hair, and I send my hands around her and unclasp the bra, letting it fall into one hand before tossing it from the shower space.
Before the next heartbeat falls, I sink to my knees, the soles of my feet pressing against the end of the tub as I slide my hands up her thighs and over her hips.
“Miles . . .” Her throat works.
I can see the guilt over our time apart in her eyes.
“Don’t, beautiful, I would have waited as long as it took for you to do what you needed to. That’s not an issue here, okay?”
“Okay.”
I tilt my head and raise an eyebrow.
Her brows flick down briefly before she understands. “Yes sir.”
“Good girl.” I tug her panties over her hips, and she steps out for me a beat before I send them flying across the bathroom.
A giggle bursts from her lips.
Much fucking better.
“How’s the shower coming along, Captain?” she breathes.
“I have one last job before I wash up.”
“Oh?”
I spread her thighs with my hands, and she slaps a palm to the tiled wall, steadying herself.
Holding her gorgeous brown eyes with my own, I send my tongue through her center and brush my thumb over her clit.
The last trace of mirth hanging over her features disintegrates to something akin to ecstasy. “Mi—”
Hell, she tastes incredible. My cock jerks with every stroke I take over her soaked center, my balls cinching with the taste, the feel of her velvet entrance.
Christ.
Flicking my tongue over her clit, I sink two fingers inside her. Her wet heat closes around my digits, and I’m all but lightheaded with the feel of her. I’ve tumbled, falling right into my own heaven. And I have barely started.
I suckle down hard on her clit, and she clamps down around my fingers, uttering a string of curses punctuated with my name.
Fuck yes, beautiful.
Legs trembling, hands pulling at my hair, she whines when I stay on my knees. “Come on, Milo. That’s the least of what this girl needs.”
She looks so stunning, cheeks flushed, lips parted, hair a mess, bare breasts heaving with every dam breath. I could so easily ask . . .
The water turns cold, and London squeals, jumping out of the spray.
I rise and lather my body. Not even the cold water of the fall pipes could temper the heat she’s stirred up in my body right now. Rinsing off, I step out, and London hands me a towel. I reach for it, and she doesn’t let it go. Instead, she pulls me closer with my grip around the towel.
“I believe you promised you were all mine when you were clean,” she whispers.
I am, beautiful. Have been for a long while now.
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good.” The word is threadbare. Her brown eyes are so dark, never wavering from my face.
She turns and walks to the bedroom, those hips swaying as she sweeps her hair to one side, letting it fall over her chest and out of sight.
I can only stare. Stunned by the fact this is the moment I waited for so long. Twice now.
Swallowing, I follow her to the bedroom. I cross the threshold to find her kneeling on the side of the bed, her back to me, her head turned to look over her shoulder.
And fuck.
You don’t have to tell this man twice.
I close the distance and sink my mouth over the angle where her shoulder meets that elegant neck of hers.
Her hand rises, fingers weaving in my hair as she cants her ass at me.
“Patience, baby.”
“After that many days without you, Miles, I’m all out of it.”
I growl, pressing my cock against her ass and sending a hand around her front to pluck one hard nipple between my fingers.
The whimper that huffs from her has me desperate.
More than I have been for the last six weeks without her.
More than I’ve ever felt before.
“Miles, please . . .” She turns back, her mouth hunting mine.
I nudge her entrance with the tip of my cock. Her breathing turns ragged.
My own breaths follow after hers as I slam into her, not caring to ever be parted again.
“Beautiful, fuck . . .”
She’s already clamping around me, her sweet little moans never-ending as her hands turn to grabby tugs in my hair.
“Oh—my . . . god.”
I slide out and thrust in hard.
Her back arches, sliding over my chest.
“Good girl,” I growl, sending a hand to her center, thrumming her clit with every thrust I take.
Her body is shaking as I pull out, ever so slow, until the tip of my cock rests in her entrance. A sob chugs through her.
“London?”
Her face is twisted. “I’m sorry.”
“Baby, it’s okay.”
“No, I left because it got hard.”
Pressure builds between my ribs.
“And I hated myself for it, Miles. I hated every minute of it. I was—” A wail spills out of her.
I cradle her against my body, dotting a kiss to the crown of her head. “I will always be your safe place to fall, baby. Let me be your safe space, please.” My voice cracks.
“As—” She turns, tears streaking down her face. “As long as you promise I can be yours.”
I haul in the breath that threatens to choke me out. “Always.”
She turns her head further, kissing my neck, and emotion cracks my resolve. A tear rolls over my chin and down my neck, and she tracks her tongue over it, catching it before it can fall.
“Now, will you let me love you the way I need to?” I rasp.
She holds my gaze, hers as watery as mine is, I imagine. “Yes sir.”
“Good girl.”
I wrap her hair around my hand and tug so her head is tilting back, her throat exposed. Thrusting in hard, I wrap a hand over her throat and drop my mouth to the shell of her ear. “Come for me, beautiful.”
She moans, fingers curling around my hand at her throat, pushing down.
Fuck, baby, that’s it.
We were fucking made for each other.
Our combustion point so close.
So intrinsically tethered.
We are oxygen and a flame.
Without the other we die out.
I thunder into London as she loses herself to a string of sweet sounds and sends heat sinking to the base of my spine. My body trembles, my thrusts turn sloppy. My grip on her neck fades, and I concentrate on her clit.
Brown eyes find mine when she tilts her head back. “Come for me, Miles. Give me every last fucking drop.”
“You sure you want everything this old man has to give you?”
Her eyes soften. “Always.”
I thunder into her, and she holds my gaze through every wave of pleasure having her wrapped around me brings. Our gazes stay snagged as she clamps down, her own face falling as her fingers tighten in my hair, her pussy strangling my damn cock. “Fuck, Milo. Oh . . .”
I cuddle her into my hold, dropping kisses and whispering sweet nothings as we come down from that place we only ever find together.
London turns on the bed and walks backward on her knees as she beckons me with a finger. “Come here, sir.”
“Need cuddles, beautiful?”
I drop to the bed and close the distance. As she reaches for me, she utters, “No, I just need you.”
We collapse into the bed, and I slide the sheet up before wrapping my body around hers.
They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I’d like it on record that our hearts are strong enough. They’ve been through more than most. We’re done with absence. I have no problem diving headfirst into forever with this woman.
Like I ever had a choice.
Or any control over that . . .