Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
LACHLAN
After Finn is finally out for the count—took three stories tonight, the wee negotiator—I pad through to my bedroom.
Blair is in the en suite, the door open. Fresh from the shower, a towel snug around her, she’s brushing her damp hair. Beads of water chase one another down her arms and back. It shouldn’t undo me, not after weeks of her living here. But it does. Every bloody time.
I move in behind her, sliding my arms around her waist, nuzzling into the curve of her neck. She smells of my soap mingled with the warm sweetness that’s just her, the mix intoxicating. I press a kiss below her ear, and when she angles her head back, our mouths meet.
She turns fully, and I cup the back of her head with both hands, deepening the kiss. My cock hardens quickly, and soon it’s trapped snug between our bodies.
With my tongue I tease the seam of her lips until she opens, but... she’s tentative. Hesitating.
“Everything all right?” I pull back. “Is it the headache?”
“I’m fine,” she says quickly, but her eyes tell a different story. There’s something in them I don’t quite recognise. Uncertainty? Unease?
I brush my thumb across her cheek. “We could have an early night. Just sleep.” God knows I’m aching for her, but her wellbeing trumps everything.
“No. I want you. I need you tonight.” Her eyes drop to the bulge in my joggers, and a smile flickers across her lips.
“And I think you need me too.” She presses closer and kisses me again, and this time there’s nothing tentative about it.
She kisses me like survival itself, tongue lashing mine, nails biting into my shoulders as if I’m her only anchor.
She grinds against my cock, frantic with need.
She’s different tonight, driven by something I don’t understand.
“Blair—”
“Please,” she whispers against my mouth. “Just... please, Lachlan. Kiss me. Make love to me.”
Like I could say no to that.
I claim her mouth with mine, one hand gripping her hip, pulling her even tighter against me, and the other trailing along her collarbone, following the water beading down her skin.
The kiss grows hotter, deeper, until her hands are tugging at my clothes.
I help her strip them off me—T-shirt, joggers, boxers—until I’m bare before her.
She gazes at me hungrily, then she brings her hands to my chest, rubbing them over my pecs and down my torso.
One hand wraps around my cock and gives me a couple of hard pumps, and my knees nearly buckle.
I tear her towel off her, and fuck me. Her small tits bounce free, nipples already tight.
My gaze drags lower: pale skin smooth all the way down to the golden curls between her thighs, already slick and begging for me.
“Christ, lass,” I mutter.
I cup her tits, circling her nipples until she’s moaning my name.
Lowering my head, I take one into my mouth, sucking gently, teasing with my tongue.
She arches against me, a gasp tearing from her throat.
Her fingers thread through my hair, holding me there.
When her gasps turn to moans, I switch to her other tit, lavishing the same attention before letting go with a wet pop.
“Come here,” she breathes, eyes burning with desire as she pulls me down with her to the cool tiles.
“Here? Not the bed?”
“Here,” she confirms, lying back. She draws her knees up towards her chest, opening herself for me, her pink folds glistening.
I can’t hold back. I drop between her legs and lean over her, my cock nudging at her pussy—not pushing in yet, just sliding through her wetness. The scent of her arousal hits me, sweet and heady. My hands roam her waist, her hips, down her thighs.
“Ready?”
Her eyes lock on mine, and she nods. “Yes.”
That’s all I need. I push forwards, slow but steady, sinking into her until I’m in as far as I can go. Her eyes flutter shut, and a groan rips from my chest. Christ, she’s so tight, gripping me all the way.
“Okay?” I manage, searching her face. It’s deeper like this, with her knees tucked up.
She opens her eyes. “It’s perfect.”
I set a rhythm, driving into her hard and sure, braced on my knees against the cool tiles, her pussy hot as sin around me. Every flicker in her expression undoes me. The flutter of her lashes, the soft “oh” on her lips.
Gripping one of her bent knees, I spread her wider, and the new, tilted angle has her gasping.
“I’m so close!” she breathes, and then she’s clenching around me, pulsing, coming apart on my cock.
“You’ll be the death of me,” I rasp, pounding even harder, and then I’m coming too, shooting deep inside her, every muscle taut until finally I collapse against her, spent.
Afterwards, I carry her through to my bed and lie down with her. She clings to me like she doesn’t want to let go, arms locked round my shoulders, face buried against my neck. Her breathing, still uneven, is warm against my skin.
I rub slow circles between her shoulder blades. “You all right?” I murmur after a while. “You’ve been a bit off tonight.”
Her fingers tense on me, then ease. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Aye?”
“I... got an email today.” Her voice is muffled against my neck. “From Cedar House. A publisher in New York. They reached out about a senior editor position.”
My hand stills on her back.
A job. In New York.
I’d been beginning to picture a future with Blair. Her daft voices whenever she reads to Finn. Her laughter echoing through the house. Her body beside mine each night. And now...
But this is what she’s always wanted. The dream she thought had slipped through her fingers. This is her chance to get it all back.
How can I stand in the way of that?
I force my arms to stay steady around her. Force my voice level. “Blair, that’s... incredible. What an opportunity.”
She lifts her head, eyes searching mine. There’s something in them I can’t pin down.
“It is, isn’t it?” she asks.
“Aye. Of course.” I sit up, helping her with me, even as my chest feels like it’s caving in. “I’m proud of you. Glad these people at—what was it, Cedar House?—glad they can see what a catch you are.”
The words taste sour, but they’re true. She deserves this. Even if it guts me.
“And the timing works out perfectly,” I add, trying for a smile. “Finn going back to school, your nanny job here wrapping up...”
She stares at me for the longest moment, those pale blue eyes searching mine. Then she nods, slowly. “Right.”
I hug her again, though every part of me is screaming at the thought of this house without her. At having to explain to Finn that Blair is leaving. At things going back to how they were before.
But I hold her tight, like I’m solid, when inside I’m anything but.
“This headache,” she says finally, drawing back. “Think I’ll sleep in the granny flat tonight. Figure I should probably break the habit of sleeping with my boss before I start a new job.”
I let out a laugh, but it comes out thin. “Aye. Right.”
She dresses quietly then pauses at the door, hand on the frame. “Lachlan?”
“Aye?”
She doesn’t turn. “I just...” She shakes her head. “Never mind.”
And then she’s gone.
For the first time in weeks, it’s just me in the bed. And the sheets still smell like her.
Sleep doesn’t come. My head’s too full. My chest too empty.