Chapter Thirty-Nine
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A s soon as Tristan was discharged from the hospital, Cassie drove him back to his place, where he went straight into the shower and then crashed. He slept like the dead, spent another two days mostly in bed or on the couch recovering from the blood loss and surgery.
On day four, he woke curled up on his right side with the sound of the rain tapping on the window. Faint, gray morning light filtered in around the edges of the blinds covering the windows.
The pain in his arm was down to a dull ache, and he no longer felt that heavy weight of exhaustion dragging him under.
Cassie was sprawled out on her stomach next to him in the wide bed, face turned toward him.
Her breathing was soft and even, her lashes casting dark shadows against the tops of her cheeks.
His heart rolled over in his chest with a hard thud as he drank her in. He couldn’t believe she was finally, completely his. If getting shot was what it had taken to get her to realize and admit her feelings, then everything he’d gone through was more than worth it.
He loved his family to death. They had all been amazing with helping out and checking in on them since he’d come home. But Cassie had been with him 24/7 and done most of the heavy lifting while also dealing with her own aftermath.
Without her beside him throughout his recovery so far, he would have been lost, and he’d done everything in his power to be there for her in return.
Her mouth and skin looked so soft, but her pointed chin betrayed her stubbornness. She was strong and brave and capable. The way she’d handled the situation with Quinn, facing him down all alone, blew him away. She was dealing with everything the best she could, but it was a heavy load.
And though his left upper arm ached like a bad tooth, being this close to her naked body made him hard all over. She hadn’t been sleeping well, or much. He didn’t want to wake her now but couldn’t stop himself from gently skimming the fingers of his right hand over her hair.
Her lashes fluttered. She stirred, opening sleepy silver eyes that focused on him quickly.
“You okay?” Her voice was raspy. Sexy as the rest of her.
“Just drinking you in. Didn’t want to wake you up, go back to sleep.”
Her soft smile soothed the deepest part of him. “I’d rather look at you.” She moved closer to kiss him gently. Her thigh shifted, coming into contact with the ridge of his erection. She pulled her face back, staring at him in surprise. “Oh. Are you...?”
“Hard as a rock for you? Yeah.” It was a constant thing when she was close.
“Hmmm.” She placed a gentle hand on his chest. Slowly moved it down his bare skin, over his abdomen, a doubtful frown on her face. “Are you sure you’re ready for...”
He captured her hand, brought it down to curl around his aching length with a low, half-desperate growl. It had been five days since he’d been inside her. He missed that deep physical and emotional connection with her. “Yes. God, Cass...”
The pain in his arm faded into the background as she shifted, carefully avoiding jostling him while she stroked his cock with her fist. She leaned down, her mouth finding a tight, flat nipple. He growled, pulled her closer.
“Well, if you think it’ll make you feel better,” she murmured, licking at him like the seductress she was.
“I know it will.” He couldn’t say more because she fisted him, the smooth pad of her thumb gliding across the sensitive tip.
Cassie got to her knees, bent over him and moved to his other nipple, sending streamers of sensation through him. Then she eased lower, her lips and tongue making a wet path down his clenched abdomen. Her head disappeared beneath the sheets.
There was zero chance he was missing any of this visual.
He yanked the covers back, struggled to remember to breathe when she fisted the length of his erection, her mouth an inch away from the throbbing head as she looked up at him with naughty, hungry silver eyes.
Her pink tongue darted out. Gave him a long, slow lick that almost made his eyes roll to the back of his head. His fingers bunched in her hair, all his muscles pulled tight in anticipation.
The warmth of her lips surrounded the sensitive crown, her tongue swirling over the spot that made him gasp, and then the most luxurious suction that had him biting back a curse.
He was so damned hard, already about to burst. He fought back the urge to come, heart thudding while she sucked and stroked him, pushing him to the edge of his control.
“Sit up and ride me. Ride me, Cass. I wanna watch you,” he rasped out of his tight throat. As much as he’d kill to come in her mouth right now, he didn’t want this to be one-sided.
Her eyes darkened. She slowly raised her head, pausing to suck the tip one last time before rising to her knees.
He drank in the sight of her rising over him like a living goddess, all long, lean lines and subtle curves as she eased a thigh across him to straddle his hips. And knowing she was on the pill, that she was about to sink down on him without a barrier between them, had him breaking out in a sweat.
Her tight, deep pink nipples stood out proudly as she poised above him. He cupped the small, perfect mound of one breast in his hand. Squeezed and rolled her nipple slightly, earning a gasp and a purring sound as her back arched.
She reached between them to grasp him tight. Set one hand on the bed next to his shoulder and moved her hips in a slow, sinuous rhythm as she rubbed her wet folds over him, her quiet hum of pleasure licking up his spine.
He squeezed her nipple harder, sucked in a breath when she shifted her weight and eased the swollen head of his cock into her slick heat. “Cass...”
“Yes.” She sank down on him, engulfing him in white-hot ecstasy.
His hand shot to her hip. Squeezed hard, his whole body locked tight.
Cassie moaned softly and slipped a hand between her legs to stroke her clit. He stared at it, ready to explode as he watched her long, slender fingers slide up and down, then circle her clit.
She gave a soft cry and began riding him faster. Harder. “Oh, it’s so good,” she breathed. “Oh, Tris, yes. Yessss ...”
Fuck. He clenched his jaw and fought not to come yet, raw, searing pleasure consuming him as she worked him with obvious enjoyment. Her core clenched around him.
Cassie’s head tipped back, her cries of release breaking him. Digging his fingers into her hip, he shouted as his own orgasm hit, coursing through him like a riptide.
When he was able to see again, Cassie was leaning over him, her eyes heavy-lidded with satisfaction and pleasure. She smiled softly.
Eased forward to kiss him, her tongue sliding slow and lazy against his. “Did I hurt you?” she murmured.
“Hell no.” The pain in his arm was back with a vengeance now, but it had been worth it.
“Good. But you’re gonna take your next dose of meds right now anyway.” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips then eased off him and disappeared into the bathroom. Moments later she came back with his pills, a glass of water, and a warm wet cloth she used to clean him up while he swallowed the meds.
“There,” she said after taking the cloth back to the bathroom. “You want to sleep a while longer? Or are you hungry? I can make us something fattening for breakfast.”
“Sleep first.” He curled his arm around her. Started to draw her close to him, but her phone rang on the bedside table.
She leaned over, giving him the most incredible view of her tight, rounded ass, then sat back on her haunches and studied whatever was on the screen. “It’s Ivy.”
She looked up at him, expression tensing along with his gut. “She’s downstairs. Says she has something we need to see.”