Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
TESSA
We stood on the balcony, wrapped around each other in silence for a long while before Bryce spoke, bursting the happy little bubble enveloping us.
“There was somethin’ on your mind before that storm hit. Somethin’ you needed to ask me. What was your question, beauty?”
Every muscle and tendon in my body grew taut, straining at the reminder of what had been plaguing me before my breakdown.
Feeling the tension forming inside me, Bryce rubbed his knuckles up and down my spine, massaging the knots out with his capable hands. “Told you already, honey, you can ask me anything. So just ask.”
Lifting my head, I looked into those wintery green eyes, eyes I had fallen in love with, eyes I was still in love with. I pulled up every bit of strength I could muster and asked, “Why did you end things the way you did, Bryce? Why did you leave me?”
His breath rushed across my face as his lungs purged themselves on a massive exhale. Shock registered clear as day on his features, and I could see those shutters begin to lower.
“This can’t come as a surprise,” I said, feeling my defenses start to rise. I could see him shutting down before my very eyes, could feel it in every inch of him. “You had to know I’d eventually ask for the truth. I think I’m owed that much, at the very least.”
His big, broad shoulders slumped in defeat. His hands came down to my hips, his fingers pressing in hard, like he was afraid I’d slip away. “I know you are.”
I couldn’t shake what Sage had told me earlier that day.
She’d been right. Bryce wasn’t the type of guy to cut and run for no reason.
Something had to have happened. Something that could, perhaps, explain those scars and the nightmare I’d witnessed.
“Bryce, did something happen on that tour? Is that why?” He squeezed his eyes closed, turning his head away as anguish contorted his features.
“Oh my God,” I said on a breath. “It did, didn’t it?
” Reaching up, I took his face between my hands and turned it back toward me. “Bryce, baby.”
The sorrow marring those pale greens when he finally looked back at me cut me to the quick. “I know you deserve answers, honey. I know, and I swear, I’ll give ’em to you. Just not tonight, Tessa, please. We’ve been through enough already, don’t you think?”
I could give him that. At least for tonight. After all, what he’d just said spoke volumes. There was a reason he left me. He hadn’t broken my heart for no reason, so if he needed time to find the strength to tell me, I could accept that.
“Okay. I can wait.”
The relief that poured off him with my easy acceptance sparked the air between us.
One of his hands moved up, fisting my hair and holding tight as he pressed his forehead against mine.
“Stay with me tonight.” It came out as a plea, and there was no mistaking the hunger in his voice.
“I want to wake up with you next to me.”
“I . . .”
“Please.” His eyes flashed with heat and need. It was the very same look he gave me in the middle of the dance club all those years ago. The look that had me craving him then just the same as I was craving him right now.
“Bryce,” I whispered. He lifted his head and met my gaze expectantly.
“Yeah, honey?”
“Take me to bed.”
Bryce
I lost all control.
Four simple words and that thin thread of self-control snapped. I couldn’t hold back another second.
My mouth slammed against hers, and her lips parted instantly. I drove my tongue inside, tasting my sweet Tessa for the first time in over a decade. And it was enough to make me insane.
Using my grip on her hair, I pulled and tilted her head to get better access. She moaned, pressing harder against me, and I could feel the stiff peaks of her nipples beneath her shirt.
I couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t feel or taste enough. With each second, the kiss grew hungrier, fueling a fire that drove me on. I needed more, more, more.
Releasing her hair, I palmed her ass with both hands and lifted her. On cue, she wrapped her legs around my waist. My hips bucked as my tongue slid against hers, rubbing the steel of my erection against her core.
Sucking in a sharp gasp, Tessa pried her lips from mine and dropped her head back with a needy whimper.
“Fuck,” I grunted as she writhed against me. I could feel her heat through the layers of our clothes, and I couldn’t remember a time I’d been so hard. “Need inside you, beauty.”
“Hurry,” she panted, those golden honey eyes glazed with lust.
I moved, carrying us in from the balcony, but that was as far as I got. My jaw ticked as I clenched my teeth together. “Can’t make it to the room. Have to have you now.”
“Yes,” she breathed, peppering my face and neck with kisses. “Now’s good. Now works for me.”
Placing her on her feet beside the couch, I reached for the shirt she was wearing, toying with the hem as I met her glassy gaze.
“Love how you look in my shirt, Tessa. But I’ve been dying to see what’s beneath for too damn long.
” I tore the thermal over her head, leaving her in nothing but the tiny scrap of black lace, masquerading as panties, and a matching strapless bra.
“Jesus,” I clipped, dragging my hands from her ribs to the distinct dip in her waist. “Do you have any goddamn clue how beautiful you are?”
Her fingers fumbled with the drawstring of my pants.
“I appreciate the kind words, but you can tell me all this later. Right now, I need you to hurry. Please, Bryce.” I’d have gladly teased her more just to see how wild I could make her, but when her tiny hand breached the waistband of my pants and her fingers wrapped around my cock, I lost my fucking mind.
With a growl, I wrenched the flimsy underwear down her legs and unclasped the bra, tossing it aside. Her perfect rosy-pink nipples stood at attention, begging for my mouth. I sucked one stiff bud between my lips before moving to the other.
I paid them equal attention, licking, sucking, and biting, until Tessa was clawing at my back and shoulders, chanting my name like a benediction.
“Bryce, please,” she begged, her fingers tangling in my hair, gripping it tight. “Inside. I need you inside me.”
Who was I to deny this incredible woman anything she needed?
Taking her down onto the couch, I flipped her around until she was on all fours, bracing her hands on the arm as I moved into place behind her.
With one knee in the cushions and the other foot braced on the floor, I had the leverage I needed.
“You ready for me, Tessa” I asked, yanking my pants down just enough for my stiff cock to spring free.
“Yes,” she panted, her fingers digging into the sofa arm so hard her knuckles turned white. “I’m ready.”
Shifting closer, I dragged my erection through her folds, groaning at the wet heat. As soon as the tip caught at her opening, I drove in, burying myself balls deep.
Her walls immediately clamped around me, and her head flew back as she cried out my name.
“Fuck me,” I gritted, pulling out and slamming back in.
“Christ, I’ve missed this. Missed the feel of you.
” I powered in and out again and again, each word punctuated by a thrust of my hips.
“Missed every . . . goddamn . . . thing.”
“Oh God, yes!” she cried as she began pushing herself back against me. “So good, Bryce. You feel so good.”
“That’s it, baby.” I grabbed her hips, holding so tight I’d probably leave bruises, but I couldn’t help myself. “Fuck yourself, Tessa. Use my cock to get off.”
Her breaths became shallow pants as she worked herself harder. Having her ass pressing against me and seeing all that hair running down her back was a thing of beauty, but I needed to see all of her.
She let out a sharp protest when I pulled all the way out, but before she could speak, I moved us again.
Sitting back on the couch, I pulled her over me so she was straddling my lap.
With one hand holding my length ready, I grabbed her waist with the other and pulled her down as I snapped my hips back up, filling her even deeper.
At my order of, “Ride me, beauty,” she went wild. Her nails dug into my shoulders as she began to buck and grind against me. Her tits bounced in front of my face, making my mouth water, and when I cupped one in my hand and lifted it to my mouth, she let out a curse as her pussy spasmed.
“Close,” she moaned. “Baby, I’m close.”
Releasing her breast, I grabbed hold of her hair once again and forced her face to mine, speaking against her lips as I slipped one hand between us and rubbed circles against her clit. “Give it to me.”
Her lips parted on a choppy inhale. Her eyes went wide as her movements became disjointed . . . frantic, like she was trying to escape and get closer all at the same time. “It’s too much.”
My balls tightened, my cock swelled, and I was dangerously close to exploding. But I couldn’t come without her. “No it’s not. Let go, Tessa.”
I pinched her clit between my index and middle finger, and that was it. She flew apart, screaming my name as her release hit her.
I began to buck, driving into her tight, wet heat. Seconds later, I followed her over the edge, holding her down on my dick and grunting against her parted lips as she milked every drop of cum from me, draining my balls dry.
She collapsed against me, her sweat-slick chest sliding across mine with each rapid inhale we sucked in.
“Damn, beauty,” I mumbled once the ability to speak returned. “I think you might’ve just killed me.”
With a giggle she sat up, brushing the hair from my forehead tenderly as she gazed down at me. “Didn’t you tell me death by orgasm was the best way to go?”
“Yeah, and I meant it. But I was hopin’ to have you more than once before that happened.”
At that, her giggle turned into a full-blown laugh, warming me from the inside out. I was about to suggest moving to the bedroom for round two when she shifted on my lap and my softening length slipped out.
Her eyes went round with panic, and she quickly dropped her head, looking down to where our bodies had just been connected. A second later, I felt a rush of warm liquid coat my dick, and I knew what caused the sudden shift in the atmosphere.
“Shit, Bryce. You didn’t . . . we didn’t . . . We forgot a condom.”
“Are you on birth control?”
“Yeah, I have an IUD. But . . .” She trailed off, her gaze slowly returning to mine. My stomach clenched and bile rose in my throat, because I could see the question in her eyes. And I fucking hated it.
“I’m clean,” I told her as shame began coursing through my blood. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
She visibly relaxed. “Okay. I am too.”
Just like that, the high I’d been riding bottomed out, and I thought I was going to be sick. “Have you . . . Were there other . . .?” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
The post-orgasmic glow drifted from her face, and her features went blank.
“Don’t ask me that,” she ordered quietly.
“I don’t want to know about your past, and you don’t need to know about mine.
You wanted a second chance, and questions like that aren’t going to do either of us any good.
We were apart for ten years, Bryce. If this is going to work, we need to start again from this point right here. Okay?”
The thought of her with another man—or men—ripped me apart. But I would’ve been the biggest hypocrite in the world to push.
Inhaling through my nose, I counted down from ten until the fire raging inside me banked. “All right.” I nodded my head in agreement. “I won’t ask, honey.”
She finally smiled, the rigidness leaving her body as a teasing glint warmed the honey in her eyes. “Good. Then let’s go to bed. Maybe after a little nap, you’ll be ready to go again. I mean, you aren’t as young as you used to be.”
I let loose a low, warning growl, feeling my dick beginning to stir back to life at her sexy challenge.
“Young or not, I don’t need a nap to be ready for you.
” Lifting her off my lap, I set her on her feet and slowly began to rise.
“I’ll give you to the count of ten, baby.
Then I’m comin’ for you.” I swatted her ass, and she let out a little squeal before taking off toward the stairs.
I got to five before the need to touch her became too much. Then I went after my wife.