Chapter 33
Knox
We stumble through the doorway, mouths fused, hands everywhere. I don't bother with lights. The afternoon sun slanting through the blinds is enough to see her face, her eyes, the flush spreading down her throat.
My phone buzzes in my back pocket. Malachi. Third time in an hour. I reach back, silence it without looking, and let it fall somewhere on the floor. Whatever's coming can wait until I've had this. Until she's had this.
I set her on the edge of the bed, step between her knees, and frame her face with both hands.
"I love you," she says, soft but steady. "I love you, Knox."
Every time she says it, my chest cracks open a little wider. I don't think she knows that. I don't think she knows that three words from her mouth rearrange the way I breathe.
"Yeah." I put forehead to hers. "I love you too, sweetheart. Now tell me what you want."
She smiles, small and wicked. "Fewer clothes. Immediately."
I bark out a half-strangled laugh. "Best order I've had all week. Arms up."
We undress each other with enough care that it feels reverent. I push her jacket off her shoulders first, let it drop. I slide her sweater up, soft fabric whispering over her skin, and when I pull it off, her stomach contracts under my knuckles.
Her fingers hook in my shirt, knuckles brushing my stomach, and that tiny touch nearly folds me in half. By the time she gets it over my head, I'm already thick and aching against my jeans.
I unclasp her bra, let it fall, and for a second just look at her.
"You're staring," she whispers, cheeks going pink.
"Yeah." Thumbs tracing the curve of her breasts. "I am."
Her shoulders roll back, settling into being seen instead of flinching from it.
I peel her leggings and underwear down bit by bit, watching every inch of new skin.
She lifts her hips to help, and her legs fall open without being asked.
Two years ago that would have stopped my heart.
Now it just feels as though this is where she lives, in the space between us, and her body knows it before either of us says a word.
I shed my jeans and boxers, climb onto the bed, cage her in without putting my weight down. My left side pulls, the bruise reminding me it exists, and her hand finds it immediately, fingers light over the gauze.
"Careful," she murmurs.
"Always." A lie we both accept. I hover, letting the heat reach her before the pressure.
She reaches up to touch my jaw, thumb stroking my lower lip, and it's almost obscene how much restraint it takes not to bite.
"Sloane." The word scrapes out rough. "Look at me."
She's wide-eyed, pupils blown, and her chest rises in little uneven pulls. I settle between her thighs, palms sliding from her knees to the heat of her inner thighs, nudging wider.
"I want to taste you first," I say, lowering my mouth to her sternum, kissing a path down. "Want to feel you fall apart on my tongue before I'm inside you."
Her hands go to my hair immediately, threading through, holding on. I lick down her stomach, tongue catching on the soft give of her skin, hips jerking beneath me. By the time I get my mouth between her thighs, she's slick. Warm, wet, ready. I breathe her in and my sanity fractures cleanly.
"Knox…"
I hook her legs over my shoulders and devour her.
A deep, hungry lick from her entrance to her clit, a second one filthier and unhurried, just to watch her fall apart.
She fists my hair and arches, a broken sound catching in her throat.
I hold her hips down, tongue circling, flicking, sucking her clit into my mouth until she's shaking.
"Knox—please—I'm—"
"Let go, sweetheart." The vibration makes her choke on a gasp. "Let me taste it."
Two strokes and she snaps. Her thighs clamp around my head, whole body bowing tight as she comes with a sharp cry of my name.
I ride it out, licking her through it, refusing to pull back until her legs tremble against my shoulders.
When I lift my head, her chest is heaving, hair wild against the sheets.
That dazed, wrecked expression goes straight to my cock.
I crawl up her body, kissing the taste of her onto her mouth. She moans into me, open and trusting and hungry, and reaches between us. Her hand wraps around my cock, and I curse.
"I need you inside me. Please, Knox. I need—"
My control shreds. I wrap her thigh around my waist and line up against her slick heat.
"Look at me."
She does. I push in, one possessive stroke, sinking deep until my hips meet hers. Her breath breaks. Mine too. Sloane's gripping me as though she never wants to let go, warm as sin, body opening for me the way it does every time, as if she was waiting for exactly this.
"Jesus, sweetheart." I brace a hand beside her head, the other grips her hip.
"Feel that? The way you're pulling me deeper?
" Breathless nod. "That's your body telling you who you belong to.
" Drawing back, I slide in deeper, harder.
A sound escapes her; half moan, half whimper. "Say it. Tell me who you belong to."
"You. Yours. I'm yours."
"Damn right." I thrust harder. "Every inch of you. Mine."
She wraps her legs around my hips, nails digging into my shoulders. "More. Knox, please. I need more."
I give her everything. Measured at first, deep, controlled thrusts that make her gasp into my mouth, faster and harder after that, each one driving a soft, helpless sound from her throat.
"Love the sounds you make," I groan against her neck. "Every gasp, every moan. I could get off just listening to you." She tightens, responding to my words, clenching harder, drawing me deeper. "Especially when I tell you how fucking perfect you are."
"Yes. Knox."
"Listen close." I ease back, grinding deep. "No one else gets to see you like this. No one else gets to feel how you grip my cock like you're trying to keep me inside you forever."
"Knox! I'm—"
"Not yet." I kiss her hard, draw back. Put my forehead to hers. What comes out isn't the usual demand. "Tell me this is real. Tell me you're here because you want to be. Because you chose this."
Her eyes flood. "I chose this. I chose you. Every day, Knox. Every single day."
My vision whites at the edges. My next breath won't come.
"Good girl." I speed up, hips slamming into hers. "Now let me feel you. Let go for me."
She breaks the way a storm does. Back arching, mouth open, a raw cry spilling out as she clenches around me, pulsing so hard I grit my teeth not to lose it.
I keep going, hips grinding into hers, chasing the moment her pleasure drags me over.
When I come, it's violent. I slam forward, breath punching out of me, and spill into her with a groan that tears out of me before I can catch it.
I bury my face in her neck, holding tight while aftershocks tear through us both. We stay tangled. My weight is half on her, half on the mattress, and her arms are locked around me. Not clinging, not desperate. Just holding on the way you hold something you've decided to keep.
Her breath soft on my throat, leg hooked over mine.
My cock is still inside her, softening but not gone.
I kiss the top of her head. But the second her hips shift, a tiny unconscious roll, my body responds as though she flipped a switch hardwired into my spine.
She's still wet, still warm, still hugging me everywhere I need her most. I slide my hand down her back, over her ass, and squeeze firmly.
"Sweetheart, you keep moving like that and round two is starting now."
She tilts her head up, eyes dark with want. "Promise?"
Fuck.
"You want more?"
"I always want more." There's a shy hunger in her voice. "I can't get enough of you."
My cock throbs back to life faster than it should.
"Tell me what you want."
Her cheeks flush. "I want your mouth on me again. And—" She swallows, color climbing her throat. "I want to taste you."
Heat floods through me. "You want my cock in your mouth?" She nods, shy but certain.
"You can have anything you want."
I pull out, slick heat clinging, making us both gasp. She shifts, reaching for the edge of the bed. "Let me clean up first."
I catch her hip and pull her back. "No."
Her eyes widen. "Knox, you just—"
"I know what I just did." I press her flat against the mattress and slide down her body. "I want to taste us together." She makes a sound caught between shock and want as I settle between her thighs. "Open for me."
She does, and I lower my mouth, licking through the mess we made together. Languid and filthy, tongue working her swollen clit, tasting myself mixed with her. She writhes, fisting the sheets.
"Knox—that's—"
"I know what it is."
I drag my tongue lower, push inside her, and she clenches. She's swollen and oversensitive from the first round, nerves already lit. The sounds she makes when I fuck her with my tongue are wrecked enough to make my cock ache.
I shift to her clit, circling, and flick with the tip of my tongue until her hips start grinding against my face. Sliding two fingers in, I curl them up, and her back arches off the bed.
"Tell me how it feels."
"Good, so good. Knox, please—"
"Please what?" I press harder with my fingers, pumping while my tongue works her clit in tight circles. "Use your words, sweetheart."
"Don't stop. Right there. Just—"
Her thighs start shaking. Her walls flutter around my fingers, that telltale pulse that means she's close. I suck her clit into my mouth, hard, and press deep with my hand.
She comes apart with a sharp cry, thighs clamping my head, hips bucking against my mouth while I work her through it.
When I rise, she's already reaching for me.
"My turn." Breathless but determined.
I roll onto my back, cock hard, and watch her settle between my knees. Her hand wraps around the base. I groan.
"I love looking at you like this," she whispers, eyes lifting.
"Christ, Sloane." She licks a long line up the underside, tongue soft and unhurried. My hips jerk. "Fuck. Yes." She takes me in, lips stretching around the head, and I fist my hand in her hair. "That's my girl. Take me deeper—"
She sinks down until I hit the back of her throat and swallows around me. I curse, hips bucking. She looks up, glassy and unfocused, and she moans around my cock while moving in unhurried strokes that blur my vision.
She pulls off with a wet sound, catching her breath. "Knox, I want you to use my mouth. Please."
The words land, and for a second I can't move. She's giving me this. Offering it without flinching, knowing I'll take what she's handing over and still be the man she loves when it's done. My hands shake against the back of her head, and my ribs pull tight around a breath I can't finish.
I tighten my grip, guiding her back down. "This okay?"
She nods eagerly, and I thrust up gently, testing. She takes it, moaning. I fuck her mouth in controlled strokes, watching her eyes water, the drool slip down her chin, watching her take everything I give, and my hands won't stop shaking.
"You know what this does to me? You know what it means that you'd give me this?"
But I don't want to finish this way. I pull her off gently, and she gasps for air.
"On your stomach. I want you from behind."
She rolls over quickly, settling on her forearms and looking back at me over her shoulder. Watching my face, waiting to see what this view does to me. I kneel behind her, pulling her hips up.
"Goddamn." Running my hands over the curve of her. "You have no idea." I line up and push in with one smooth stroke. She cries out, fists clenching in the sheets. "Two years and you still take my breath away. Every. Single. Time."
"Yes, Knox. Yours—"
Hard and deep, the angle hitting perfectly, and she's close.
"Touch yourself. I want to feel you come while I'm buried inside you." Her hand slides between her legs, fingers finding her clit. "Make yourself come, sweetheart. Let me feel it."
She rubs herself in tight circles, tightening. "Knox! I'm going to—"
"Yeah you are." I can hear the pride in it and I don't care. "Give it to me."
She lets go, and I follow right behind. We collapse together, my forehead between her shoulder blades, aftershocks rolling through us both.
"I love you," she whispers, turning her head.
I pull her into my arms.
"I love you too, sweetheart." Because Malachi's phone call is sitting on the floor, a grenade with the pin half out, I say, "Whatever's waiting on that phone can wait a little longer."
She tenses, just a second. She knows too. "Five more minutes."
"Ten. Non-negotiable."
She lets out what's almost a laugh, and presses closer. We both know the clock is running. We both know what's outside this room. But we hold on anyway.