Chapter 15
DEXTER
All right. Things are going well.
I stare down at Holly, taking in the slow curl of her mouth around my thumb. Her breath is still uneven, her skin warm under my hand. I don’t rush. Just watch.
“I want to remember this with you, for the rest of my life. Something we never forget. Something we never lose.”
Her smile is gentle and soft, neither of which I would’ve ever used to describe her in the past. I don’t know what she expected from tonight, but I can tell you what I didn’t come here for: a clinical hit-it-and-quit-it baby-making session.
She smells like cherries. Her shampoo, maybe.
Doesn’t matter. It’s burned into my brain now.
I mark her, my thumb still at her lips when I lean in and kiss her.
She feels soft and warm and her body is still humming with the high I gave her.
My hand slides down to her chest, thumb brushing over the swell of her breast.
And yeah—I’m hard as steel. I’ve been hard since the second I first felt her lips on mine.
She whimpers, and I feel the brush of her fingers before I even look down.
“Yeah. Go ahead, baby,” I say.
And I thought I couldn’t get any harder.
Her hand closes around me, confident but searching, and I can feel how much she wants this, how much she’s letting herself feel.
I’ve never been this hard. Not for anyone.
Holly takes what she wants. That’s always been who she is.
But today, she’s… softer. Vulnerable. Turned on.
A little unguarded. And for some reason, I can’t stop watching her.
I catch the way she looks at me. I’m not missing it.
She kisses me again, eagerly, while she strokes me, just as eagerly, careless of rules or purpose or what this was meant to be.
Her body presses closer. She’s asking without words.
I’m already there with her.
I don’t want to wait.
I need to be inside her.
Now.
Half-blind with need, I fumble one-handed over the edge of the bed for my jeans. I find them, drag them up, and fish for my wallet. Where the fuck is it?
“What are you doing?” Holly asks, her voice raspy.
“Getting a condom.”
There’s a pause. Then she laughs, loud and breathless. “Wait. No. Dexter. You can’t wear a condom.”
I freeze, blink, and then chuckle. “Shit. Right. Reflex.”
I’m fucked. What is this woman doing to me?
She’s still laughing under me, the sound muffled against my skin. Her whole body shakes with it, and I’m watching her, and I’m loving it, not just the sound, but the way she’s giggling under me, shaking, visibly relaxing with me, here.
“Well,” she whispers, still catching her breath. “I appreciate your commitment to safe sex… very responsible.” Her eyes gleam. “But considering the goal here, that wouldn’t help much.”
“Fine by me,” I rumble, tossing my wallet to the floor, my focus still locked on the beauty under me.
Getting to take her bare, it’s going to be fucking heaven.
When I lower my head, I already feel her lips on mine. I cradle her with my arms, and settle between her thighs, right where I need to be. The action doesn’t break her kisses. Without hesitation, I feel her arms sliding around my neck, holding me close.
Close, but not close enough.
I interrupt our kiss so I can look her in the eyes.
She knows what I’m asking without me saying a word. She nods, and her eyes flutter closed, her lips parted, her chest rising quickly with each breath.
“No,” I growl. “Eyes open. On me.”
She gasps but obeys, and the second she does, I see it: the surrender, the trust, the hope.
Yeah. This is going to ruin us both.
I ease into her, just one bare inch, maybe less. The sound I make isn’t planned. It’s carnal.
“Ohh…” she moans at the same time.
God help me.
She’s so warm. So close. So perfect.
And I’m already fighting to stay in control.
Another inch, and my jaw ticks.
Another inch, and my head jerks.
Another inch, my brain short-circuits.
“Dexter…” she whispers.
“Yeah, princess?”
“Tell me… how it feels.” Her voice is shaky, breathless.
That’s Holly—only she would ask that now. Chuckling, I glance down at her, eyes wide, lips parted, gripping my shoulders like she needs something to hold onto.
“Fucking… incredible,” I murmur, pushing deeper, fully, until we’re pressed together and I can’t go any further. My smile fades. “Fucking… unreal.”
I’m inside her, and I can’t think. I don’t want to.
Just us.
Whatever I was a second ago is gone.
I don’t move. Not yet.
Everything narrows to the place where our bodies meet, and her, her, her.
I lower my head. Her chest rises in uneven waves beneath mine. I can feel her heartbeat. I give her time to adjust, to breathe. I give myself the time to cherish the moment.
“You’ll feel how right this is, down to the last inch.”
Just when I sense her about to speak, maybe to ask, maybe to beg, I pull back and sink into her again. Deep. Slow.
Her moan curls around my name.
“You want me slow like this?” I murmur against her neck, voice raspy.
“Yes… just like that. Oh…oh…”
Her eyes flutter closed, and her head falls back.
Each of my thrusts draws a gasp from her lips. Her chest brushes mine, her nipples are peaked, catching lightly with every shift of our bodies. Her hands slide into my hair, tugging me into another kiss, and her legs wrap around my waist, locking me in.
Her body answers to me as if this was the thing she’s always needed.
I feel everything: the strength of her grip, the urgency in her mouth, the way she pulls me closer like never wants to let go, as if the closeness is something she’s been starving for.
When I finally release her mouth, she opens her eyes.
Holy hell. Her eyes find mine, wide and shining, and for a second I swear the rest of the world disappears.
“Keep looking at me,” I grumble, bracing my arms on either side of her, caging her in. “Stay with me.”
Her gaze holds, and she’s the most beautiful she’s ever been.
“Just like this, baby. Eyes on me while I fuck you. The whole time.”
But slow? Yeah, that doesn’t last.
She meets every movement with her own, hips rising to match mine, her body moving in perfect sync with mine.
We lose ourselves in the rhythm, the push, the pull.
The fucking need. Every touch gets a reaction, quick and sure.
Her body is a step ahead of her mind, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Our mouths don’t separate.
Neither do we.
Her hands glide along my back, nails digging in just enough to make me groan as I pick up the pace. I find my way back to her neck, right to that spot that made her shiver earlier. I nip and soothe it with my mouth.
“Let it out,” I murmur. “I wanna hear you.”
“Dexter…” she gasps, her voice catching.
“Love the way you say my name,” I whisper-growl against her ear. “Say it again.”
Her hands are in my hair, on my shoulders, her whole body clinging to me, as I move deeper, harder, pinning her to the mattress with each thrust. “Dexter…”
“Baby,” I rumble, voice raw with everything I’m saying. I feel her tightening, her body coiling again, and I know she’s close. “Let go.”
I grip her thigh and shift, giving her that last push, the friction she needs. “Let it happen.”
Her breath hitches. Her body tenses.
“That’s it,” I whisper, my mouth at her ear. “Don’t fight this, baby. Let go for me.”
She shatters beneath me, clutching at me as she comes apart.
And I lose it.
I don’t know how long it lasts, and I don’t care. Nothing exists but her. Her voice, her body, the way she’s wrapped herself around me.
My hips slow, and I lean in, catching her mouth in a final kiss, full of everything I feel.
When our hearts slow, I roll to the side, catching my breath, but I don’t let go of her completely. My hand finds hers, and she gives it a gentle squeeze.
I bring her knuckles to my lips and kiss them.
“We just made a baby,” she whispers.
I lock eyes with her, and everything about her is soft and glowing.
Her lips curve up. “Thanks for the deposit,” she whispers.
Of course she’d say it now. No one else would think to joke at a moment like this. Wrong timing for anyone else. Exactly right for her.
I grin. “Anytime.”
We lie next to each other, and a calm silence washes over us. For a moment it feels like peace, and I let myself believe she’s at ease. Then her breathing changes, and her body stiffens, just barely. I glance over and yeah—she’s chewing on a thought.
Before it goes too far, I shift onto my side and hook an arm around her waist, tugging her closer. She’s in her head again, and I know just how to fix it. If I learned one thing from her, it’s how to turn a moment upside down.
“So…tell me the truth, babydoll,” I murmur, letting it hang. “Did it live up to the fantasy?”
She turns her head, eyes narrowing. “What fantasy?”
“You know. The one where you finally sleep with me after years of secretly wanting to.”
She snorts. “Please. If anyone was fantasizing, it was you.”
“Only when you flashed me your pretty lady bits.”
“Dexter. That was an accident. You walked in on me.”
“I’m not saying I didn’t.”
“You said I flashed you. That implies intent.”
“I stand by it. Still about ninety percent sure it was staged.”
She laughs, shaking her head, and the tension is gone, just like that.
We joke for a while, falling right back into our usual rhythm. And somehow, everything still feels the same. Sure, we had sex. Incredible, and surprisingly perfect, sex.
But our dynamic? Still intact.
Later, after we’ve cleaned up, Holly crawls back into bed and tucks an arm under her pillow.
“You’re not going back to your place, are you?”
“Nah. Too comfortable,” I say, slipping under the covers beside her. I pull her close and I press a kiss to her forehead. “But I’ve got a meeting tomorrow. So if you’re planning on riding the Dexter train again, I’m gonna have to pass. Sorry.”
She swats my shoulder, half-hearted, already fading. “One time only, remember?”
I catch her hand and press a kiss to her palm. “Sure,” I rumble. “Get some sleep, Hot Sauce.”
“Night, Bossy-pants.”
We’re out within moments.
It’s close to midnight. The moonlight slips through the curtains and lands on her. Holly’s asleep on her back, blonde hair spilled across the pillow. Her lips are slightly parted, and it almost looks like she’s smiling in her sleep.
She looks so peaceful. Eyes closed, breath soft and her chest is rising and falling against me like she hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in years. And now, she’s letting herself rest, here, in my arms. What matters is simple. She trusts me.
She moves, unaware, settling closer, and somehow finds the one position that guarantees I’m not going back to sleep.
I’m not a small man. My hands were never made for delicacy. But her breast fits perfectly in my palm, like it belongs there. Like she was built to be touched by me.
My cock throbs, pushing hard against the covers. It’s a biting, aching pressure I need to push down. But I can’t, not when she’s this close. Not when her body has already told me everything her mouth won’t.
Still, I close my eyes.
It’s Holly.