Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Keira
“Take me to bed,” I said against Dean’s lips.
Still kissing me, he picked me up from the barstool. My legs wrapped around his middle, arms closing around his neck. The rest of the chai was going to get cold, but I’d worry about that later.
I wanted Dean in our bed. Inside me, all over me. This man I loved with everything I had.
Nothing he’d told me had changed how I felt about him.
Nothing had frightened me, or even surprised me that much given what he’d shared before.
My clearest impression was that Dean had been searching for some bigger purpose his entire life.
His superiors had taken advantage of that, but at the crucial moment, he’d broken free.
I just wanted to love him. To show him how perfectly imperfect he was to me. Dean was all I needed, just as he was.
In the bedroom, he kicked the door closed and carried me to the mattress. Every one of his kisses was deep and passionate. Nothing held back.
Tonight had been an emotional roller coaster, especially when added to the events of the last day, but giddiness bubbled inside me. We loved each other. We could be together now, and we wouldn’t let anything stand in our way.
Dean lowered me gently, then stripped off his shirt. The sight of him without the necklace was surprising. Just golden skin, a dusting of chest hair. A small bandage on his ribcage, where Woodson’s knife had glanced over Dean’s skin. A faint bruise on his jaw from the fight.
I finally understood the meaning of that necklace. A reminder didn’t have to be a bad thing at all, but for Dean, wearing that bullet around his neck meant he could never let the past go. He’d still been punishing himself for it.
I wasn’t sure he’d forgiven himself just yet. That wouldn’t happen overnight. But I believed he was finally ready to try.
His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed, his hands going to the button of his cargo pants. He flicked it open. Shoved the cargoes down and stripped them off.
“No boxers?” I asked.
“I was hurrying earlier. Trying to go before I could change my mind. Obviously, that didn’t work.” He fisted his cock and stroked it a couple of times until it was thick and straining. “My mind’s made up. I’m not going anywhere again. Not without you.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.” He crawled onto the bed and stretched out over me. “I love you.”
Every time he said those words, I inhaled them like they were oxygen. Dean loved me. He wasn’t going to leave. There were no guarantees, but we were actually going to try making this thing real.
He kissed me again, touching my face and neck. His hand moved to my wrist and covered the bracelet. That gift meant so much to me. It had hurt when I thought it was a consolation prize or something. An apology for leaving again.
But now, it felt like another I love you. A reminder of our friendship and a promise for the future.
“Why are you naked and I’m still dressed?” I asked when he gave us a moment to breathe between kisses.
“You’re right. Let me fix that.”
Dean helped me sit up and carefully tugged the shirt over my hair. Then slid my panties over my hips and down my legs.
He wasn’t rough this time. His touch was reverent. Like he was unwrapping a present or dealing with some precious object. And I knew that had nothing to do with my past injuries. I was all healed now. I could take whatever Dean wanted to give me.
He was showing his love. Touching my skin like it was the first time, and he didn’t want to miss a single thing. His blue gaze wandered over me. The scars and the imperfections. But I saw nothing but appreciation.
I lay back down. Dean was kneeling between my thighs. “I’m going to worship you, Keira. I’m gonna love you all night. Love you forever.”
There was so much raw desire in his tone that my eyelids fluttered, and my clit throbbed with want.
We’d told each other how we felt in words, but our bodies spoke a different language.
Something deeper and truer. That was what I craved now.
Being as close to Dean as possible, sharing something that was only for us. No one else.
He bent down and kissed my knee. “Are you ready for me? Do you need a glass of water or something first? Because when I get started, I won’t want to stop.”
“Don’t stop,” I moaned. “Don’t ever stop. I’m ready.”
“Good.” The word was a whisper. “Get on your hands and knees for me at the edge of the mattress.”
Trembling and breathing hard, I crawled into position. Dean stood up behind me. His large hand rested between my shoulder blades, easing my upper body down and leaving my hips in the air.
“Arch your back, sweetness. Like that. Perfect.”
I was completely exposed to him. Nearly vibrating with how much I wanted him.
Dean went to his knees on the rug, holding on to my outer thighs. And then I felt his tongue at my core. Lapping over my most sensitive places.
I gasped, dropping my forehead to the mattress.
Even after weeks of being Dean’s lover, having his tongue inside me so many times, this still felt different. I felt like his in every way. I was completely in Dean’s hands, more relaxed with him than I’d ever been. I trusted that he’d never leave me wanting again.
His tongue circled my clit, and then he said, “I love you,” before gently sucking.
My hips rocked back against his tongue. Dean’s thumbs massaged the flesh of my thighs. My heart was racing, heat prickling all over my skin.
“I love the taste of you. Can’t get enough.” He brought his fingers between my legs to keep up that relentless pleasure on my clit. “And I love that it’s only for me. No one else will ever have you this way.”
“No one.” My mouth opened on a gasp as his tongue flicked over my clit again. “Oh, Dean. Please.”
“I’ve got you.”
He gave me everything I needed. Tongue and lips taking turns with his talented fingers. When I was close, his tongue thrust rhythmically into my pussy. I shouted and writhed. So taken over by pleasure I felt drunk with it.
I was still coming when Dean stood and pushed his cock inside me, setting off another orgasmic wave.
Dean hadn’t been with anyone else for years before me. Not since before we’d met. And he was all mine now too. No one would feel his passion but me. Feel his love.
Dean’s cock filled me with slow strokes.
He wasn’t racing toward any finish line.
I relaxed again, eyes half closed with bliss, my fingers holding on to the sheet beneath me.
Just savoring this feeling. That smooth, perfect glide of our bodies meeting.
As if we were always supposed to love each other this way.
After a while, he pulled out. His hand caressed my back. “Roll over, baby. I want to see your pretty brown eyes.”
When I was on my back, legs spread for him, Dean entered me again. He bared his teeth and grunted. “Nothing’s ever felt this good. You’re so perfect for me.”
I reached up to touch his handsome face and follow the lines of his jaw and cheekbones. This face I’d loved for years without believing those feelings would be returned. The pure wonder of it made happiness glow at the center of my chest.
“I love you,” I breathed.
Dean’s smile was raw and genuine. He’d smiled at me a million times before but never so full of open affection. My heart stuttered and ached like I was falling in love with him all over again. Like I could spend a whole lifetime falling deeper in love with him and never reach a limit.
Dean hooked his arms beneath my knees and bent my legs even wider. He could do anything, have any part of me. I’d felt that way about him two years ago, but now I knew how much it hurt to lose him. I knew the secrets he’d been hiding.
The way I loved Dean now was so strong, it felt like we could conquer anything.
He licked a bead of sweat from his upper lip. His chest rose and fell, his rhythm faltering as he pumped his shaft into me. Then his cock started to pulse, and he fell forward onto one hand, hips still moving.
When he stopped, he licked his lips again, breathing hard. “You’re incredible.”
“You were doing all the work.”
Dean landed heavily on the mattress beside me, making me bounce. “I disagree. Everything you were doing was working great for me. Think I blacked out for a second.”
I laughed and poked his arm affectionately. He retaliated by draping that arm over me, half crushing me. But I didn’t mind.
“Love you,” he murmured.
“I love you too.” And no, I was not tired yet of hearing or saying that. Not even close.
He closed his eyes, but his soft, uneven sighs told me he was still awake.
“Dean?” I asked.
“Not sleeping. Just resting for the next round.”
My lips quirked. “I know. But I wanted to say something. Ask you something.”
“Yeah?” His eyes opened.
I took a deep breath.
“Don’t go after Ryan Garrett. I don’t want revenge anymore. Harris Medina can do what he wants with him.”
“You’re sure?”
“Completely. I just want to have you.”
Nothing mattered more than that. Our future. Our happiness. We had to leave the rest of it, especially the anger and fear, behind.
Dean reached out to cup my cheek. “Alright. I won’t. You have me, okay? You have me. Always.”