Chapter 50
Conrad
Unsurprisingly, Malena loved the library in my parents’ house.
I hardly ever spent time here—I’d been away at boarding school for most of my teenage years and we spent summers in Newport.
My room was nice, but it looked like a page out of a catalogue, like a hotel room.
The only parts of the house that ever felt warm were the salon and the library.
One of the large double doors opened and in she slipped, closing it behind her.
“That was Sabrina.” Malena walked back to where we’d sprawled out in the middle of the room. We came here straight from our meeting with Barrett and ordered takeout. “She was just checking in.”
On one side, expansive windows let in the city lights and on the other stood walls upon walls of bookshelves. She put her phone back on the table and picked up the novel she’d selected.
“No threats?” I asked lightly as I stretched my arm out along the back of the tuxedo couch and kicked my legs up.
She opened her mouth just as her phone lit up—another text from her mom. She leaned forward and flipped it over.
“Mal, I…” I paused. I cleared my throat. “I don’t want you to have to blow up your entire life to—”
“It’s already in pieces.” She turned to look me in the eye. “But now I have the chance to put it back together the way I want.”
“I can finally make a résumé, if that helps. You know, I did just help uncover an art forgery scheme.” I ran my hand up and down her side. “I can use it to impress them. I’m Conrad Hastings, after all.”
She laughed, and the sound warmed my chest.
But her smile faded as quickly as it appeared.
“Look, Con.” Her voice became serious. “My parents have a very narrow view of what I should do with my life and who I should surround myself with. They want me to follow their plan, and I don’t know if that will ever change.”
She pressed her lips together, the corners wavering. Her eyes fluttered down and she twined her fingers in her lap.
“They’re not going to like me,” I surmised, then nudged my hand between hers and stroked my thumb over her knuckles, back and forth. “We’ll figure that out.”
She looked up, her hand squeezing mine, and her smile held this time. “I’m only telling you that because I want you to know that what happens with my parents doesn’t change anything for me. For us.”
Relief moved down my body. “I’m not going to lose you?”
Like she was trying to physically prove that fact, she slowly swung a leg over mine, straddling me, and laid both her palms on my chest
“Not a chance.” She shook her head and smiled. “Unless I get thrown in jail for murdering Gemma.”
Bright and funny, the Malena I knew sparkled through the gray day.
I chuckled. “I knew that bothered you.”
“Yeah, well…” She played with the fabric at my collar. “You’re mine.”
“Have been for some time, Mal.”
“And I’m yours.”
“Good.” I leaned forward, my hands spanning over her thighs, and said, “Remember what you promised—the real Malena, every day.”
“That’s the thing, Con. I can’t help but be myself around you.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s always come naturally.”
I wrapped my fingers around the back of her neck, gentle but leading. Because a part of me couldn’t believe how I felt. How close I needed her. In every single way. “Come here.”
I pulled her into a kiss, unhurried.
Her lips melted against mine and she hummed softly. Warm and sweet, I deepened the kiss, wanting more of her taste.
Flushed, she pulled away a fraction of an inch.
“Where’s your room?” she whispered against my lips.
I took her hand and led her down the long hallway, where I was hit with the realization that with Mal, the space I’d resented for years no longer felt cold and lonely.
“I missed you,” I whispered against her lips as I kicked the door shut behind us.
“It’s only been a week.”
I stepped her back to the bed, my hands spread over her back, and pulled her out of her sweater then her tights. Her nimble fingers undid my pants and soon we were tumbling toward the mountain of pillows that sat along the top of the bed.
Her nails gently scratched against my scalp.
Laying her on her back, I dropped kisses down her body, stopping at her breasts for a few languid strokes around her nipples.
“Con…” she whispered, her face already flushed.
I moved down her body, making my way between her thighs. I looped my index finger around her panties and dragged them down her legs.
I wanted to savor her. Every part: the soft moans she let out, the tiny hitches in her breath when I grazed my teeth against her skin, the electricity her nails sent down my spine when they dug into my back as she chased her climax.
I wanted to feel it all, and I wanted to make it last forever.
She whimpered as I spread her legs open and tried to maintain some restraint. She was already so wet that it took every patient fiber in my being not to bury myself there immediately.
“Mal.” I released a tortured groan. I leaned in and gently ran my teeth across her clit. “Fuck, you’re wet.”
She curled her hand around the bedsheet and her breath caught in her throat, rewarding my patience. I loved that sound.
Lapping my tongue over her clit again, more firmly with each stroke, her hips began to move in time with my mouth, begging for more friction.
I sucked with more voracity, alternating between hard presses of my tongue, and before long, her thighs began to tremble.
“Con…” Her legs shook around me. A few unintelligible pants and moans slipped through her mouth as the climax broke over her. “Kiss me.”
Stray tears rolled down her cheeks and the final tremors of her orgasm rippled through her body.
I took a second to roll on a condom then kissed her, pushing myself into her at the same time. Inch by inch, she moaned into my mouth. I didn’t move, taking the moment to enjoy just how perfectly we fit together.
Sweat misted off her forehead, her eyes connected with mine, and staying still became impossible.
“Fuck,” I groaned, then kissed her deeply as I thrust into her. She rolled her hips in tandem. “That’s it, Mal… Fuck.”
Her tight pussy teased me to move faster, but I held back, keeping the sensuous pace. My muscles, my jaw, my teeth all held taut as I fumbled for control. I lingered, gliding in and out, and took my time relishing the slick pulses around my dick.
Her mouth hung open and her breath stuttered with tiny hitches.
“Harder,” she begged.
She arched up from the sheets and a cry broke through her deep-red lips. I sank in even deeper. Fuck.
My patience finally slipped. I couldn’t hold back anymore; I needed all of her.
Pushing into her with more force, the frequency of her breathy moans kicked up.
My fingerprints became bruising on her hips, gripping them tight while mine snapped forward and back, plunging deeper and chasing the high only she could give me.
“Con…” She writhed on the plush sheets, her hair splaying out around her beautiful face.
She closed her eyes, her body becoming rigid, and I pulled her into another kiss as she climaxed. Swallowing all of it.
Her walls clamped against me. In a blinding flash I came undone, deep inside of her.
“This is what I want,” Mal hummed into my neck as I pulled her in close, intertwining our bodies.
The hardest thing I’d ever do was be good enough for her, and I’d never wanted anything more.