Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
brOOKE
I wake up with Javier half on top of me. One heavy arm thrown across my waist. One leg tangled somewhere between mine. My face smashed into his shoulder like my body decided personal space is optional when he’s involved.
Sunlight spills through the gap in the curtains, warm and bright across the bed. The room smells faintly like coffee from the timer going off in the kitchen and Rev’s soap on the pillowcase. Normal. Comfortable. Ours.
We’ve been doing this for weeks now. Sometimes we wake up at his place. Sometimes mine. Sometimes neither of us remembers whose house we passed out in until one of us opens our eyes and clocks the decor. It stopped feeling like a big deal fast. We just end up wherever we land.
I try to slide out from under his arm, but he tightens his grip instantly, dragging me back against his chest like he senses escape in his sleep. “Don’t,” he mutters.
I smile into the pillow. “I have to get up. I’ve got a showing.”
“No you don’t.”
I laugh. “Yes. I really do.”
He cracks one eye open, dark and lazy and already focused on me. “Call in sick.”
“I sell houses, Javier. I don’t get sick days.”
He hums, hand sliding to my hip, thumb brushing slow and familiar in a way that is absolutely intentional. “You could cancel one.”
“And disappoint my inner overachiever? Never.”
That earns a quiet laugh. Then he pulls me back in and kisses me, slow and warm and distracting in that way he’s perfected. My hand slides into his hair automatically. My brain briefly forgets how calendars work.
He pulls back just enough to smirk, his arm still heavy across my waist. The sheets are twisted around our legs, warm and rumpled. My hair is a mess against the pillow, my skin still flushed. “You were about to stay.”
“I was thinking about coffee,” I lie, shifting my hips and trying to slide out from under his arm.
“Liar.”
I laugh, planting my hand on his chest and pushing until he loosens his grip. I wriggle free and swing my legs off the bed, my bare feet hitting the floor. I grab his shirt from the side of the bed and pull it over my head. “I need to shower.”
His brow lifts as he props himself up on one elbow, his gaze following me. “So do I.”
“That was not an invitation.” I reach for my phone on the nightstand and take a step toward the bathroom.
“It absolutely was.”
I lift my phone and point it at him. “If you make me late, I will ruin your reputation.”
He grins and stretches back against the pillows. “Worth it.”
The shower heats up fast, steam filling the bathroom. I step under the spray first, letting the water hit my shoulders. A second later, Javier steps in behind me, close enough that his chest brushes my back. His hands settle at my waist. “You got a busy day?” he murmurs.
“Two showings, a listing appointment, and one client who won’t stop texting me.”
He snorts. “Rough life you’ve got there, Princess.”
I tilt my head slightly, pretending to be casual while absolutely not being casual. “You’ve got church tonight, right? With the club?”
“Yeah,” he says. “The meeting is probably gonna run long.”
I shrug lightly. “If you’re tired or end up staying later than you thought, you don’t have to come over after.”
The air shifts. His hands freeze on my waist. Slowly, he leans in closer, his mouth near my ear. “What did you just say?”
I keep my tone innocent. Way too innocent. “I said you don’t have to come over if you don’t want to.”
I feel it when the switch flips. The quiet growl in his chest. The way his grip tightens just enough to remind me exactly who I’m poking. “I always want to come over,” he says low.
I glance back at him, batting my lashes like I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. “I’m just being considerate.”
“Bullshit.”
I bite my lip to keep from smiling. “Maybe.”
His hands slide from my waist to my hips, firm and unmistakably possessive. He turns me just enough that I’m half facing him, eyes dark and narrowed, water sliding over us. “You like starting shit this early in the morning, Princess?” he growls.
“Maybe I like watching you get all territorial and ridiculous,” I admit, smiling sweetly.
His jaw tightens. “You’re mine.”
My pulse jumps and my grin widens. “I know.”
He leans in, kissing me hard enough to steal the breath right out of me, one hand braced at my lower back like he’s proving a point. Not gentle. Not subtle. Just Javier reminding me exactly what buttons I pushed.
When he pulls back, his forehead rests against mine, eyes still dark. “I’m coming over after church.”
“If you insist,” I tease.
He growls, low and very real, and I laugh, completely unable to help myself. “Relax,” I say. “I was teasing.”
He shakes his head like I’m the single greatest inconvenience of his life. “You’re trouble.”
“Your favorite kind.”
His smirk is slow and dangerous.
And then my mouth opens before my brain catches up.
“I love you.” The words slip out so easily.
Like they’ve been sitting on my tongue for weeks just waiting for an opening.
The second they land between us, my stomach drops.
Oh. Oh no. I feel my eyes widen, my heart slamming hard and fast like I just stepped off a cliff without checking the ground.
“I mean… I didn’t...” I start quickly, heat flooding my face.
“I just meant, like, I love that you’re ridiculous and protective and this whole caveman thing is very entertaining and—”
I don’t get to finish. Rev’s hands come up fast, gripping my face, and his mouth crashes into mine like he’s been waiting for that sentence his whole damn life.
The kiss is deep and claiming and hungry in a way that steals every leftover thought right out of my head.
His body presses into mine, solid and unmovable.
When he pulls back, his forehead presses against mine, breath heavy, eyes blazing.
“Don’t backtrack,” he growls. “Don’t you dare. ”
My pulse is racing so hard I can feel it in my throat. “Javi…”
“I love you too,” he says, voice rough and certain and absolutely feral with it. “I’ve loved you. You don’t get to drop that on me and then try to run it back.”
My chest tightens so hard it almost hurts. “You do?” I whisper.
His hands slide down my back, pulling me closer like there’s no version of the universe where he lets me go.
“Yeah,” he says simply. “I do. You’re mine.
You’ve been mine. And I’m yours.” He grips my hips and slams me back against the wall.
The impact knocks the breath from my lungs, a startled laugh caught somewhere between a gasp and a moan.
He lines himself up and drives into me in one hard, reckless thrust, the sound of skin on skin loud in the small space.
It punches a breathy cry out of both of us at the same time, like we’re wired together on the same current.
“Oh, fuck, Javi… you’re so deep.” My fingers dig into his shoulders, knuckles white, like if I let go I might float apart.
“Hold onto me, Princess,” he growls against my mouth, forehead dropping to mine. “Fuck, I’m not gonna last… knowing you love me.”
That does something dangerous to my chest. To my pulse.
He keeps driving into me, relentless, rough and desperate all at once, and the world blurs down to the slide of skin, the burn of friction, the way his breath stutters against my cheek.
Everything else falls away. There is only him.
Only us. I love how he takes control, how he pulls me higher and higher until I stop thinking and just feel, trusting him enough to let go and give him everything I have.
He fucks me harder until I’m right on the edge, about to come undone and unravel in the best possible way.
The pressure coils tighter and tighter inside me, breath catching in broken little sounds I don’t even recognize as my own.
“I love you,” I moan, the words spilling out raw and helpless. “I love you so damn much.”
“I love you too, baby,” he moans roughly, then slams into me one final time, and everything shatters. I combust around him, the release ripping through me so hard, I sag forward, resting my forehead against his shoulder, still shaking, still clinging to him like the world might tilt if I let go.
I laugh, breathless and shaky and stupidly happy. “Well. That escalated.”
His mouth curves into a dangerous, satisfied grin. “You started it.”
And yeah, I absolutely did.