Thirty-four
Teagan
The look in Heath’s eyes makes my heart stutter in my chest.
I can’t tear my eyes away from him while his words echo in my head. He has feelings for me? Hearing him say it, I didn’t think it would affect me this deeply, frighten me and enrapture me at the same time, but it did. He flipped my world upside down with a single sentence.
I swallow, though my mouth is dry. “Really?” I ask, the only word I can get out.
He nods, seemingly unable to form words himself. My mind shuts off when he grips the nape of my neck and pulls me into him again.
His kiss is everything. Calming and thrilling. Comforting and painful. My rationale fades the longer his lips are on mine. The contract, my fear, my inability to forget the past—none of it matters in this moment. I relax into the feeling of his body against mine, melting beneath his touch, my mind quiet for the first time since we were last together. I cup his face in my hands, deepen the kiss, and let him wash every thought away.
When our lips part, he whispers, “Don’t run, Teags. Please.” He holds me tight against him, as if keeping me from betraying his request. I feel his heartbeat racing against my chest, and wonder if he can feel mine doing the same.
“I’m not.”
We kiss again, more passionately than before. Suddenly, a blinding flash and a cracking boom make us jump. We wrap around each other in fear, then laugh.
“Okay, no. I’m running now,” I say. He chuckles and takes my hand.
Our room is dry and safe. The rain pelts loudly into the pool right outside, thunder rumbling in the distance. Beautiful weather for a wedding.
Heath laughs while wiping the water from his face. His white shirt clings to him, showing every hard muscle beneath it. His swim trunks do much of the same. My body warms at the sight.
He watches me as I step closer and pull on the hem of his shirt, raising his arms to let me remove it from him. He returns the favor, stripping my dress over my head, careful to keep it from dragging over my face or hair. His ridiculous body makes me long to feel it against me again. In me again.
I want him, yes, but in what way, I can’t begin to define. Letting him in while I feel this raw might destroy me, but the heat building between my legs tries to convince me it’s worth the risk.
“Heath.” I run my hands down his torso, his smooth, damp skin teasing my palms. “I don’t know what you want me to say right now.”
“I don’t want you to say anything,” he says, pulling me closer by my waist. “Right now, I want to do something much better than talking.” He tilts up my chin and steals my lips again.
The passion behind his kiss burns my desire into need. I wrap my arms around his neck. His hands run over my ass before he lifts me by the backs of my legs.
The kiss breaks when he crawls onto the bed. Rather than lying me down, he keeps me with him, letting me drop onto his lap. Chest to chest, his tongue licking mine, my lips sucking his, I want him closer. My hand slides between his legs, stroking over his erection. His breath grows heavier against my cheek.
I’m too lost in my desire for him to notice him untie my top. It tickles over my breasts when it falls away. His mouth circles my nipple, sucking it hard, then following with a gentle tease of his tongue. It sets my body on fire, and I grind my hips hungrily against his lap. He cups my ass, encouraging me to go harder.
We are on the same page. Hot, ready, full of angst. All I want is to savor this feeling, to ignore the gravity of the situation and the words he said right before. Ignore the fear that we have ruined what we had, that we won’t have moments like this in the future. The way his hands slow my hips while increasing their intensity, one sliding up to the nape of my neck to pull me back in, he makes it easy to forget.
My body craves him so much it hurts. The layers of fabric between his erection and my wet center feel like a prison. I pull at his trunks until I can reach in. He’s rock-hard and I’m tired of waiting.
“I need you,” I whisper as I stroke him.
“You have me.” He kisses me, humming against my lips. “However you want me.”
I fall to my back and slip my bottoms from my hips. “Come here.”
He takes my ankle in his hand and lifts it higher. I stare up at him, watching his look of longing while he unzips the back of my shoe and pulls it from me. He sets it beside us and lifts my other leg to remove its twin. Looping his fingers into the sides of my bottoms, he slides them up and off my legs. His unhurried pace is tantalizing torture.
Easing my thighs apart, he lowers himself to the mattress, and I am panting with desire. His mouth is on me not a second later.
My eyes roll back. His tongue slides over me languidly, skillfully, stimulating me further. When I moan, he hums his enjoyment with my clit between his lips.
“Oh my god,” I whimper. His tongue flickers over my most sensitive spot in a perfect rhythm. I grip my pillow, the sheets, fist his hair as the heat builds and builds, leaving me teetering on the edge of climax. I can’t bear him taking his time any longer.
I pull him toward me and rip his shorts down his hips. Furiously, he tears open a condom, staring down at me while he rolls it on. He falls forward onto his palms and when he pushes into me, my back arches and my legs fall to the sides.
He fills me perfectly, as if I was made just for him, stretching my sensitive walls around him. It has been too long since I’ve felt him. Reading it on my face, he gives me a moment to revel in it before he starts to move.
His hips pump perfectly between my thighs, stroking against every aching spot inside me. The feeling is all-consuming. Taking everything from me, he trades me for all of him. My body clenches around him with the mere thought.
“Heath!” I gasp. He moans in response.
He pulls my arm from his neck and pins it to the mattress, his hand sliding up my wrist, his fingers lacing between mine. I look up at him, watching the way he unravels while shattering me into pieces. He kicks up my leg to gain the perfect angle. The veins pop from his tensed muscles. He moves faster, his desperation palpable, his brow tensing in ecstasy. It’s too much.
I melt around him. He hits that deep spot over and over, his hips clashing hard against mine. He doesn’t look away, those gray eyes growing darker, his breath becoming ragged.
After weeks of wishing I could have this moment with him, I’m not ready for it to end, but my body betrays me.
The pleasure floods through me, blinding me until— “Ah-ahh! Fuck!”
His moans grow louder while the orgasm tears me apart. He fucks me faster, harder, his hand squeezing mine until it hurts. Then, with a deep moan, he stills, his penis twitching inside me.
When I open my eyes, I catch his smile. That drunken look of bliss on his face makes me tremble with delight. My body still grips him hungrily, the pleasure still flooding my brain with every chemical that makes me want to say and do stupid shit. I let myself drown in them.
“I fucking missed you,” I whisper through my heavy breaths.
“I fucking missed you more.” He lays his body on mine. With a kiss, he keeps me breathless.
I wrap myself around him, looking him in the eye when I tell him, “I’m not done with you yet.”
He smiles and kisses me again.
~
The first time left me weak, but the second round took me out. I don’t realize I’ve fallen asleep until I wake up. The rain is lighter than before but still falling, tapping against the water and the glass. I can’t tell if it’s dark because of the clouds or because it’s getting late.
My head rests on Heath’s arm, our fingers twisting together beside my head. I roll to my back and find him awake.
“Hey,” he says with a grin.
“How long have I been sleeping?”
“A while. It’s almost nine.”
I dart up. “What?!”
“I’m fucking with you.” He laughs. “You know you’re too high-strung for naps. It’s been, like, twenty minutes.”
“You are such an ass.”
He laughs harder and sits up. Pulls me to him. When his lips catch mine, my anger fades. “I put that ass to sleep,” he jokes.
I hold his face in my hands. “God, it’s so sexy when you compliment yourself.” He acknowledges my sarcasm with a grin and kisses me again. I glance at the clock behind him and see the time. “Fuck, Heath! You said I wasn’t late!”
I scramble out of the bed and run to the bathroom, snatching my outfit from the closet and checking my hair. Shit , shit , shit .
After I’m dressed and have an acceptable amount of makeup smashed onto my face, I rush out. “Have you seen my shoes?” I ask. Heath pushes the sheets beside him and lifts one up.
I sit on the edge of the bed to put it on. He hands me the second shoe, and I pretend to ignore the tickle of his fingers stroking up and down my back. I turn to tell him goodbye but stop.
The look in his eyes begs me to admit I know what he’s thinking, what he’s feeling, but I don’t want to admit it to myself. “I missed this,” he says. “I missed us.”
“Heath.” My anxiety kicks up. “I missed this, too, but . . .”
“But what?”
“What does this change? Anything?” I ask, genuinely wanting to know. “When we made the contract, we agreed on everything for a reason. We didn’t want to end up in a place where feelings would obscure reality, make us believe we want to be together when we know we can’t be.”
“We didn’t? Or you didn’t?”
I give him a confused look. My phone vibrates against the side table. I glance at it, but he pulls my face back to look at him. The intensity behind his eyes makes my brow furrow.
“You know how I feel about you, Teags. The contract is over,” he says. My heart drops with his words. “What do you want to do now?”
My phone vibrates again. Damn it . Ryan’s name and antagonizing smile light up my screen. “I have to answer. It’s Ryan.”
Heath lies back with a frustrated sigh.
I answer it. “Yes, groom?”
“Where are you at? You’re late!” He laughs while I grimace. Shitty timing all around.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll be there in a sec.” We end the call and I curse. “I really have to go.”
“Teags.”
I look at him over my shoulder. His expression begs me to stay. “I’m not running,” I assure him. “We can talk after dinner, okay?”
His eyes leave mine, and his fingers trail down the end of my spine and drop to the sheets. “Yeah. Go.”
Outside the room, I try to shake my thoughts away and focus on the responsibilities I have tonight and tomorrow. Anything to distract from my desire to run back to Heath.