Chapter 32
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
AVA
We’re like horny teenagers, barely able to keep our hands off each other as we kiss our way out of the cab and into his apartment building, then paw at each other in the thankfully empty elevator until we reach his floor.
It takes him twice the amount of time it should for him to open his door because I’m clinging to him like I’m never going to let go. From the way he pulls me inside and slams the door shut behind me, I don’t think he wants me to either.
“Nice apartment,” I murmur as he slides his palm up my neck, angling my head to kiss me again. My back is against the door, his solid body holding me in place as he kisses me so hard and deep I forget my own… what was I saying?
I slide my hands inside his jacket, feeling the warmth of his skin through his perfectly tailored white shirt. How the hell isn’t it creased after those hours in the car? That’s a question I decide to store away for another day, because I have more important things to think about now.
Like the way his muscles feel like steel beneath his hot skin. Or the way he slides his hands down to my behind and lifts me up, sandwiching me against the door as I wrap my legs around his hips.
And oh, Lord, his muscles aren’t the only thing made of steel.
He’s hard and thick and I find myself wishing I wasn’t wearing jeans because they’re so not easy access.
He doesn’t seem to mind, though, as he plunders my lips and strokes my sides until I’m a jelly-like mess in his arms. With my own still wrapped around his neck, he staggers back and mutters something about his bedroom and being too old for this.
“Did you just say you’re too old for knee tremblers?” I ask him.
“Knee tremblers?” He laughs. “What the hell kind of thing is that?”
“When you stand up and have sex. A quickie. It’s a knee trembler. My mom…” I trail off because this is another direction I don’t want to go in. “Never mind,” I say quickly. “Where’s your bedroom?”
He puts me down and pulls me with obscene haste to the door on the far side of the hallway. His room isn’t grand like I’d expected it to be. It’s cozy and warm and has the most comfortable looking bed I’ve ever seen. I kick off my shoes and throw myself on the mattress.
Yep, definitely comfortable.
For a moment he stares at me. I return his gaze, waiting for him to pounce again, because my body has a thing for being attacked by this man. In the nicest possible way, of course.
But he takes too long and I start to squirm. “What are you doing?” I ask him.
“Just looking.” His voice is thick. “And marveling.”
“Marveling? What about?”
“That Ava Quinn is lying on my bed looking all flushed and beautiful like she wants me to touch her all over.”
“I do,” I tell him. “So hurry up please.”
But he won’t be hurried. He’s a measured man. He clearly likes to drag things out. I remember the way he wouldn’t come until I was ovulating. Which reminds me…
“You know I’m not ovulating anymore, right?”
“I can do the math.”
“And you still want me?” I ask.
He looks incredulous. “More than ever, baby.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
He walks to the bed, his gaze never leaving mine.
It’s full of aching need and sends a shiver down my spine.
He folds his fingers around my ankles and pulls me forward, his bedsheets ruffling around me, then he leans over me to unzip my jeans.
I arch my back and do a weird shuffle to help him pull them down, then sit up and pull off my t-shirt.
His eyes darken more as he takes me in. “It’s your turn,” I tell him, because I will never, ever get bored of watching Myles Salinger undress.
I also won’t get bored of his strong, muscled chest. Or those thick legs that can scale trees and run sprints before making me quiver like I’ve never quivered before.
When he’s left only in his boxers, he climbs onto the bed, hovering over me. His knees nudge mine and I open for him, reaching my hands up as he lowers his lips to mine.
And if I thought kissing him fully dressed was hot, this is pretty much melting my world.
My body heats as he slides his lips down my throat, my chest, then pulls at my nipple through the thin fabric of my bra.
Desire flickers and licks at me as he unfastens it, exposing my chest to the air and making me shiver in the air conditioned room.
I push at his boxers and he lifts himself up to help me. Then he pulls down my panties, his fingers sliding down my calves as he pulls them from my ankles.
And I’m naked. In Myles Salinger’s bedroom. He’s kissing me again, and there’s a funny feeling in my chest. It’s like when you run too fast in the cold and your lungs get all heavy and you have to bend in half to recapture your breath.
“Myles,” I say.
He kisses my jaw, my cheek, my eyelid. “Yes?”
“I need to tell you something.”
He blinks, bemused. “What, beautiful?”
“I used to think I hated you.” It hurts me to say it now, but I need it out there. I want complete honesty with this man. I want to open up and let him inside.
It’s scary and it makes me feel vulnerable but it’s oh-so-real.
“I used to think you hated me, too,” he murmurs. He doesn’t look hurt. Just interested in what I have to say.
And I realize this is how he always looks when we talk. The scowling wasn’t anger. He was concentrating.
“But I love you,” I tell him. “So much it hurts.”
His expression softens. He swallows and stares but says nothing. It’s only when he lets out a long breath that I realize he’s been holding it.
“You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.” His voice is soft. He tenderly brushes the hair from my face. “You’re everything to me. Everything. You have been for so much longer than you know.”
I put that thought aside to mull over later and reach for him, my hands sliding along his shoulders, my knees grazing his hips.
He’s there, just where I need him. I feel the pressure of his thickness, pushing against me, opening me up.
My throat feels tight as he slides inside and all I can think is that I’ll never get tired of this.
Never.
“I love you,” he gasps as his hips find their rhythm.
My fingers tangle in his hair and tears tickle at my eyes because I’m not sure how to deal with all this emotion.
“So much, Ava. So much.” His words are short and staccato, punctuated by his heavy breaths as we cling to each other.
“You’re mine,” he says. It’s half possessive, half in wonder.
“Yes, I am,” I whisper, feeling the familiar burn deep inside of me. This man knows exactly how to touch me. How to coax every feeling out of me until I’m wrung dry. “Always,” I whisper, because it’s true. I’ve been his so much longer than I realized.
And I’m going to be his forever.
And when we tumble over the edge together, clinging to each other as we kiss hot and heavy, it’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of.
He’s mine and I’m his and tomorrow we’ll tell the team at Smith and Carson that he’s somehow managed to save everybody’s jobs. That we all have a future thanks to him.
And if they cause him any problems, they’ll have me to face. Because he’s mine to protect. Mine to love.
“Is it too late to talk about birth control?” I ask him as he gently pulls out, making my body quiver all over again.
“Much too late,” he tells me, pressing his lips to mine. “And I’m absolutely okay with that.”
MYLES
“How are you feeling?” I ask her as she curls into my arms and smiles up at me.
“How do you think?” she asks. “You just rearranged my insides. Twice.”
I laugh. “I hope not. I like your insides exactly the way they are.” I kiss the tip of her nose, then her lips, savoring the taste of her. “Just like the outside.”
“It might all change soon,” she says. “If I’m pregnant.”
I stare down at her. “I hope you are.”
Her lip curls. “You do? I was wondering if you were regretting the whole thing.”
“Why would I regret it?” My brows pinch together. “I’m in love with you.”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t part of the arrangement, was it? I was supposed to have the baby and take care of it myself. And now it’s…” Her eyes cloud up. “Complicated.”
“What’s complicated about loving you and hoping you’re pregnant?” I don’t get it. It feels simple to me. She’s my everything and she could be having my child. What man wouldn’t want that?
Me a few months ago. But we won’t go there, because right now it’s all I want.
“So you’d be okay if I was pregnant?” she asks warily.
“I’d be ecstatic. I want this, Ava. I want you and I want our baby.
I want it all.” I shake my head, because she doesn’t seem to understand how I feel about her.
“I know it’s not what you had planned. And if you still don’t want me involved, I’ll understand that.
I’ll hate it, but I’ll understand. I already signed my rights away in a contract and if you want me to keep to that, I will. ”
Her expression softens. “Of course I want you involved,” she tells me. “I want you to be the father of my children.”
“Children?” I smile.
“If possible. I’m not getting any younger so we’d have to do it fast.”
I grin. “Exactly what every man dreams of hearing.”
She wrinkles her nose at me. “You’re an ass.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“But you’re my ass.”
My grin widens. “There’s no doubt about that. I’ve been yours since the day we met.”
Her gaze softens. She reaches up to cup my jaw. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, beautiful.”
Then she curls around me and falls asleep.
AVA
I’m still cozy and warm the next morning when Myles wakes me up with an insistent kiss. It’s like my body knows exactly how to react, so I reach for him, my hands sliding down his bare back, my chest arching to his.
“Not so fast,” he murmurs. “You need to get up and shower. We have a video conference at ten.”
Blinking, I look over his shoulder at the alarm clock nestled on his bedside table. It’s almost nine. “Uh?” I say. “Who are we talking to?”
“Charleston. I called Catherine. She’s making sure everybody comes in.”