7. Nolani #5
The words should have felt possessive.
They didn’t.
They felt reciprocal.
I slid my palms beneath his shirt. “And you’re mine.”
His breath changed.
That pleased me more than it should have.
“Say that again.”
“You heard me.”
“I did.” His fingers touched beneath my chin. “I wanna hear what it sounds like twice.”
I smiled. “You’re mine, Landon.”
“Yeah.” His voice lowered. “I am.”
I lifted his shirt, and he pulled it over his head before lowering himself over me.
Skin against skin changed the temperature of everything.
My hands moved over his back while his mouth traveled from mine to my neck, my shoulder, my collarbone.
When his fingers caught the hem of the oversized shirt, they stopped.
I lifted my arms.
The shirt disappeared.
Landon looked at me.
No teasing.
No cleverness.
Just open appreciation.
For one second, old instinct pulled my hand toward the pendant. He caught my fingers and kissed my palm.
“Hershey.” I looked at him. “You are beautiful.”
That was all.
No speech about fear. No instruction not to hide. Just the truth in his face.
I let my hand fall away from the necklace and pulled him down to me.
The kiss deepened. His hands moved over me slowly, learning rather than assuming. Mine did the same, tracing the strength of his shoulders and back until his control slipped into a low sound against my throat.
I smiled.
He lifted his head. “Something funny?”
“You’re less composed than advertised.”
“I never advertised unaffected.”
“You act like it.”
“I’m fighting for my life.”
I laughed.
His mouth found a place that turned the sound into something else entirely.
“That wasn’t fair.”
“I’m not competing.”
“You always competing.”
“Baby, you already said yes. I won.”
“Arrogant.”
“Accurate.”
“Keep talking, and I’ll reconsider.”
“Nah.” He kissed me slowly, then stopped. “Tell me what you want.”
The question changed everything.
I could have joked. Could have hidden inside the version of myself that knew how to be clever when sincerity became too exposed.
I didn’t.
“You.”
His eyes held mine. “How?”
My hand moved over his chest. “Close.” I swallowed. “Slow.” Then I met his eyes. “And looking at me.”
The playfulness left his face. “I can do that.”
He reached toward the nightstand, opened the drawer, and took out protection before looking at me again.
“You sure, Nolani?”
My name.
No nickname.
No teasing.
I placed my hand against his cheek. “I’m sure.”
He kissed my palm, then my wrist. “Aight, baby.”
The rest of our clothes disappeared without hurry. When nothing remained between us, Landon rested his forehead against mine.
His breathing had roughened.
So had mine.
“Still with me?”
“I’m with you.”
“Good.”
He kissed me as he moved inside me.
Slowly.
Exactly the way I asked.
My breath broke against his mouth, and Landon stopped long enough for my body to adjust before moving again.
His lips found my neck. “You good?”
“Yes.”
He kissed beneath my ear. “Tell me.”
“I’m good.”
Then he moved, measured and deep enough to pull another sound from me. His mouth curved against my skin.
“You sound so sexy, baby.”
Heat rushed through me.
“Landon.”
“Let me hear you.”
I held his shoulders as the rhythm built between us. He stayed close, one hand at my hip and the other beside my head, his face never far from mine.
Exactly what I had asked for.
Exactly what I hadn’t known I needed until I said it aloud.
“Look at me.”
I did.
His control was beginning to slip. I could see it in the tension along his jaw, hear it in his breathing, feel it in the way his fingers held mine against the mattress.
I tightened my hand around his.
“I’m here, baby.”
The word left before I thought about it.
Landon stopped, not completely, just enough.
His eyes searched mine. “What you call me?”
Heat flooded my face despite the fact that modesty had lost every legal argument available to it.
“You heard me.”
“Nah, love.” His mouth hovered over mine. “I need that one again.”
I touched my lips to his. “Baby.”
Something in him broke.
Beautifully.
His mouth came back to mine with the hunger he had kept disciplined all night, one hand threading tightly through my fingers while his body moved with renewed rhythm. I said his name, then baby again, this time without embarrassment.
“Look at me,” he whispered.
I stayed with his eyes.
Pleasure built until thought stopped being useful. My body tightened beneath him, and Landon pressed his forehead to mine while our joined hands held firm against the mattress.
“I got you.”
The words reached me at the same time the rest of the world disappeared.
For several breaths afterward, neither of us moved. Rain whispered against the windows while Landon’s weight remained carefully supported above me, and our breathing gradually settled. He kissed my forehead, my cheek, then my mouth.
“You good, love?”
I dragged my fingers down his back. “Ask me one more time, and I’m charging a consultation fee.”
His laugh warmed my neck. “That mouth recovered fast.”
“It’s resilient.”
“I noticed.”
He kissed me again before leaving the bed long enough to handle what needed handling. When he came back, he had a warm cloth and a glass of water. No awkward shift. No distance. No strange retreat now that desire had gotten what it wanted.
Just Landon.
I accepted the water. “You know I can pull a blanket over myself.”
“I know.”
“You say that often.”
“’Cause you keep telling me what you can do like I’m trying to stop you.”
I looked at him.
He climbed into bed and opened one arm.
I went willingly.
Landon pulled me against his chest beneath the covers. I settled into him with one leg tucked between his and my cheek over his heart while his fingertips moved slowly along my back. When they reached the pendant resting against my skin, they paused.
“You good?”
I smiled into his chest. “That question again?”
“Different context.”
“I’m very good.”
His mouth touched my hair.
I covered his hand with mine.
For a minute, we listened to the rain.
Then Landon spoke. “You regret anything?”
I considered the day. The drive. Football. His mother. Lennox drinking fruit punch like cabernet. The storm. The cabin. The truths we had handed each other. The yes.
Him.
“Your seafood order was excessive.”
“I knew six pounds would’ve been more appropriate.”
“And your confidence remains medically concerning.”
“Anything else?”
I lifted my head.
His eyes were already on me.
“No, baby.”
That name did it again. His expression softened before satisfaction tried to take over.
“Say it one more time.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Hershey.”
“You becoming greedy.”
“I am.”
I kissed him. “Good night, baby.”
His smile disappeared against my mouth before he tucked me closer, pulled the covers over my shoulder, and kissed the top of my head.
“Good night, my Hershey.”
I rested my hand over his at my waist. Outside, the storm had weakened to rain moving gently over the lake. My pendant rested against my chest, still mine, still familiar, still available whenever I needed it.
Tonight, I didn’t reach for it.
I reached for Landon.
He was already there.