Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
BLAKE
W hether she knows it or not, my girl likes being told what to do in the bedroom.
She drags her teeth over her lower lip and takes a step back from me, and I eat up the space she just created, making her eyes dance.
“But I like this sweatshirt,” she says.
“And I like seeing you in my clothes, but it’s coming off.” I step into her and grip the hem of the sweatshirt, and she immediately grins and lifts her arms for me. Casting it aside, I tuck two fingers in the front of her jeans and pull her flush against me. “Are you having a good time, sugar?”
“Yeah, I am. You were right. Everyone’s nice.” Her hands dive under my shirt and up over my skin. My stomach contracts at her touch, and she grins up at me. “I like your muscles.”
I lift a brow. “Is that so?”
She nods and bites that delicious lip again, and I tug it free with my thumb before I take her T-shirt off and dispose of mine as well.
Her eyes travel down my torso, and her cheeks flush.
“I fucking love it when you blush like that, Harper.”
She blinks, and her gaze finds mine again. “I can’t help it. I like what I see.”
My restraint is holding on by a thread as my hands roam over her skin. I unfasten her bra, and she lets it fall, and I cup her perfect tits in my palms and brush over her already hard nipples.
“I’m not taking it fast and hard tonight,” I whisper next to her ear. “I’m going to savor every second. I’m going to worship every perfect inch of your body.”
She swallows hard and leans into me as I drag my lips down her neck to her shoulder and nibble on that perfect, soft flesh.
“You’re so damn good with your mouth,” she whispers as her fingers dive into my hair.
“You’re so fucking delicious. I can’t get enough of you.” I unfasten her jeans and work them down her legs, and she kicks out of her shoes and jeans, then makes a dive for mine.
When we’re finally naked, I pick her up, and she wraps her long, toned legs around my hips. Her mouth fuses to mine, and she tastes like hot chocolate and pure fucking sin.
“I’ve missed you,” she whispers against my lips. “So much.”
“I know, baby.” I lay her down in the middle of the king bed and brace myself over her, brushing her hair off her cheeks. “We’re about to make up for lost time.”
She grins right before I kiss her, then bite her lower lip and pull back, letting it go. I kiss my way down her perfect neck and pause at her breasts to tease and nibble her nipples.
“Holy shit,” she whispers, arching her back for more.
“Your body is every fantasy I’ve ever had in my life, Harps.” I press wet kisses down to her navel, then farther still, spreading her legs wide, and when I see how fucking wet she is for me, my cock has gone from extremely interested to fucking ravenous. “Your pussy is weeping for me, baby.”
She whimpers, lifting her hips in invitation.
Dragging one fingertip through her sopping sex, I watch her face, needing to see how her jaw drops and her eyes widen just before she closes them.
“Eyes on me.”
She obeys, and I replace my finger with my tongue, licking her from her entrance to her clit and back down again, then pull her lips into my mouth and suck.
“Christ almighty.” Her hips jerk, but I hold her steady and eat her until her nails are digging into my scalp and her legs shake.
Then I pull back.
“Blake!”
“I’m right here.” I kiss her inner thighs, then her hips. When I reach her neck, I bite that tender flesh over her pulse point. “Your heart is hammering.”
“God, please fuck me, Blake.” She takes my face in her little hands and pulls me to her mouth. “Need you.”
She sounds … vulnerable. I don’t remember hearing this tone from her before.
“Hey, I’m right here with you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Her gorgeous gray eyes close, so I bury my face in her neck and kiss her. This woman has become the center of my universe. The reason for every breath, the one person who means the most to me in this world.
I’m so in love with her that I ache with it.
“Blake.” It’s a whisper, and I pull up to look her in the eyes, but she has hers closed.
“Yes, baby.”
“Don’t break my heart, okay?” Her eyes open, and she presses her lips together in a line, and I know down to my soul that this is as vulnerable as this woman gets.
“I will never intentionally hurt you.” I take her hand in mine and kiss it before I reach down and fist my cock, then line it up with her entrance.
Harper inhales in anticipation.
With a smile, I slide inside her, and when I’m balls deep, we both moan together.
“They could do medical studies on your dick.”
I pause and stare down at her. “What?”
“I’m serious.” She gasps when I pull back, then sink inside her again. “Because it’s perfect, and I’m absolutely sure there’s nothing else like it in the world.”
“If you’re talking this much, I’m not doing my job, baby. ”
She lifts an eyebrow. “I guess you’d better get to work.”
“I fucking love your sassy mouth.” I bite that lower lip, then soothe it with my tongue as I start to move faster and just a little harder. This isn’t a fast fuck at all, but I needed to increase the speed just a little.
I boost up to my knees and grip her hips, pulling her onto me with every thrust.
And then, I press my hand to her lower abdomen, and feel every inch of my cock as it moves inside her.
“Christ, you’re so goddamn beautiful.”
Her legs tense around me, and I can feel her walls start to flutter. Nothing in the world feels this good.
“That’s it, Harper. Come for me. You take my cock so well. I want you to come all over it.”
She arches her back, and I watch as her pussy clenches around my cock, and the orgasm moves through her. I don’t stop moving. I want to prolong this orgasm for as long as fucking possible.
“Blake! Oh, fuck me.”
“I am, baby.” I grin down at her as she smiles at that, and then my girl reaches up for me, and I lower myself over her again, licking inside her mouth, and my orgasm pulses through me.
“Fuuuck,” I groan as I come, splashing inside her, moving through the orgasm until we’re both heaving and messy, and I’m pretty sure we need to hydrate.
I press my lips to her shoulder, trying to catch my breath, and her hands dance up and down my back, over my ribs and spine .
“I love you so much, Harper.”
Her hands still. Her entire body tightens.
And I don’t like that at all.
“Relax, I’m not proposing,” I tell her, but that doesn’t help her. “Okay, talk to me, sugar.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Her voice shakes, and I push up onto my elbows so I can see her. “Because I do care about you more than anyone else in my life.”
She swallows hard and looks like she might cry.
“Whoa, baby. Take a breath.” I inhale, and she follows suit. “That wasn’t supposed to give you a panic attack.”
“I’m not good at words,” she says softly. Her hands start to move against me once more, and I take that as a good sign. “Even when I’m on the same page. Which is so not fair to you.”
She’s not running away.
“You don’t have to say anything at all.”
“I’ve never said those words to anyone in my life, ever.” She blinks as if she’s just realizing that, and I wrap her in my arms and turn us onto our sides so we can talk.
How the fuck is that possible?
“Tell me about that.”
Her eyes look so fucking sad, it shreds my heart.
“I know you have people in your life who love you, Harper. I’ve seen it. The Hendrix family is crazy about you.”
“I know.” She nods on the pillow and brushes her fingers down my pecs.
“And it’s not that I don’t l-love them.” I hate that she had to stutter through that word.
“ I do. I’d do anything for them at the drop of a hat.
It’s just that I can’t say it back. Whenever they tell me that, I reply with yeah, yeah, love, blah, blah. ”
I’ve heard her say that before.
“My parents.” She shakes her head. “I think they were kind of indifferent to me. I was told often that they never meant to have me.”
My hand fists in the comforter. Fuck them.
“And I don’t remember them ever saying those words. To me, or to each other.”
She lifts a shoulder and then sighs.
“I think Nathan said it one time when he was proposing. And I never said it back. If he noticed, he never said anything, and then after that, the way he treated me … well, that wasn’t love.”
“Baby, that’s not your fault.”
“It’s definitely not my fault. I know that. But it’s like it’s ingrained in me that I’m not lovable. Maybe I don’t deserve?—”
“And that’s where I’m stopping you.” I press my finger to her lips.
“Because you are so fucking lovable, baby. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
You deserve everything good in this world.
I’m so damn sorry that your parents were so deep into their addiction that they didn’t see how unbelievable you are. ”
Her eyes well, and it’s my undoing. I tug her to me and wrap my arms around her, needing to be closer to her. Needing to show her how amazing she is.
I hate that the little girl who Harper was went through so much life feeling unloved.
That for even one minute, she felt like no one loved her.
She’s so damn strong all the time, putting on a brave face and walking through life with self-confidence that it’s easy to forget everything that she’s been through.
“I love you, Harper. And I will say those words often until you finally trust them. I’ll say it enough for both of us.”
She sniffs and leans her head back to look up at me.
“I didn’t plan on you,” she says.
“Baby, I never thought I’d even consider a long-term relationship with anyone. Ever. And now I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I knew you were mine the second I saw you walk onto that plane.”
She smiles and wipes a tear off her cheek. “You were so sexy.”
“Oh? Tell me more.”
She huffs out a laugh and drags her fingers over my cheek and down my neck. “Now I’m just inflating your ego.”
“I don’t even have an ego to inflate.”
She laughs and kisses my chin. “I hate to break it to you, but you do. A big ego.”