Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
YOU’RE GORGEOUS WHEN YOU COME
H olden
Briar looks happy.
Before today, she’s only ever seen the apartment online. When her flight touched down in Reed Point, the place was already under two inches of water.
Now, it’s a brand-new apartment with fresh paint, gleaming hardwood floors, and white kitchen cabinets. There’s not a scratch or a speck of dirt. It’s beautiful.
My hand intertwined with hers, she leads me down the hall to the bedroom, pointing out the reasons that she fell in love with the place from the listing.
“The bedroom has a little balcony, and there’s a view of the park across the street. I thought I could do yoga out here.” She pulls open the sliding glass door and steps onto the balcony, an enthusiastic grin on her face.
“I didn’t know you like yoga.”
“I don’t, but you can picture it, right?” She beams, her eyes sparkling.
“Absolutely. ”
I can picture it. The place is perfect for her. A spacious living room, new appliances, one and half bathrooms and a small den for Slugger. The walls are white, but she would add her pillows and plants to make it colorful. Just like she did at my house.
I want to hate it. I want it to be too small or poorly finished, anything so that she wouldn’t be this fucking impressed. But if this is what she wants, I can’t stop her. If she wants to prove to herself that she can do this on her own, then I have to let her. I never want to be the person who stands in her way.
“Come look at the ensuite! Maybe it will have a shower big enough for the both of us when you visit.”
When I visit.
I’ve never hated three words more.
“Do you think it’s too small?” she asks, a crease forming between her eyebrows.
“No, I didn’t say that. Why? Do you?”
“No, you just looked… I don’t know… like you don’t like the bathroom.”
I bring her hand to my mouth, kissing her knuckles, trying harder to be happy for my girlfriend. “I think it’s perfect.” I kiss the tip of her thumb. “Look at the cabinet. It’s big enough for all 200 of your hair products.”
She bends forward to look inside the cupboard. “You’ll appreciate having your bathroom back the way you like it. No more of my mess. You won’t do that eye twitch thing you do every time you walk past it and see my things.”
“I’m going to have to hire you a cleaner.”
She shakes her head, grinning. “Very funny, Holden Banks. And anyways, a cleaner would be pointless. I’d just mess it up 20 minutes after they left.”
“My favorite hurricane,” I tease, but I’m not feeling it. I don’t have the energy or mental capacity to fake it. How the hell am I supposed to be happy that she’s leaving?
I have to suck it up. If this is what she wants, then there’s nothing I can do about it. Besides, how can I demand that she gives up her dream apartment when I don’t even know where I’ll be living?
“Hey,” Briar says, interrupting my thought spiral. “I’m hungry, should we go?”
“We should,” I reply, not able to get out of here fast enough. “What is my Slugger craving today?”
“Eggs and toast.” She wrinkles her nose. “Everything else is gross. Let’s go to The Dockside.”
I press a kiss to her shoulder, trying to turn my mood around. “Sounds good. Lead the way,” I say, motioning to the bedroom door.
I smile as she passes me, but no part of me feels calm or collected. All I can think about is what will happen to us when she moves out.
Will she like living alone better than living with me?
Will she push me away?
Will she forget about me?
Does she want to be with me at all?
The questions consume me, overtaking any and all logic. I love Briar. But I have to let her go and pray that this isn’t the beginning of the end.
The minute we walk through the door after dinner, I’m on her. My hands slide through her hair, my mouth sealed to hers. It feels like a dam inside of me broke with the way I’m wildly kissing her. There’s nothing sweet or soft about it. The way my mouth slants over hers or how my teeth scrape over her bottom lip. My tongue licks all four corners of her mouth, and it feels like I can breathe again. The relief is palpable when we break apart and she’s looking at me through hooded eyes with her hands fisted in my shirt.
I kick the door shut then walk her backwards until the back of her thighs hit the console table. She perches on the edge, widening her thighs so I can push my hips in between them. It feels so fucking good, my cock screaming for more; all I want is more.
My fingers grip into her thighs, a crazed feeling rushing through my veins, overwhelming me. Today it felt like things between us are changing— everything about her moving into her own apartment feels wrong.
Briar means everything to me. She’s who I want to wake up to every morning and fall asleep to every night. We were so close to having that, and now it feels like it’s all slipping away.
“Holden,” she breathes into my neck and the way my name sounds falling off her lips feels like an answered prayer inside my head.
“Yes, pretty girl.” I suck on her neck, pushing my cock between her legs. “What do you need? I’ll give you anything you want.”
“You, baby. I need you.” She digs her nails into my back as I rut against her clit with the ridge of my erection.
“I’m here, Bee.”
I wish these damn layers of clothing between us were gone. Frustrated, I slide my hands up her heated thighs to the hem of her skirt, taking a journey along her skin. She’s wearing a dress that falls to the middle of her thighs and gathers at her tits with a ribbon tied in a bow. It’s not fancy, but fuck, I get hard every time I see her in the damn thing.
She rakes her fingers through my hair as I cage her in with my body, her belly wedged between us. Her eyes are glassy. She needs sleep. But after following her around her new apartment like a lost puppy I need her too badly to wait.
She leans forward, searching for my mouth as my fingers hook into the waistband of the pale pink lace. I remove her underwear, tossing it to the floor before taking her mouth with mine, needing her like a drought needs rain.
My Briar.
How am I going to watch her pack her things and go? Just thinking about her leaving makes my heart thump a dull ache in my chest.
“Lean back.” I push the pile of mail off the table and onto the floor. She stares back at me with a desperate look in her eyes and my cock throbs. She’s so fucking beautiful with her hair a mess from my hands and her lips pink and swollen from my kisses. I sweep my tongue over the seem of her lips and she opens for me, letting me in. I moan into her mouth, the kiss slow and deliberate.
“Mmm,” she whimpers against my mouth as her hands slip under my T-shirt and up my spine. I love it when her hands are on me. Needy and impatient for her, I grip my shirt by the neck and pull it over my head, tossing it on the floor.
“I want to worship you, Briar. I want to kiss you everywhere until you’re lifeless and spent from coming so hard.” I tug the bow on her dress and pull it loose until I can see her tits tip over the fabric. I lick my lips and adjust my cock in my jeans, so it’s pointed up and tucked under the waistband of my pants. “Jesus, these tits.”
I pinch a nipple with my thumb and forefinger, earning me the softest groan before I dip my head down to suck the stiff bead into my mouth .
My body tingles. Every drop of blood in my body rushes to my groin then I’m on my knees in seconds pressing a kiss to her slick core.
“Baby,” she murmurs. “More. I need more.”
“I’ve got you, baby girl. I’ll spend all night with my face buried between your thighs. I’ll never stop until you can’t take it anymore.”
I spread her thighs wider with my palms on her inner thighs licking and sucking her as she rides my face. I bury my nose in her folds, inhaling her scent and I lick her and suck on her clit until she’s a writhing mess.
“I’m so close, Holden,” she pants. “Right there, don’t stop.”
Like I could. I could never stop.
I’ll eat this woman until the day I die.
Briar is the sexiest woman I have ever laid eyes on. She tastes sweet, like heaven. She’s beautiful with her soft curves and smooth, olive skin. She takes what she needs and tells me what she likes, and she makes me harder than I’ve ever been with anyone else. I am constantly distracted with thoughts of fucking her. Some days I’m not even sure how I’ve driven home.
My tongue thrusts deep inside her. Her hands curl in my hair, tugging my face closer. She’s shaking and moaning when my mouth latches onto her clit with a hard suction, and I spread her wider.
She comes on my tongue, her orgasm long and lasting. I lap at her until she’s boneless and limp.
“You’re gorgeous when you come.” I stand and lick my tongue into her mouth. “I’ve never tasted anything better.”
Briar’s hand slips between us into my jeans, wrapping around my thick erection. “My turn to make you come. My handsome man needs to feel good too. ”
“Fuck, baby, I’m hard as stone for you.” I pick her up off the table and carry her to the bedroom.
She unbuttons my jeans. I lower my zipper. She takes me out. I push my pants to the floor.
I relax against the mattress as Briar settles between my legs. She’s still in her dress but it’s falling over one shoulder exposing her perfect tits with her small, blush-coloured nipples.
“You taste good when I kiss you here,” she says pressing her mouth to the base of my shaft. “And here,” at my tip.
I’m trembling beneath her as her tongue caresses the head as if she’s savoring every inch of me, my balls aching and my cock throbbing.
Briar continues to travel my cock with her mouth until she wraps her mouth around the head and takes me to the back of her throat. When she gets halfway down my length, she looks up at me under long lashes and hooded eyes, and I nearly arch myself off the bed.
She does it again and again. My fingers winding their way through her blonde hair while my heels dig into the mattress to ground me. I’m going out of my mind, humming with pleasure, with the feel of Briar’s warm mouth wrapped around my cock.
“Baby. God, Bee. I need to be inside you. How do you want me?”
I’ve never needed this connection with her more. So fucking much. I can feel the space between us growing and she’s still here in my bed with me.
“I know what you want,” she answers simply, sitting up, and I turn on my side so she can nuzzle her ass into my groin.
She knows I love taking her from behind with my arm wrapped around her body. This time, I kiss the back of her neck, rubbing my cock along the crease of her ass until I’m notching the head of my cock at her entrance and pushing inside.
We both groan in unison when I’m fully inside, my hand gripping her breast, her ass pushed against my groin. My head spins and my skin is on fire when I start to rock back and forth inside her, and all I want is more.
More.
Right now, I’m a battle lost, and I feel out of control with the thoughts slicing through my mind. I don’t want you to go. I can’t live here without you. I can’t sleep in this bed if you’re not in it. You need to stay. Don’t leave me.
Briar is my home.
My balls draw up so high I know I’m not going to last. I fuck her harder, saying her name as I pump my hips against her ass. And five strokes later, I’m coming hard inside her, room spinning and lights flashing behind my eyelids.
“Dammit, baby. You feel so good.”
With my cock still buried inside her, I hold her close, kissing the salty skin of her neck. We couldn’t be any closer, but it still isn’t close enough. When she tries to move, I tighten my hold on her, wanting to stay this way forever.
“We’re not leaving this room tonight,” I warn.
“I know.”
“I love you, Briar.”
“Love you too, baby.”
I hold her close. Soon our breaths even out as I nestle her to my chest.
I feel zero control over her leaving, but right now, she’s here. For the next half hour, I listen to the soft sounds of her breathing against my chest as she falls asleep in my arms then without waking her, I climb out of bed. I can’t sleep. My heart is racing against my ribs. This isn’t happiness, though. This is a wave of panic slamming into me at what I’m about to face.
I have a lot to think about, and I can’t do that in my current state of mind. My chest hurts. My stomach is in knots. I look out the living room window to the beach in the distance and I know in my core that I want to stay in this house. I know what I need to do. In the morning I have an appointment with the bank. I’ll figure out Briar after that.