Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
avery
Until I Found You – Stephen Sanchez
Ilook up at this man as my fingers find their way back up his broad chest. My touch leaves goosebumps on his skin in its wake.
I feel his thick fingers digging into my hips and his hardening cock against my stomach as we stand here in this position.
I take in his fully tattooed arms around me, his forearm muscles flexing.
Slowly, he releases his grip and slides his hands along my lower back as my hands settle around his neck.
I take in this man who looks at me with such devotion in his eyes. Those soft brown irises keep me captivated.
“I love you, Avery Jane. So much that my heart physically hurts when you’re not here.
It’s been yours since you looked up at me in Mr. Adams’ class.
All doe-eyed, lips wrapped around that pencil.
I remember thinking what I would give to be that.
I was jealous it got your attention. And I never looked away.
You became my sole focus. Football, my parents, the looming family business—none of it mattered anymore.
I found what I was always supposed to be doing—loving you. ”
Instead of answering, I kiss him. I throw myself into him, knowing he would never let me fall, and suddenly the world falls away.
The earth shifts, the stars stop shining, and the sounds outside quiet as I feel his soft lips against mine. His hands tighten dangerously on my waist, gripping me hard enough to leave bruises and pulling us together so tightly I feel like I’m suffocating in him.
His lips move over mine as we tangle in an all-too-familiar dance.
His tongue slowly traces my lips and my mouth parts, giving him full access.
A soft moan escapes me when I get the first taste of him.
My hands shoot up to his hair at the back of his neck, gripping the strands and pulling him farther down to me.
He picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist. My core settles right over that impressive bulge in his pants.
He slams the door closed and pushes my back up against it as he rips his mouth from my lips and slowly kisses down my neck.
The heat in my belly burns hot as I feel his lips trail up and down my neck, softly sucking and kissing as my breaths come in pants.
I slowly rub myself against him, my core on fire.
The sexiest groan rumbles from his throat, making my hips move faster against him.
He pulls his head back, a seductive grin on his face.
“Eager, are we, pretty girl?” he taunts with a chuckle, coming in for another kiss, this time slower, as if he’s savoring the feel of our lips sliding over each other.
“Kane…” I moan out between kisses, panting with the need for him to touch me, for more.
One moment we’re against the door, the next he turns us and sits on the bed. My core rests right up against him as I straddle him. His hands are on my waist, then trail up, stopping just short of my breasts that tingle in anticipation.
“I know, baby. I know,” he moans as he keeps trailing his hands up and down my waist, staring at me in reverence. “I know what you want.” His hands drag slowly over my waist, stopping just shy of where I need them most. “But I think we should slow down.”
I sit back with a pout.
He leans in and catches my bottom lip between his teeth, smirking when my breath hitches. “Don’t pout at me. I’m trying to be smart about this.”
His fingers flex against my waist, and the look in his eyes says smart is the last thing he wants to be.
“I don’t see how sex is a bad idea. Even when we couldn’t talk, we were great at it,” I coax, brushing my hand over his dick and giving it a small squeeze. A groan follows as he closes his eyes. I stroke it one more time before he takes my hand in his and holds it behind my back.
“Please, baby. I’m trying to think, and I can’t do that when you’re making the blood go elsewhere,” he groans, barely able to take a breath as a grin breaks across my face.
I always loved how easily he responded to me.
I felt powerful knowing how little it took to bring this man to his knees for me, and he looks really fucking good on his knees.
After a few more breaths, he opens his eyes and smiles at me. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. We’re not having sex. And don’t pout at me.”
I laugh when he catches my bottom lip between his fingers as I jut it out, kissing it before letting me go and gripping my hips again.
“We’re not having sex because I think we should go slowly. Talk to each other and learn to trust each other again,” he finishes as I slump a bit on top of him.
The fire goes out of me as I realize he makes sense. While I think sex with Kane could never be a bad idea, I can see it means a lot to him, so instead of pushing my luck, I start to get up. Only his hands keep me in place on top of him.
“No, don’t get up, I just got you back.” He grins, his fingers digging into me and causing me to chuckle and wrap my arms around him.
I sigh contentedly as I rest my head in the space between his neck and shoulders. I inhale deeply, loving the smell of him mixed with the smell of fresh rain. Sandalwood and rain make my heartbeat calm and my hands twirl in his hair, feeling how the strands have grown in our time apart.
“I missed you,” I profess softly into his chest, not wanting to break the moment but needing to say it—to get it off my chest that every moment apart was painful.
I dreamed of this moment and the times when he would wrap me up so tight in his arms nothing else mattered. The outside world couldn’t reach me here—where it was safe and comforting and home.
I feel a featherlight kiss against my hair, and he rests his lips against my head, squeezing me tighter for a moment.
“I missed you too, pretty girl. Every fucking second,” he confesses just as softly, and I let my eyes shut and let myself hold on to this moment, hold on to him.
We stay like this for minutes—maybe hours—until my bladder finally refuses to be ignored, like it always does when I cry hard. I peel myself away from him and stare into his eyes, seeing a lightness I can’t remember the last time I saw.
“I have to go,” I say with a smile, and he laughs as he releases me enough to get off him, his hands skimming my waist as I pull away.
I turn and make my way to the bathroom, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror: the red, bloodshot eyes, the freckles on my face that somehow stand out more against my chronically pale skin to the the red marks on my neck from his long scruff and a small hickey that makes me laugh.
That territorial man.
When I’m washing my hands, I feel him come up behind me. I slowly lean back and let my ass graze him.
“Just ignore him. He’s always excited when you’re involved,” he chuckles as he slowly kisses my neck.
I turn in his arms. “Or you could let me help with that?” I suggest, waggling my eyebrows suggestively.
A painful groan comes out of him before he finally looks up from my neck, a glare painted on his face.
“You’re evil.” He pouts, taking a slow step back and finally letting me follow him out of the room.
“As much as I want that, baby girl, tonight has been a lot for both of us. So we are going to sleep together.”
I raise my eyebrows at him.
“Just sleep, get your head out of the gutter.” He laughs, rolling his eyes, and peels back the covers, holding them up and turning to me. “Get in.”
I slide in as I feel a quick smack on the ass. I turn back to him with a faux glare, only to see the most beautiful playful smile on his face.
He drops his pants and I watch as he switches to a dry pair of boxers from the dresser. My heart warms at the scene. I snuggle down under the blanket and watch him slide in after me, clicking off the lamp and encasing us in darkness.
The faint light from the window shines through, just barely making out his face next to me. His strong features glimmer in moonlight, from the thick black brows, those striking cheekbones, and impossibly angular jaw covered in a light scruff that makes him all the more striking.
I’m constantly in awe that this beautiful, hot-as-sin man is in my bed, looking at me with such softness in his eyes.
His body turns toward me, a couple inches between us, and we stay locked on each other, savoring a moment neither of us can quite believe.
He lifts his hand and drags it softly down my cheek, brushing my hair behind me as he continues trailing his hand down my neck to my arm, then back up.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, pretty girl,” he starts on a whisper, slightly hoarse as if it’s been overused, “And I’m too damn selfish to spend another night away from you.
I used to wake up every night and reach over, my brain not yet catching up that you weren’t there.
I would graze the cool sheets that used to be tangled up in you.
I told myself when I got you back—not if, you were never an if in my mind—that I would never ever let you go again.
I wouldn’t take this moment right here for granted again.
The good, the bad, the painful—I’ll be here.
I’ll slay every man, every demon that comes your way, because you’re mine, baby.
Heaven, hell, and even purgatory can’t keep me from you.
I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you,” he rasps out and pulls me flush against him.
Every inch of him is surrounding me, from my pink pastel toes peeking beneath the blanket to the skin of my stomach that peeks out from my shirt, glued to his bare torso. The feel of his skin against mine makes my heart soar.
He kisses me so softly I feel tears well up in my eyes at how this man loves me. I know in every word, every touch, every kiss he’s telling me in the best way he can.
“I love you, Kane, and not a single thing in this world could tear us apart this time,” I vow as my eyes get heavy from sleep or emotions. I feel two soft kisses on my forehead right before sleep threatens to take me.
We are wrapped impossibly tight when I hear a faint, “I love you, Avery. More than this world can imagine.”
Sleep quickly claims me after, easier than it has in months.