CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR #3
I rolled on top of her and moved like a tiger up her body, my eyes staying on hers the whole time. “I just want to be inside you.”
She opened her legs, inviting me in.
“But first,” I said, “this has to go.” I pushed the top of her swimsuit up and over her head and arms, freeing her glorious tits.
I watched as they bounced a little with her movements.
I cupped them and pushed them together, moving from one nipple to the other and sucking to my heart’s content as she arched into me and ran her fingers through my hair again.
I reached down and gave myself a couple of hard strokes. I needed to be inside her, to feel her tight warmth close around me, but I was enjoying myself so much. I wanted it to last.
But when her hand moved down to close around me and she stroked me with rough, even pulls, I moaned. “Fuck, honey. I’ve got to have you.”
“I’m yours,” she said as I pulled her to me and kissed her, sucking and nipping her bottom lip.
I hooked one of her thighs over my arm, grabbed her by the hips, and thrust into her. I bottomed out, and we both hissed with the feel of it as I filled her up.
I worked my hips, trying to keep my thrusts even and steady as I fucked her. I closed my eyes and threw my head back as I pushed into her repeatedly.
“Reynolds,” she whimpered.
I couldn’t respond. I was too far gone. It felt so good to have nothing between us. I was so glad she’d trusted me enough to let me go without a condom after I’d assured her she was the only woman I’d been with for months.
“Please,” she breathed as I picked up the pace, fucking her harder and harder, my fingers gripping her hips.
“What do you need, Nadine?”
“Just… you.”
“You’ve got me, angel.” I moved one hand to her clit and massaged until she was screaming my name again.
Then I lost control as her walls spasmed around me. My thrusts grew wilder, harder as I drove into her until I yelled my release and collapsed on her, careful to keep most of my weight on my arms as I buried my face in the crook of her neck.
“Fuck, honey, you’re the best damn sex of my life. I think I’m addicted to you.”
Her brown eyes met mine and the emotions I read in them made me suck in a breath. She cared for me. It was written as plain as day across her gorgeous face.
“There’s no contest,” she whispered. “You’re the best everything for me.”
I pulled her to me, cuddling her, front to front.
We stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like hours, though it was probably minutes. Something seemed to pass between us in those moments. Something I couldn’t come back from. And it was then, as I held her there, that I sensed a true shift.
I couldn’t pretend anymore.
I could no longer lie to myself.
This wasn’t temporary.
I wanted her. Not just for now. Not just the rest of the month.
I wanted her for real. I wanted her to be mine even after our contract was up.
Would she want that, too?
I licked my lips and cleared my throat. “Nadine?”
“Yes?” Her eyes were hooded as she looked at me drowsily.
“What if you were my girlfriend?”
She got very quiet, and a slight frown appeared on her forehead. “Um… what do you mean?”
I sat up and looked down at her as she reclined amongst the pillows. The sea breeze ruffled her hair, and she looked like some sort of goddess lying there naked like she was. Was it Aphrodite that was born from the foam of the sea? Whether it was her or not, she had nothing on Nadine.
I moistened my lips. “I mean that after the contract is up, what if we stay together? What if we try to make this work?”
She pulled a sheet up over her chest as if she felt vulnerable. “I don’t know, Reynolds.”
The words pierced my heart. Was I wrong? Did she not feel the same way I did about her? I remembered Carmen’s words as if they were an echo in my head. She’d said that some men were shattered when their Cinnamon Girls went their own way at the end of their contract.
“No,” she sat up and grabbed my wrist. “I don’t mean it like the way you’re thinking.
It’s just… well, so many people have warned me not to catch feelings for you or expect anything from you beyond what’s written out in that contract we both signed.
It’s been hard for me.” Her big brown eyes looked guarded.
“Seeing you with Whitney? Holding her hand? Kissing her? It’s been awful. ”
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. “Does that mean…”
“That I’ve already developed feelings for you?
Yes. But I didn’t want to. I’ve felt stupid so many times already.
If I agree to this—to what you’re suggesting—it would crush me if you changed your mind or something.
Like, if you ended up choosing Whitney or someone else more suitable anyway after I’d gotten my hopes up. ”
“I wouldn’t. I won’t. How could I? Every other woman pales next to you.
You’re so vibrant and fun. There’s no one else like you, Nadine.
” I realized I had to explain things better to her, though.
“But I have to warn you that Melda has said I should at least appear to be with Whitney for a while. She says it wouldn’t be a good look to just throw Whitney aside and date you.
It would be like I had tricked the people of West Bay.
” I thought for a second and made a face. “Which is exactly what I did.”
A shadow passed over Nadine’s face, but she nodded. “Melda doesn’t think I’m good enough for you.”
“It’s not that,” I said, though I wasn’t sure that wasn’t also true. “It’s just that she wants me to start my second term scandal free if possible.” I studied her face. “What do you say? Do you want to continue to be with me?”
She bit her lip, nodded, and threw her arms around my neck.
“Thank goodness,” I breathed into her hair, as I ran the tip of my nose up the side of her neck and pressed my lips to her plump, pink ones.
When I pulled back, I rubbed a finger over her cheek. “I know our contract is up the first week of December. But stay with me. Please. I’d love to spend Christmas with you.”
She beamed at me. “I’d love that, too.” She threw her arms around my neck.
“Great,” I murmured, burying my face in her neck and sniffing her. I loved the way she smelled.
It wasn’t long and we were wrapped up in each other yet again, moving together in the bed as the sounds and smells of the ocean and beach wafted around us.