Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Noah got up from his knees, licking his lips. He crawled onto the mattress and looked down at her. Danica gave him a languid smile.
He’d wanted to show her how much he felt for her, and he wasn’t done yet. But first, he had to check in with her.
She’d been through far more than one person should have to deal with. Not just being targeted and threatened, but fearing that someone she cared about was behind it. If he’d taken away even a small amount of that stress, he’d done his job.
“You look relaxed,” he said.
“Very.” She scooted up higher on the bed. Noah lay down on his side, facing her, running his hand along her body. She rolled toward him, and his hard-on rubbed against her stomach.
Danica kissed his neck and his chest. “I want to feel you come inside me.”
“Can’t get enough of my cock, can you?”
“It’s a tie. Between your cock and your dirty mouth.”
She lay on her back and pulled him toward her, making absolutely clear what she wanted if her words had left any doubt.
Noah slid his shaft into her, burying himself to the hilt.
As his hips thrust, his heart started to do strange things in his chest. Sweat and goosebumps broke out all over his skin, but it wasn’t just from the heat of their bodies meeting.
He ached for this woman. A feeling was rising up and inside of him, balling in his throat like it would choke him.
Noah dropped his face into her neck, breathing in the scent of jasmine. The glide of his erection in and out of her was everything he needed, and also somehow nowhere near enough.
Danica’s hips rocked to meet his, and her panting grew more fevered.
He loved how much she was enjoying this, and that just made the intensity climb higher for him.
His balls drew up, tight and full, and the need to come sent lightning up and down his spine.
Noah rose up onto his hands so he could watch her.
Danica’s lips were parted, eyes hooded with desire. Her legs were tight around his waist.
So beautiful. Take what’s yours, she said in his memory. And he wanted that. He wanted her to be his. Only his.
Noah pistoned his cock into her once, twice more, and he grunted as his orgasm ripped through him. Then Danica arched her back and cried out, legs shaking.
His arms wrapped around her, and Noah rolled them over so she was lying on top of him. They held one another as their breathing slowed. He was still inside of her, and every minute or two his dick jumped with an aftershock.
“I’ve never come in missionary before,” she said.
He felt a lazy grin stretch over his face. “Hopefully, it won’t be the last.” That had sounded flippant, but the emotions flooding his system were anything but.
Almost nothing in the world scared him. But the thought of losing her, of letting her walk away not knowing, had him terrified.
Years ago, he’d let her slip away by failing to tell her how he really felt. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. And usually, he had no problem saying what he was thinking or feeling.
“Dani?”
Her chin propped on his chest so she could see him. “Yeah?”
“You said you want something bigger for us. Something real.”
She nodded.
“I don’t think it’s impossible. I get that we live in different cities, and this might not be easy. But it’s worth finding a way.”
For a long time, Noah hadn’t believed in happy endings. Maybe for other people, but not for himself.
But Danica made him want to believe. She made him want to fight for their happy ending.
“I love you,” Noah said.
She lay her cheek on his chest, and he could feel her thinking. Danica was the type to push him away if she felt cornered, and he certainly didn’t want that. She’d said she valued persistence, and he’d already gotten the impression that she needed to be wooed. Whatever that took, he was committed.
“Faith told me you don’t seem happy,” she said. “That you want more out of life and haven’t found it yet.”
Noah propped one arm behind his head. Faith had noticed that? He wondered who else had. “That’s fair. I guess, since I left the SEALs, I’ve been…coasting. I like my job, and being a captain keeps me busy. But I’m not sure it’s what I really want to do.”
When he’d been in the military, so much had seemed clear. Now, he didn’t know how to get that feeling back. How he felt about Danica made perfect sense to him now, but everything else? Not so much.
She sighed, rolling off him to lie flat on her back. Her arm was still pressed against his, but Noah missed the rest of their contact. “I told you that, when I’m with you, I feel alive instead of empty,” she said. “Is that how you feel, too?”
“Absolutely. So alive it’s almost too much.”
“Yeah,” she said in a small voice. “Exactly. It sucks to need someone else that intensely.”
“That’s true. But it makes the sex better.”
She giggled. “It does.” Danica turned her head toward him. “If you and I are…together, I think my father might come around eventually. But Soren really does hate you. He might never speak to me again.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Yes, because he’s my brother. But he’d be the one making the choice. Not me. And if I had to? I would choose you. Every time. Every. Time.”
She hadn’t said she loved him back, but that was okay. For now, this was enough. “So we’re together? For real this time?”
“Yes.”
He put his hand on her cheek, unable to contain his smile. His whole body was shining with it.