Chapter 10
Kari
Grey leads me down the short hallway, never loosening his grip on my hand. My heart beats so fast it makes my ears ring. Every step feels heavier with the weight of knowing this is happening. Yet, my heart is light.
We stop just inside the doorway. For a second, neither of us moves.
When Grey exhales it’s slow and shaky, almost nervous. He turns to face me. His hands come to my hips, tentative again, still giving me space to change my mind. But I don’t want space.
I want him.
I slide my palms up his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing under my hands.
When he kisses me this time, it’s different.
Hungrier. Less careful. His lips part, his tongue sliding against mine, and my knees actually wobble.
I laugh softly into his mouth, breathless, and he smiles against my lips.
“Sorry,” I whisper out of habit, even though I don’t know what I’m apologizing for.
He shakes his head. “Don’t be sorry about anything.”
My pulse skitters wildly, and a happy, wild thread loosens in my chest. I feel wanted. Pretty.
We move into the dimly lit bedroom. I register the furnishings vaguely, because all I can really focus on is Grey, his kisses—to keep breathing.
His hands skim up my sides, then along my back. I become hyperaware of my body—of how responsive I am with him. How much I want more. This is usually the moment my insecurities scream the loudest. When I’d brace for hesitation. For disappointment. But that feeling doesn’t come.
I help him tug my shirt up and over my head, my cheeks flaming even though we’re both adults and sex is normal.
He peels off his shirt. I shrug out of my leggings and shoes, briefly losing my balance.
There’s a clumsy pause where we bump into each other and laugh quietly.
The sound breaks the tension enough to take the edge off of the seriousness of what we’re doing.
When we’re both fully exposed, he draws back the blanket and lays me on the sheet. I scoot to the middle and he crawls over me. It’s thrilling, surreal, and so painfully sweet.
His mouth follows the path of his hands, dotting my body with kisses—along my neck, to the top of each breast, nipping at my nipples. My thoughts scatter completely. My body takes over, instinctive and alive. I cling to him, fingers digging into his shoulders, grounding myself in the feel of him.
He sinks lower, down my body, sampling every inch of me from my navel to lower. Though I’ve never let any man venture between my legs with their tongue, I couldn’t stop Grey if I tried. He parts my knees and draws them up the mattress.
He stares at me with hooded eyes, then licks his lips. An uncontrollable shiver slices through me. It’s thrilling and new.
When he dips his head between my legs and parts my swollen lips with his tongue, I fist the sheet in my hands, and pray he doesn’t stop. My breath comes fast and shallow as his tongue swirls and sucks, stroking the knot of nerves that brings my entire body to a crescendo.
I arch my back as he grips my thighs, his tongue and lips moving faster, deeper.
I choke on a sharp cry as a burst of pleasure breaks through the barrier.
My body floods with sensations too complex to catalog.
My brain buzzes. My fingers tingle. My sex thrums. He draws wave after wave of pleasure from me until I’m drained, and my bones feel like noodles.
It takes a beat to catch my breath. When I do, Grey’s staring up at me with the goofiest, sexiest grin I’ve ever seen.
Grey
I’ve imagined this a thousand different ways over the years, and every version falls short of the reality. Kari reacts to me in ways that hit deep—soft sounds, small movements, the way her body arches without thinking. Every response feels like a gift I don’t take lightly.
I climb over her, settling my hips between her legs. She’s primed, ready for me, but I need more than a physical connection. My heart pounds so hard I swear it’s shaking my rips loose.
I try to slow down. To stay present. To not rush something I want to savor.
“I’ve wanted this so long,” I say.
When her hands slide over my skin, something hot and fierce curls low in my stomach. I swallow hard, pressing my forehead to hers for a second, grounding myself.
“You okay?” I murmur, because I’ll ask every time if I have to.
She smiles—soft, breathless. “Yeah.”
That smile wrecks me.
She drags her hands down my back, barely grazing my skin with her fingertips. The sweat dotted along my lower back cools, causing me to shiver. But when she wriggles her hand between our bodies and cradles my cock in her palm, everything inside me turns to pure fire.
Her eyes lock to mine as she circles the crown, smearing the slick precum with her thumb. My balls tighten and my cock stiffens to the point of pain. I need inside her, to feel her heat and throbbing around me.
I rise enough to give her room to position me at her center. She bites her lip and I ease inside her slick folds. She closes her eyes and arches her back as I thrust deeper. Each time a tiny purring noise escapes her pouty lips, and it’s sheer torture.
We find a rhythm, countering each other with a give and take motion that’s dizzying and hypnotic. Kari moves with me, my heart pounding so hard I swear it’s shaking my ribs loose.
We move together more easily now, the initial nerves burning off as heat takes over. The room grows warmer. My skin slicks with sweat. Time blurs. There’s very little talking—just our breath, the sound of our bodies coming together, and instinct that feels like we’ve done this a million times.
It doesn’t take long to lose all control.
Her breathing comes faster. My heart pounds like a freight train speeding down the tracks.
Sweat clings to my scalp, and a tingling buzz builds from the deepest part of my soul to my extremities.
When she comes, she comes hard. Her slick walls tighten around my cock, until I’m rutting against her, groaning her name with my release.
I realize, somewhere between one breath and the next, that this changes everything.
Not just because of sex. But because we’ve chosen each other. For the first time, we’re completely honest with each other.
From now on, there’s no more hiding.