Chapter 35
TWO-MINUTE DRILL: FAST-PACED OFFENSE NEAR END OF HALF/GAME.
Iimagine our room would be lovely if I could view it. But the second Troy’s arms wrap around me from behind me, I forget all about settling in. Relaxing my curves into the hard planes of his body, I tip my head back and ask, “What?”
“Just thinking about how incredible this trip has been.”
I raise my brows at his unilateral declaration. “We’ve been here for half a day.”
He kisses the side of my neck. “It’s because I’m traveling with you.”
My lungs stop functioning. There’s a quiet certainty in the way he says it that hits me harder than any grandiose statement I ever received from…no. I refuse to let him in here with us. “Thank you.”
His hand comes up and wraps around the base of my throat, fingers at my pulse while his thumb brushes along my jaw tenderly. “For what?”
I collect my thoughts as he releases his hold on me enough to shrug out of his jacket, letting it fall carelessly to the floor. “You. Me. Today. All of it. Everything.”
His arms wrap back around my waist as he pulls me flush against him. “You don’t have to thank me for being with the person I want most in the world.”
I twist my head to gauge his sincerity. The steady way he holds not just my eyes but the unspoken way he’s holding my heart relaxes something tightly wound inside of me. I spin around, tucking myself beneath his chin, and nuzzle his neck. “Still…thank you.”
For long moments, the world narrows to the sound of our breaths and the rain pattering off the windowpane.
Troy releases his hold enough to cup my face so my eyes can’t escape his.
His eyes are asking for answers to questions I’m not quite ready to give yet.
Then, he murmurs, “Do you want this? Want me?”
I lean closer and place my lips against his when I answer, “If I didn’t , Troy, I wouldn’t be here.”
The gasp that falls from his lips causes my mouth to curve sensuously. After our first time together, I should have been prepared for the heat we’d generate between us. Instead, when his lips take mine fully, my heartbeat goes stratospheric.
When his hand slides deep into my curls to hold my head in place, I don’t feel trapped but treasured. All our physical hunger does is enhance the emotional bond that’s grown between us. With that realization, I jerk my head back and trace his features with the pads of my fingers.
Yes, the feel of his late-evening beard causes my skin to tingle in anticipation of what it will feel like on my skin, but it’s the need for him—Troy—that has me spiraling out of control as I never have before.
He stands statue-still as I slide my hands up the broad expanse of his chest, undoing buttons of his shirt along the way. When I’ve released them all, I push the offending garment off his wide shoulders.
Troy groans and pulls me in for a devastating kiss, sliding his hands over my rear to lift me into his straining erection—rocking me against the hardness.
His hands slide from cupping my ass to my hips as he navigates us to lie on the enormous bed positioned in the center of the room.
But he still hasn’t lifted his mouth from the soul-searing kisses he’s imparting.
His tongue duals with mine—tasting me as I capture the unique flavor of all that’s him mingled with the single ale he consumed.
Dizzily, I realize he’s more than all the nights we’ve spent together combined. I’m being flung up a mountain of pleasure so fast, I’m terrified of what the crash will be like.
Then, Troy proves he is a quick master of my body.
He nips at the skin just below my jaw, causing me to release a low moan even before he lightly sucks at it.
It isn’t until my whole body shivers that I recognize he’s marking me so everyone knows I’m his.
Instead of feeling indignant, I feel as if this is just an external impression of the one he’s already made on my heart.
His hands travel upward, beneath my sweater, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. When they finally reach their destination—each cupping the weight of my breasts—I let out a sigh of surrender.
Only I know it’s not just of my body, but of my soul.
The hunger on his face sharpens when he tugs my bra down enough so he can get to my nipples.
The second his calloused thumbs brush against them, my body arches into his waiting hands.
If I weren’t already spread-eagle across the enormous bed, I’d have collapsed as the ache from that one act causes my limbs to turn to Jello.
Troy reaches down and unsnaps my bra, spreading apart the cups. He bares my breasts not only to the cool England air, but to his intense scrutiny. For long moments, I can’t tell what he’s thinking as I see only the top of his lowered head.
Then, he lifts his eyes and holds my gaze as he lowers his lips to the tip, suckling it deep into his mouth. Between the carnal look and the feel of his tongue stroking and sucking, I’m practically levitating off the bed. Each draw of his lips has a direct connection to my clit.
Then, he releases my breast from his sensual grasp. I’m shuddering with overwhelming emotion. I manage a breathless “Troy…” when he turns his attention to my other nipple, even as he wedges his larger body in between my legs.
Arching into him, my hips move against the long thrust of his cock as it demands its due—despite the layers of clothes preventing it from surging home.
Troy didn’t let up, his lips moving back and forth between my breasts and my lips. Every second my lips are free, I’m pleading with him, “Please. Please make me come.”
“You’ll come before you take me, uvetta mia,” he growls.
I drag my nails down his back to his hips, pulling them tighter against my thrusting hips. Seeking friction. Troy throws his head back and laughs wickedly, even as his hips undulate against mine. “Reach for it, uvetta mia.”
Then his lips drop to mine, and his tongue delivers long, slow thrusts that mirror the way his hips taunt me. I rip my lips from his and beg, “Troy, please,” as I writhe against him.
“Just a little more, uvetta mia. I want to see your pleasure.” His light eyes sparkle like diamonds down at me.
It’s those words that finally push me over. Pleasure surges through me. My thighs tighten against his hips as I shamelessly ride the ridge of his cock. My release has my back arching, his name being ripped from my lips, “Troy!”
Groaning, he lays his head between my breasts, right over my heart. That’s when I hear him whisper, “Nothing has or ever will be as beautiful as watching you come apart in my arms.”
My lips part, but I can’t make a sound because of the tears welling in my eyes. Troy has always made me feel comfortable, but this?
He’s done nothing but show me that all versions of me are beautiful to him.
Suddenly urgent, I reach between us and reach for the button on his pants. His lips curve in a smile. “It might be better if we get you out of your pants first, uvetta mia.”
I immediately kick off my boots, disregarding the crash where they land. Troy lifts his head to grin at me, but his face loses its amusement when he sees the expression on mine. “Maya?”
Pulling him close, I press my lips to his and slip my tongue past the seam. After I release his lips, I murmur, “I can’t wait. I need you.”
Easing back onto his knees, he already has his hands working at the fastening of my jeans. Once he undoes the zip, I wiggle to help him remove them faster. He pleads, “Maya, sweetheart. Let me.”
Moving to a standing position, he quickly yanks my jeans and panties off. Seconds later, he’s lost his own before he crawls back between my thighs with a condom packet between his teeth. Letting it go, it lands directly between my breasts. He nuzzles my nose. “You put it on.”
Making swift work of protecting us both, I gasp when the head of his cock finally nudges at my entrance. Because of his size, it always takes him a few thrusts to slide in, but tonight, Troy drags out the process further.
His hands slide into mine on either side of my head as the slow movements of his hips bring me to the very edge I just fell off of not that long ago. “Hold on, uvetta mia.”
Wrapping my legs around him, I know what’s coming—his fullness stretching my sensitive flesh. I welcome the lazy way his cock works over every one of my nerve endings until my core tightens around his swelling cock.
And together, we tumble into ecstasy.
Before he eases out of me, Troy kisses me—slow and deep. It’s the kind of kiss that offers forever and promises but doesn’t force them.
It only says he’s offering them.
When I’m ready.
Later, Troy’s drifted to sleep beside me, but I can’t get my mind to shut off.
I listen to the rain gently pelting the glass and the steady rise and fall of his breathing.
I find it startling to realize that four months ago, I had just acclimated myself to being engaged to a man I’d thought I’d love for the rest of my life.
Thank goodness someone watched over me so I didn’t make the biggest mistake of my life by marrying Bryce, or I would never have realized where love can be found.
It’s based on friendship, forged in honesty. It shares laughter and tears equally and judges neither.
It takes trust—the kind I learned heartbreak showed me I was owed.
The kind Troy gives me every day.
Now, it’s time to let him know he has mine.