Chapter 24 Iris #3
“Wow.” I nod, and the dark chuckle that leaves his mouth threatens to undo me.
It occurs to me that Ellie was probably right.
This man knows exactly what he’s doing. He prowls forward, crawling over me on the bed until I’m pressed back against the pillows, curls fanned out around my face.
He shifts his weight, bracing himself on one arm as the other hand glides up the slope of my waist. His fingers trace over my ribs making me shiver, stopping just over my heart.
Palm pressed to my chest, his lips capture mine again.
A kiss more tender than any I’ve ever known.
He pulls away, eyes half closed as his hand skims over my jaw, the pad of his thumb brushing over my cheek.
Collin pauses as he settles between my thighs, eyes darkening with desire as he stares down at my naked body.
“Shit,” he mutters, brow furrowing. “Condoms.” I reach up, pulling him back down to me and wrapping my legs around his waist.
“I’m on birth control,” I assure him, running my hands over his back. I tilt my hips up, pressing against him. He hisses in a breath, hips rocking forward instinctively.
“Fuck. You’re sure?” The crease between his brows deepens, trying so hard to be patient. To leave it all up to me. My heart cracks at those few words. How could one man undo so much hurt in the smallest of moments?
“Yes...plea—” He swallows my words, mouth claiming mine.
Again, again, again. There is no air in this room.
His tongue slides over my bottom lip, and I moan into his mouth.
Kiss swollen lips and shared breaths the only things between us.
My hands claw at his back desperate to find purchase there as he presses against the warmth between my legs.
I can’t breathe. Can’t think. There is only Collin.
Collin with that stupid, adorable smile.
Collin with his patience and too big heart.
I didn’t think I would ever want this again.
I thought I’d be content to be alone. To keep myself guarded, safe, but here I am on the precipice of falling. All I want to do is jump.
I squeeze my knees against his hips. “Please.” My voice is no more than a whine.
I’d do anything he asked of me in this moment.
Anything to have him so completely. He captures my lips in another bruising kiss, moaning into my mouth as he sinks all the way to the hilt.
The pace he sets is unhurried, deliberate.
We’re nose to nose and all that matters right now is him.
Invading every part of me that I’d closed off to the rest of the world.
I gasp, ankles locking around his waist, pulling him deeper as I sink my teeth into his shoulder. Tender hands roam over my sides, tilting my hips up to meet his. That familiar feeling snakes its way through my body, coiling low.
“Collin,” I grit out, legs trembling with every punishing snap of his hips.
“That’s right, Pretty Girl. Say my name.
” He buries his face between my neck and shoulder, teeth grazing the skin there.
“Fuck you feel good.” He groans, possessive hands grip my thighs, pulling them up higher against his sides.
His hips move faster, driving into me with a fervor that takes my breath away.
Each thrust sends sparks of ecstasy through my body, my fingers digging into his back as I hold on for dear life.
“So close,” I whimper, feeling the coil inside me tighten with each snap of his hips. “Don’t stop, Collin. Please don’t stop.”
“Come for me, Iris,” he demands, voice rough with need.
“Let go, baby. I’ve got you.” And I do, back arching off the bed as ecstasy crashes over me in waves.
“Fuck,” he gasps, burying his face in the crook of my neck as he follows me over the edge moments later.
We collapse together in a tangle of limbs, chests heaving as we struggle to catch our breath.
Collin rolls to the side, pulling me close and tucking my head under his chin.
I nestle into his embrace, feeling safer and more content than I have in years.
For a few minutes, we just breathe together.
His hand rests warm against my lower back, thumb absently stroking my skin.
I press my nose against his chest, inhaling the familiar pine scent.
The sheets are tangled around our legs, and I can feel the coolness of the room now on my bare shoulders, but I’m too comfortable to move.
“You okay?” he murmurs against my hair, voice husky and warm. The question is simple but loaded with care.
“Yeah,” I whisper, surprised to find how completely true it is.
“Really okay.” There’s no regret, no panic rising in my chest. Just this moment, just us.
I’ve spent so many nights alone in this bed that having him here should feel strange, but it doesn’t.
Instead, there’s a sense of pieces clicking into place, of something long misaligned settling into its proper position.
“I’m glad you stayed,” I say quietly, tilting my head back to see his face.
His eyes, still heavy-lidded and tender, crinkle at the corners as he smiles.
“Nowhere else I’d rather be,” he says, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
I think about tomorrow morning—Jamie bursting in at dawn, finding Collin here.
The questions, the explanations we’ll need to have.
But even those thoughts don’t send me spiraling.
Instead, I find myself imagining coffee at the kitchen table, Jamie helping Collin make breakfast, Ace circling hopefully for scraps.
It feels right in a way I hadn’t expected, like glimpsing a future I hadn’t allowed myself to want but now can’t imagine refusing.
I don’t know exactly what this is yet, what we’re becoming.
But for the first time in longer than I can remember, I don’t feel afraid of what comes next.