Chapter 29 #2
They had been learning each other in an entirely new way.
As strange as it seemed after years of being best friends, there were still so many beautiful, intimate things they hadn't known.
She learned how he took his coffee black when he was exhausted, but with a splash of cream when he was completely relaxed.
He learned what vintage jazz playlists she listened to when she was testing recipes alone.
She learned the specific way he went quiet when he was deeply worried but still desperately wanted to seem useful.
He learned the exact spots on the back of her neck that instantly soothed her anxiety.
Friendship had been the foundation, but dating had made them strangers in the most breathtaking way—allowing them to finally touch all the parts they had kept carefully hidden for years.
The physical escalation had been a slow, intoxicating burn.
She loved experiencing the new, devastating ways he could pleasure her.
She vividly remembered the intense heat of his fingers, the absolute devotion of his mouth between her thighs.
She remembered the night she had driven him so wild that she made him cum using her breasts, his rough groans vibrating against her skin.
But now, she wanted all of him.
A sudden, sharp spike of insecurity tried to rise in her chest.
She had spent years with the same man. Her body had changed drastically during those years.
She had gained weight. She had lost some of it during the worst, most agonizing weeks of the fallout, but that wasn't the healthy kind of weight loss that made a woman feel good.
It was the hollow, exhausting result of grief, stress, and starvation.
She knew she didn't look like the flawless women Leo used to date. She was curvier. Her breasts were full, her hips and thighs were fuller, and her body visibly carried the heavy life she had lived.
For a terrifying second, she wondered if he would compare her. She wondered if he would notice every single flaw she ruthlessly criticized in the mirror. She wondered if his intense desire could survive the bare reality of seeing her this clearly in the candlelight.
She closed her eyes and stopped the spiral.
She knew Leo. She knew exactly the kind of man he was.
She knew the reverent, consuming way he looked at her when she wore flour-stained sweatpants, and the hungry way he stared at her when she wore a dress.
. She trusted him completely. And, more importantly, she was finally starting to deeply trust herself.
She wasn't standing in this bedroom to be judged. She was standing here because she chose to be.
Footsteps sounded on the hardwood stairs.
Olivia’s heart leaped into her throat. She moved to stand near the foot of the large bed, facing the door. Her silk robe was open just enough to reveal the delicate black lace lingerie underneath, covering her just enough that the moment felt beautifully suspended in time.
The door handle turned. Leo walked in.
He stopped dead in the doorway.
He went completely still. His icy blue eyes moved over her slowly—from her bare feet on the rug, up the curve of her calves, over the black lace of her lingerie, tracing the open edges of the silk robe, until he finally met her eyes.
His reaction was overwhelmingly powerful. He looked stunned. Overwhelmed. He looked like a man who had starved for her for so long that seeing her waiting for him in his bedroom almost physically hurt.
"Liv," he whispered, his voice thick with raw emotion.
Olivia held his burning gaze. She slowly reached up, untied the silk sash, and let the robe slide smoothly from her shoulders. It pooled onto the floor at her feet.
Leo let out a harsh, jagged breath. He crossed the room in four long strides, stopping inches in front of her. He looked down at her face, his eyes searching hers, asking a silent, desperate question. Permission.
Olivia smiled, a soft, confident curve of her lips, and nodded.
Leo took her face in his large hands and captured her mouth in a searing, breathless kiss.
It was explosive. The careful restraint he had exercised for months completely evaporated.
He kissed her deeply, his tongue sliding against hers as his hands dropped to her shoulders, sliding the thin straps of her bra down her arms. He unhooked the lace with expert precision, stripping away the bra and the matching panties as if he were unwrapping the most precious gift he had ever been given.
He lifted her, laying her back against the cool, dark sheets of his bed. He followed her down, covering her body with his.
"You are so fucking beautiful," Leo groaned against her neck, raining delicate, fiery kisses down her collarbone.
His mouth moved lower, capturing the peak of her breast. Olivia arched her back with a loud, breathless moan as he sucked the sensitive peak into the hot wetness of his mouth, his tongue lashing over her nipple while his hand aggressively kneaded the fullness of her other breast.
He worshipped her. He trailed open-mouthed kisses down her stomach, gripping her fuller hips with absolute adoration, pressing her deep into the mattress.
Leo moved between her thighs. He hooked his hands under her knees, pulling her legs wide open.
"Leo, please," Olivia gasped, her hands tangling desperately in the sheets.
"I've got you," he growled.
He lowered his head and pressed his mouth directly against her slick, swollen center. Olivia screamed his name. He was ruthless and incredibly attentive, sucking hard on her clit while his tongue swirled in rapid circles.
"That's it, baby," Leo murmured darkly against her wet skin, his fingers sliding deep inside her. "Let it go. Give it to me."
The dirty, possessive praise sent her completely over the edge. Olivia shattered, her hips bucking wildly off the mattress as a violent, blinding orgasm ripped through her body.
Leo stayed right there, drinking her down until the violent tremors finally stopped.
He pulled back, his chest heaving, and stripped off his own shirt and pants in seconds. He stood beside the bed, fully naked, incredibly aroused, and suddenly froze, a look of sheer panic crossing his handsome face.
"Fuck," Leo rasped, running a frantic hand through his hair. "Liv, I don't think I have a condom, and if I find one in the bathroom, it’s probably expired by now."
Olivia burst into a bright, breathless laugh.
She reached over to the nightstand, grabbing one of the condoms she had placed there earlier. She brought it to her mouth, tore the edge open with her teeth, and looked up at him with hooded, weighted eyes.
"Come here," she whispered.
Leo practically fell onto the bed over her. Olivia reached down, taking his thick, heavy cock in her hands, and smoothly unrolled the condom down the impressive length of him.
She grabbed his hips and pulled him directly over her body.
Leo braced his weight on his forearms. He looked deep into her eyes, his jaw locked tight with strain, and slowly, deliberately pushed inside her.
Olivia gasped loudly, her fingernails biting into his broad shoulders.
He went deeper than she had ever felt anyone go before.
She was vividly aware of how big and thick he was, stretching her completely, filling her in a way she had absolutely never experienced.
It was an overwhelming, terrifyingly perfect sensation of being entirely claimed.
Leo froze, buried to the hilt, his muscles visibly shaking. "Liv? Are you okay? Am I hurting you?"
"No," Olivia begged, wrapping her legs tight around his waist, locking her ankles together. "Please, Leo. Don't stop."
Leo let out a rough, animalistic groan. He pulled back and drove his hips forward, establishing a slow, deep, perfect rhythm. He lowered his chest, his mouth capturing her nipple again, sucking hard as he thrust deep inside her.
The pleasure was blinding. Olivia lost all sense of time and space. The rhythm sped up, the heavy slap of their bodies echoing in the dim, candlelit room.
"Liv," Leo rasped, his control shattering. "I want you. God, you have no idea what you do to me."
"I never want to be without you," Olivia sobbed, clinging to him.
They climaxed together, a massive, explosive release that tore the breath from both of their lungs. Leo drove into her one final time, shouting her name into the crook of her neck, his heavy body collapsing over hers as the aftershocks racked them both.
Leo rolled slightly to the side, taking his weight off her, but he pulled her flush against his chest, wrapping his arms securely around her bare body.
Olivia rested her head over his heart, listening to the frantic, beautiful rhythm of it slowing down. She looked out at the flickering candlelight dancing across the shadows of the room. The past was finally closed, locked away in the dark where it belonged.