Chapter 4 #2
“Good.” I pressed my lips to his neck. “Good.”
He let out a shuddering breath and tugged at my belt. “Can you lose the work clothes?”
Yeah, they probably weren’t comfortable to be squeezed up against.
“I’ll do you one better,” I said, sniffling. “We’ll both lose our clothes, and then we’re taking a fucking shower.”
The shower was our place. It’d been that way since we’d had kids.
Plus, I wanted him to experience a shower where the water didn’t take half an eternity to heat up.
“Come on, I wanna see those abs up close.”
He laughed under his breath and wiped at his face.
We weren’t really ready to laugh yet, but a pressure release was always nice.
It was like coming home.
Nate and I, holding each other under the hot spray—nothing was more comforting.
The levees had clearly broken for me too, ’cause I couldn’t get my eyes to stop leaking.
I pressed my face against his neck while he drew shivers from me, each time his fingers brushed up and down my back.
“I like your bathroom,” he murmured. “The dimmed lighting is a nice touch.”
“Our bathroom,” I muttered.
I was getting increasingly sleepy, which was his fault. The dumbass separation combined with having my back scratched and rubbed for the first time in over a year…? Fuck, I needed a nap. With him in my arms.
“That’s bizarre.” He exhaled a laugh. “This morning, I was in agony because I was so sure I’d lost you forever. And now…”
Now he was moving.
“Hey.” He nipped at my shoulder. “When are you gonna kiss me?”
That one drew a smile from me, and I lifted my head.
We were gonna have plenty of “for the first time in over a year” in the nearby future, and I wanted to savor each one. We inched closer at the same time and finally met in a slow, warm kiss that sent shivers down my spine.
Fucking hell, I’d missed him.
I slipped my hands down to his ass and pulled him flush against me, and he deepened the kiss.
“I’ve missed you so much, Ash.”
I shuddered and swept my tongue against his. “Me too.”
He exhaled unsteadily and touched my cheek.
Forehead to forehead again, we just stood there and breathed.
Great, more waterworks.
We didn’t have much time left before we had to go back to the old house, so I was gonna relish every damn second and keep him close to me.
I could already feel the next topic creeping in, the logistics of it all—talking to Dylan and Hallie, telling our folks, coming up with a strategy for Mikey and Lily…
And I wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t ready to do anything but keep myself fused to Nate.
I sniffled.
I missed you, I missed you, I missed you.
We were gonna have to be mindful with Mikey, though. One second, he was an average boy who wrinkled his nose at cooties. The next, he was incredibly aware of tensions, energies, and emotions. And he’d just spent the past year with two dads who’d barely shown any affection toward each other.
“I’m gonna sleep well tonight,” I sighed contentedly.
He hummed and kissed his way down to my shoulder. “Me too. Despite the pullout couch.”
“Is it no good?”
“Let’s just say they lied at the store. It’s not for permanent use.”
Didn’t matter. Our bed was waiting for us right in this house.
“We’re gonna sell it anyway,” I said, seeking out his lips again. I needed more kissing. Much more of it. “And a bunch of other shit. Like the old house.”
He smiled and locked his arms around my neck. “I love you.”
Goddamn.
“I love you too, so fucking much.” I kissed him harder and slipped a few fingers between his ass cheeks. I just needed to feel him a bit.
“God,” he breathed. “I missed you.”
Those three words held a different meaning than before.
I sensed the air changing around us, becoming more charged, and that hadn’t been my intention.
But now that the tension was there, it was impossible to resist. Nobody got me going like this man.
No one turned me on like he did. Nobody made me as possessive.
“Tell me I’m the last man who fucked you,” I whispered.
He moaned into the kiss as I pressed my middle finger inside him. “You’re the last man I did anything sexual with.”
Thank fuck.
My chest swelled with satisfaction, and I dipped down to kiss his neck.
“What about you?”
I hummed. “I’ve done precisely this with Jordan—on the couch.” I pushed my finger a little deeper into him and teased his tongue with my own. “All while hoping you’d have good chemistry with him one day so we can make him lose his mind together.”
He sucked in a breath. “How long have you been seeing them?”
“It’s brand-new from the other week.” I flicked a quick glance at the bottle of almond oil next to my body wash. “But I’ve known them for a while now. They’ve become good friends.”
He nodded mindlessly as I added another finger, and I sensed he wasn’t interested in talking about James and Jordan anymore.
I wasn’t either.
He wrapped his fingers around my hard cock and kissed me passionately. His hands were all over me, and it fueled me. It reenergized me. It made me hungry.
It made me fucking ravenous.
“Please, baby,” he whispered.
That’ll do.
I gave him one more deep kiss before I spun him around and nudged his legs apart.
Seconds later, I was pushing my cock deep inside him and hearing his groan echo.
Home.
I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face against his neck.
The urgency came and went. Mostly, I just wanted to be balls deep and hold him. As close as I could.
“I missed you so much.” I couldn’t say it enough. “Every part of you.” I shifted my hands up and down his front. His rib cage, his chest…down to his hips and his cock.
He shuddered and touched me where he could reach. When he tilted his head, I was there and kissed him with all the passion I had in me. I tasted him on my tongue, I let the urgency flow freely, I fucked him, and I stroked him.
“I missed you showing how much you own me,” he admitted.
I sucked in a breath and dropped my grip to his hips. “Do you mean it?”
I’d had doubts once I’d started analyzing how I’d acted. He’d seen the glimpses of the kink I’d tried to deny. He’d sensed it, maybe even felt it, when I’d fucked him.
“Don’t ever question that, Ash.” He pushed out his ass some more and planted his forearm against the tiles. “I always wanna feel owned by you.”
Fuck me sideways.
I pushed inside forcefully and clenched my jaw. Oh, he’d feel it again.
He’d feel it for the rest of our lives.
I set a steady pace and peered down to where we were joined. Where he stretched around me so perfectly. Fucking hell. My cock glistened from the oil, showing every ridge.
“Keep pushing back,” I murmured huskily. He wasn’t the only one who wanted to feel owned in our marriage. “Take what’s yours.”
He moaned and started pushing back faster.
No teasing today. We needed to get off, and I just wanted to fill him the fuck up.
I groaned and let my head fall back as the pleasure surged through me.
He fucked himself on my cock the way only he could.
One shudder set off another, and the minutes ticked by, each thrust charging the air further.
Until we were both spinning out of control.
Groans and grunts flooded the humidity. My grip on his hips had to be painful by now, but neither of us could stop.
Before I knew it, I was fucking him as hard as I could, and he was coming against the wall.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I panted.
My orgasm hit me hard, causing my knees to buckle, and I had to press Nate up against the wall before I slipped and fell like a senior citizen. Fucking hell, the pleasure was almost too much.
“Give me all of it, baby,” he groaned.
I gritted my teeth and pumped my cock into him a few more times before I was completely fucking spent.
Jesus fuck.
I squeezed him to me and sank my teeth into his shoulder, my chest rising and falling too fast.
Breathe.
All mine. You’re mine, baby. I own you. Nobody else.
I threaded our fingers together and kissed his fingertips.
Traffic was way calmer now, thankfully.
Nate smiled and faced forward again, after checking Paws’s carrier in the back seat. “Part of me can’t believe Penelope actually got you a cat for your birthday.”
I chuckled quietly.
Pen knew me. She knew how lonely I’d been. She also knew I loved cats and dogs but didn’t have the time for a dog.
“He’s been my therapist lately,” I said. “I’ve told him all about you.”
“Oh dear. So if the cat ends up hating me, it’s your fault.”
I grinned. Nah. Well. Maybe a little. In my defense… “In my defense, I didn’t know until a few days ago that you were single again. I thought you were with that fucker. So my shit-talk about you was completely justified.”
“Oh God—oh no.” He dragged a hand over his face and cringed. “I am so sorry, Ash. It didn’t even occur to me to tell you. I handled that situation so terribly that I wanted to forget it ever happened once I ended things. Eli was too understanding and forgiving—I was just embarrassed.”
I furrowed my brow and switched on the turn signal. “What did you do? You talk as if you committed a crime.”
“No, but…it was how I practically used him to convince myself I could find happiness without you—which obviously crashed and burned. I became very good at making promises, and then I couldn’t follow through.”
I nodded slowly and gave his hand a squeeze. “I get it. Jordan picked up those signs in me too. I did tell him I wasn’t ready for a lot, but even then, the ambitions got the best of me here and there.”
He sighed. “You and I are clearly a danger to society on our own.”
I let out a laugh.
Laughing suddenly felt great again.
“So it’s settled,” I said. “We’ll stick together for the rest of our lives.”
“I think we have to.”
I shook my head in amusement and took a deep breath.
Breathing was easier now too.
Funny how that worked.
“By the way, I’d like for us to talk to Hallie and Dylan as soon as possible,” he said.