Chapter 19 #2
My hoodie.
Her hair fell over her shoulders, static-kissed and wild. Underneath, she wore a thin long-sleeved shirt, leggings, snow-damp socks, and the bracelet I’d given her.
Not glamorous.
Not polished.
Not dressed for seduction.
Still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
I reached for the hem of her shirt. Paused.
“Tell me.”
She lifted her arms.
“I’m yours.”
My hands shook. Just once. Enough that she saw.
I pulled the shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor.
Her bra was pale lace. Soft. I ran my knuckles lightly down the center of her chest, watching goose bumps rise across her tan, smooth skin. She grabbed my wrist.
“Drew.”
“What?”
“Do not make this slow just to torture me.”
I laughed under my breath. “There’s my girl.”
“I mean it.”
“You want fast?”
“I want you.”
Everything in me went quiet.
Then hot.
I leaned down and kissed the center of her chest, right above the edge of lace. Her breath caught. My hands moved to her back, found the clasp, and flicked it open. I slid the straps down her arms and let the bra fall.
Her skin was warm under my palms. Tan. Smooth. I ran my hands up her sides, thumbs brushing the undersides of her breasts, then lower again, just feeling her. She sighed softly and leaned into my touch.
I kissed her neck— slow, open-mouthed kisses along the column of her throat, then lower to the spot just beneath her ear. She shivered. I sucked gently there, then kissed the same spot, and she made a small, breathy sound that went straight through me.
“God, your skin,” I murmured against her neck. “So soft. So warm.”
I kissed along her collarbone, down between her breasts, then back up to her neck. More slow, hot kisses, my mouth open, tongue tasting her. She tilted her head to give me more room and sighed again, fingers sliding into my hair.
I kissed lower, took one pretty pink nipple into my mouth and sucked gently while my hand cupped the other breast. She moaned softly, back arching. I switched sides, lavishing attention on both until her breathing grew heavier.
My hand slid down her stomach, over the smooth plane of her tan skin, and between her legs. I cupped her over her panties first, feeling the heat, then slipped my fingers inside.
She was completely waxed. Baby soft. Silky under my fingers. And soaked.
“Isa…” My voice came out rough with wonder. “You’re so soft here. So smooth and wet for me.”
I stroked her slowly, fingers gliding through her slick folds, learning every inch of her. She was silky and warm and so responsive. Every slow circle of my fingers made her sigh and press closer.
“You feel perfect,” I whispered against her neck, kissing that spot again. “My perfect girl.”
She reached down and wrapped her hand around my cock, stroking me with long, slow pulls. I hissed her name against her skin.
“Isa—”
She stroked me while I kept touching her, our foreheads pressed together, breathing the same air. Skin on skin. Her tan legs brushing mine. My chest against her breasts. Every shift of our bodies made more contact, more heat.
I kissed her neck again, slower this time, sucking lightly as two fingers slid inside her. She was so wet they moved easily. She moaned and stroked me faster.
“Baby,” I breathed. “You’re driving me crazy.”
I pulled my hand away gently and guided her back onto the bed. I followed her down, settling between her thighs, and took another long moment just kissing her neck, her chest, the soft skin of her stomach. I wanted to taste every inch of her.
When I finally settled over her, my cock nudged against her entrance. She was so wet it slid easily through her folds. I rubbed the head against her, coating myself in her slickness, and we both sighed at the feeling.
I pushed in slowly.
Bare.
Just the head at first. Then another inch. The heat of her— silky, wet, and so fucking tight— wrapped around me with nothing between us. I groaned, low and broken, because it felt too good. I needed this. Needed to feel her bare, even if only for a moment.
“Isa…” I whispered against her mouth. “You feel so good like this. So warm… so perfect around me.”
I gave myself three slow, shallow thrusts, just feeling her—the slick drag, the way she clenched around me, the way her body welcomed me with nothing in the way. It was almost too much. I had to stop.
I pulled out carefully, breathing hard, and reached for my jeans on the floor. I found the condom, tore the packet open with my teeth, and rolled it on with shaking hands. She watched me the whole time, eyes dark and full of love.
Then I was back over her, kissing her deeply as I lined up again.
This time when I pushed in, it was with the condom, but the memory of how she felt bare stayed with me. I sank into her slowly, inch by inch, until I was buried deep.
She hooked her good knee around my hip and pulled me closer. The movement pressed us together even more — chest to chest, skin on skin, her soft breasts against me.
I started to move.
Slow, deep thrusts. Every time I sank back into her she made this soft, breathy moan that I felt all the way down my spine. I kissed her neck again, open-mouthed and hot, while I moved inside her.
“You’re perfect,” I murmured between kisses. “My perfect girl. I love you so much.”
She moaned again and tightened her leg around my hip, meeting every thrust. The slow rhythm, the slick slide of our bodies, the way she clenched around me— it was everything.
I kept the pace steady and deep, kissing her neck, her mouth, anywhere I could reach. Skin on skin. Her sighs mixing with mine. Her hands sliding over my back. Her knee hooked around me like she never wanted to let go.
When she came, it was with a long, soft moan and her body fluttering around me. I followed right after, groaning her name into her neck as I came deep inside the woman I loved.
We stayed like that for a long time— me still inside her, both of us breathing hard, her leg still hooked around my hip, my mouth pressed to her neck.
Eventually I eased out carefully, disposed of the condom, and pulled her into my arms. I tucked her bad leg over mine so it stayed supported and kissed her forehead, her temple, the corner of her mouth.
“Not fake,” I whispered.
“Not fake,” she echoed, voice soft and sleepy and completely mine.
I traced the bracelet on her wrist with my thumb, then the ring on my own hand.
“Still scared?” I asked.
She smiled against my chest. “A little. But I’m here.”
I closed my eyes and held her tighter.
“Yeah,” I said. “You’re here.”
Outside, the snow kept falling.
Inside, I finally had everything I’d been too afraid to want.
And I was never letting it go.
She trusted me with her body.
I trusted her with my heart.
And for the first time since I saw her on that beach in a white dress and cowboy boots, wanting another man, I did not feel like I had to fight for a place in her life.
She had flown through snow and handed her heart to me.
“You’re heavy,” she murmured.
“I can move.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
I smiled into her neck.
“Mean women are my weakness.”
“You’re lucky.”
“I know.”
We lay there tangled in the warm dim room, snow falling outside, the house quiet around us except for distant laughter downstairs and one door closing softly somewhere down the hall.
Isa’s hand slid to mine.
To the ring.
Her thumb moved over it.
I lifted my head to look at her.
Her hair was everywhere. Her cheeks were flushed. She looked soft and ruined and brave, and my chest hurt with how much I loved her.
She smiled.
Then, because she was still Isa, she added, “Also, for the record, your restraint was noble but extremely irritating.”
I laughed so hard I had to bury my face against her shoulder to muffle it.
She pinched my side.
“Ow.”
I lifted my head. “Baby, your brand is a woman who brought a ring and a financial waiver to win the boy back.”
She groaned. “I’m never living that down, am I?”
“Not a chance.”
She looked at me, eyes bright.
Then she smiled.
“I can live with that.”
I kissed her forehead.
Then her mouth.
Then the place where the bracelet rested against her wrist.
And for once, there was no almost waiting at the edge of the room.
No rules.
No performance.
No expiration date.
Just her hand in mine.
Her heart finally trusted to me.
Mine, finally trusted to her.
And midnight, whenever it came, could go straight to hell.