Chapter Twenty-Two

Sebastian

That was like nothing I've ever experienced.

Yes, I knew I wanted Nora. From pretty much the second I laid eyes on her at the bookstore.

But I didn't expect to want her like that, damn near feral and greedy and completely out of my head with it.

I toss her my softest white T-shirt. It matches the boxers I'm wearing right down to the brand label. "Your romper and everything else are hanging to dry in the bathroom. You do not need to put on wet, cold clothes."

"Thanks. I love that the word romper is now in your vocabulary." She slips on the shirt and pulls her hair over her shoulder. "I'll give them time to dry and then I'll sneak back to my room."

"We've still got a few hours before anyone is awake. We can watch a movie."

She lies on her side, watching me as I close the blinds. Her laugh floats across the room. "In case anyone from this wedding is planning to fly a drone or scale the walls in the middle of the rainy night, we're safe."

She looks freshly fucked and highly cute sprawled out in my clothes with her hair ruffled. "Exactly."

I yawn as I slide under the blanket beside her.

"Are you sure I shouldn't go?" she offers, moving the hair off my forehead. The gentle touch sends a shiver through my scalp. "You're tired."

"Not tired at all." And more to the point, I don't want her to go.

"Liar."

"The TV will keep us awake," I say.

"The TV is how I fall asleep at home," she counters. "I put on The Weather Channel. It soothes me."

My laugh scrapes out.

She pinches my chin and tilts my face her way. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just didn't realize you were a suburban father planning your morning commute."

Her eye roll is one for the books. "I think you have it on good authority that I'm nobody's father."

"Or are you every Floridian the week leading up to a hurricane?" I drag her body over the top of mine like a blanket. She's warm and inviting as her chin rests on my sternum. "Wait, I know. You have a weatherman fetish. Oh, Nor, you have a thing for Jim Cantore, don't you? Damn. Well, I've never role-played before, but I'm down to try anything once."

She laughs. "You must be stopped."

My gaze drops to her mouth. "Make me stop."

She plants one kiss on my lips. Her head falls back to my chest. "It must be tiring being so funny."

"Exhausting."I stroke her hair as the sounds of the rain lulls me into a hypnotic trance. Ifeel her heartbeat against my own. Her breathing slows as my eyes drift shut.

You're beautiful.

I don't know if I say it out loud, if I'm awake or asleep.But I hope she feels it.

…

The clock on my end table blinks 3:59. It's almost pitch black in here.

Nora and I haven't moved at all, our bodies sweaty and pressed together. My AC unit isn't making noise, but I'd rather hack off a finger than get out of bed when she is sleeping on top of me.I want her right here.

Damn it.

Sometimes the truth is really fucking inconvenient. And the truth is I didn't think I was lonely. I didn't believe it, even when Alessia made her comments. Even when I looked at other couples and felt a stirring of something , a melancholy that isn't jealousy because I know my relationships won't look like that.

I didn't know I was lonely until right now, waking up…not alone.

Nora makes me want things I didn't know I wanted.

Awareness floods me as I stretch, careful to not jostle us. I'm hard, situated between her thighs, and don't want to make it her problem.

She moves in one lithe motion, rubbing against me like she's trying to get comfortable.

I thread my hand behind her neck. Her pulse is racing. "Are you awake?"

"Mmhmm."

I pull her higher on my chest to see her face. It's not even bright enough to make out her features. We're operating on feeling and sensation only. "How awake?"

"Very." Her hand weaves into my hair. "I need to go."

"Right." I clear my throat, dreading the loss of her weight on me. "Don't want to risk some early riser seeing you come out of my room."

She pauses. The dark thrums with anticipation.

I should let her roll off me and go about her day.I should get very comfortable with the idea of letting her go.

Instead, I ignore all the damn shoulds . "Come here."

Her warm lips play against mine, lazy and sweet. Our foreheads fall together.

Her hand wraps around where I'm hard for her.

She makes goodbyes very challenging.

"Five more minutes?" I ask gruffly.

Her lips land on mine in invitation, hard and hungry. No pretense, no sleep-addled follow-up questions, just need.

It would seem our needs are aligned.

My hands roam her body in the dark, tunneling in her shirt, stroking two very hard nipples, sliding down her ribs, passing over the two tiny dimples of her back to get to her ass.

She kisses and licks her way to my ear and takes it between her teeth, tugging lightly. "Hi."

That little "hi" screams I'm ready to pounce.

She sits up, straddling my torso with her knees pinned to the bed. In a flash, she strips off her shirt—my shirt—and tosses it aside."Do you have another condom?"

"Getting right down to business, are we?" I lean up and take half her breast in my mouth, too greedy to stop at just a nipple, sucking and flicking my tongue until she bucks against me.

Her voice is all breath. "I plan to use our time wisely."

Gripping her hips, I fall back against the pillow and guide her up my body. My eyes are adjusting enough to make out her features. "So do I. Come here."

A shocked cry leaves her mouth as she falls forward, bracing on the headboard. I position her just how I want her and tease her with a few blown breaths, letting her settle over my face.

She looks down, lips parted in anticipation, and I think it's shocking there aren't more famous statues and photographs created from this vantage point. This woman is art. "Are you sure?"

I answer with a thick drag of my tongue, and then another. Her exhale is a burst as I set to work, testing what she likes. When her hips start to move, I encourage her with a few words pressed right against her center. Her legs tense as I talk— shit , I like that she likes that—and I do it again, adding a finger. I gauge the exact moment she loses herself to the sensations, because now she's making noise. Desperate, coaxing cries that make me ache to bury myself inside her.

"Wait! Let me—" She turns herself around, still positioned over my face as she kisses down my stomach. Moving lower. Before I can so much as breathe, one single lick up my shaft has my hips off the bed. That alone sends a cascade of heat up my spine.

This will be brief.

I bury my tongue inside her to distract myself from her teasing. She gives me an inch of her hot mouth. It's already so good, even when she's being slow and delicate. It takes everything I've got not to thrust into her.

I pour all my energy into fucking her with my tongue and fingers, so hard and fast she falters, gasping against the fevered skin of my cock. She will come first if it kills me. I'm learning just how she likes it, what angle drives her wild. Her legs start to shake and she spasms around my fingers. My shaft falls out of her mouth just long enough for her to cry my name in the dark.

Her urgency rebounds and she takes me all the way to the back of her throat, closing her hand over what's left. Every inch of me, consumed in some way by her.

And then she sucks. Hard.Nothing, nothing could feel better than her.

"If you don't stop—" I choke out as I try to roll us sideways so I can pull out, even though all I want is exactly this sensation for the rest of fucking time. "I'm going to come. Now ."

She hums. I'm too close, and then it's too late. She seals her lips, holds me captive, takes it as I pulse into her mouth. Down her throat.

It feels better than the best fucking day of my life.

I struggle to catch my breath, to gather the composure she siphoned straight from my body.She slides off me and rubs a palm up and down my leg, bringing me back to reality.

I crawl so we're facing the same direction and collapse in a heap beside her. I intend to kiss her, but when I pull her against me, we hug instead. All I want to do is hold her and bury my face in her hair.

She's left me speechless, but one singular thought plays in my head. Don't let go. The words feel like they are being carved into my skin one jagged letter at a time.

"Tonight," I say. "Your room or mine?"

I hope she heard me loud and clear: I want her again.We both want to do this again, right? We've already broken the touching barrier and so long as we're careful, we can spend another night together.Several nights.

"Here," she says. "It'd be awfully awkward in my room with Benji there."

Her gaze meets mine and my breathing calms at her joke. I can see in her eyes that we're on the same page.

She rises to her feet. "I should change. I didn't bring my phone and even though I doubt my mom or anyone else tried to reach me, I need to get back and check."

I smack her bare ass. "Get moving, then."

She meanders to the bathroom with a smile on her face. I track down my own clothing and throw it on—because it's weird to stay naked if she's not—and wait for her by the door.

Her romper is wrinkled and her hair is a mess when she emerges into the hall. She tucks into her short white boots one at a time.

"See you soon. Family fun awaits, I'm sure." She halts next to the door and pushes up on her toes.That is her kiss-me command.

I move in and press my lips to hers. "Thanks for a fantastic wake-up call."

I grab the door and hold it open, arm bracing high enough for her to slip past. She backs into the hall slowly, wearing a dazed look that matches how I feel.

It's early. We're spent.

I'm in trouble.

Her eyes are bright. "You know, you're quickly becoming a favorite of mine."

"Me and mango and lobster bisque." I tug her by the wrist and pull her against me, turning her sideways to press her against the doorframe. "Which one tastes the best?" My hands hold her warm cheeks and her breath hitches as I move in for one last soft, easy kiss.

"You," she whispers.

I asked for it, and still the word knocks the wind out of me.

I release her and step back into my room before I fuck her against the hallway wall. The last thing I see is her mile-wide grin as I shut the door.

And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't considering dragging her back inside.