He reached for her hand and was glad when she laced her fingers with his. At least she wasn’t pushing him away.
They walked into Nick’s house hand in hand. He kept her away from her dad’s office and where there was still carnage from the fight with Donaldson and Bradshaw. “Do you want me to make you something to eat or get you something to drink?” Alex asked when they stood at the base of the stairs.
“No, I just want to lie down,” Payton said woodenly, trudging up the stairs. Her fingers slipping from his.
Alex felt like she was putting up a wall between them. He didn’t like it at all. He followed her upstairs to her bedroom. She was still fully dressed just lying there staring at nothing.
“Mind if I join you?”
Her eyes met his, and he saw a hint of a smile. “Of course.”
Alex crossed the room, kicking off his shoes and snuggling up behind her. He wrapped his arm around her middle. He pulled her hair from its bun and buried his nose in it with his eyes closed. Alex was far from tired, but holding Payton was like a balm to his heart.
He may have lost his confidant, but he hadn’t lost the woman he loved. After a few minutes, Payton started to squirm. He released his hold in case she was trying to get away from him, but she only turned over to face him.
They stared at each other a moment before Payton reached out and touched his cheek, her thumb stroking his cheekbone. Alex closed his eyes again and sank into her touch like a pet starved for attention.
His eyes sprang back open when he felt her lips touch his. She did it again, harder this time. “Payton,” he whispered, in want or warning he wasn’t sure himself. As much as he wanted her, it felt wrong to make love at a time like this. “We shouldn’t,” he half-heartedly protested.
“But you will,” she said confidently as she started to kiss him along his jawline. “I need to feel, Alex. To remind myself I’m alive and not alone,” she whispered huskily as she sat up and straddled his waist, started pulling off her clothes.
Alex’s eyes heated as his hands roamed up her bare skin to cup her breasts. Payton ground her hips against the hard length of his cock, against her core.
“Please,” she begged.
“God help me, but I can’t resist you.” He sat up and pulled her to him as he devoured her mouth. Payton sunk into the kiss. Her hands wrapping around the back of his head.
Payton reached for the hem of Alex’s shirt and pulled it up and over his head, tossing it on the floor. She placed a hand on Alex’s chest and pushed on him. He fell back letting her take the lead. He loved a woman who knew what she wanted. Payton leaned down and kissed her way from his neck down his chest.
Alex groaned but held himself still as she explored him with her mouth. She left a trail of hot kisses from one nipple to the other. Alex realized they were almost as sensitive as hers.
Payton scooted down as her kisses continued down to where his shorts began. Alex could hardly breathe. Was she going to do what he thought she was?
Payton looked up and watched him as she opened the top of his shorts and pulled his impressive length out. Alex’s mouth hung open as he waited in suspense for what was going to happen next.
Payton’s tongue darted out and licked his length from stem to root. Alex shuddered as his head fell back. She licked him again before opening her mouth wider and taking as much of his cock into her mouth as she could.
“Oh fuck,” Alex groaned, a hand coming to rest on the back of her head as she bobbed up and down. He gently guided her. Her handjob had been a bit painful, but this was heaven even if she didn’t seem to know what she was doing. Alex knew he wasn’t going to last long.
After a few moments, Alex couldn’t take it anymore and sat up, lifting her under her arms and flipping her onto her back as he hovered above her. Resting most of his weight on his hands. His cock gliding against her slick folds, teasing her with what was to come.
“Please,” she begged, her eyes glassy and full of passion.
“I don’t have a condom.”
“I don’t care. I want to feel you. Feel all of you this one time,” she purred as she rolled her hips trying to take the tip of his cock inside of her.
Alex couldn’t deny her though he knew he should. It was a boundary they shouldn’t cross. Not out of fear of pregnancy or the fear of an STD, but because of the intimacy.
Alex aligned himself with her sex and thrust in. Payton groaned as she pulled Alex down so they were chest to chest. She clung to him as they rode the waves of ecstasy together. The only sound in the room was their harsh breathing as they hurtled toward their climax. As if both sensed this was the end and wanted to do it together.
Payton’s sex fluttered as Alex hit a spot that soon had her withering under him. His pace quickened as he pulled himself up and snapped his hips against hers. Payton shouted her climax, and Alex quickly followed groaning her name.
He fell to the side rolling onto his back. His eyes closed in complete contentment. Payton rolled to her side and snuggled into him.
“That was incredible,” Alex murmured. Every time had been incredible. Lovemaking had never been like that before, and she doubted it would again.
“It was,” Payton agreed.