He swallows hard and nods. “Again,” he agrees. “I shouldn’t have done it, not after everything I said, everything I promised. I left this morning for the same reason I did the other night—Rian. I thought I’d be back before you woke up,” he admits.
When he reaches for me, I’m not fast enough. Or maybe I don’t want to be. His hands land on my hips and give a squeeze.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here. It was wrong of me. I needed to go and get Rian up and off to school.”
My throat closes up and I have to swallow hard to get around the lump in my throat. Can I really be mad at him because he needed to go and take care of his daughter?
I know the answer as my eyes slide closed.
“I’m going to fuck up when it comes to juggling everything,” there’s a vulnerability in his voice which has me opening my eyes to look at him. I can see the plea in the way he’s looking at me. A plea to understand. A plea to give him grace. “It took a long time to find a balance between Rian and the club. And adding you into my life is going to be an adjustment.”
“Then maybe now isn’t the right time for us,” the words taste like ash as they leave my lips.
But they need to be said.
And not just because they’re my biggest fear put into words and floating on the air, unable to be denied.
Because maybe they’re true.
Maybe this isn’t the right time for us.
“No,” the word is a blade, slicing through my fears like thorny vines preventing the light from streaming in. “This is the right time, but I’m going to stumble.”
His hands push down my sweatpants, his fingers hooking into the waistband of my panties and gliding them over my hips. My fingers grip the tank top in my hands harder, but I don’t stop him.
I don’t think I can.
My legs widen as his fingers dive between my thighs. I gasp when two of his fingers slide deep inside of me and curl just right.
The tank top drops to the floor, snagging on his arm for a moment on the way down, as my hands shoot out and grip his shoulders. The fact that I’m naked in front of him while he’s still fully dressed isn’t lost on me. I almost wish it weren’t as hot as it is.
The smile on his face goes from unsure to pure sin as my head falls back on my shoulders and I moan, “Everton.”
“You’re already soaked for me,” he grunts out.
I bite my lip to stop any words from falling from my lips. He doesn’t deserve them. Not yet considering the anger and hurt still simmering under my skin.
The low, rumbly chuckle that comes from Everton tells me that he’s not going to let that fly. All of a sudden, his hands are gone and I stumble a little while blinking as the room comes back into view. Everton is still standing close, but the loss of his touch still echoes through me.
He strips and then his arm is around my waist and moving me right where he wants me in the middle of the bed. I look around and let out a sigh, but it’s half-hearted, at best.
“You know, we keep ending up here,” I murmur the words, unsure of what they mean.
I’m torn.
It feels like coming home being in his arms. I want, desperately, for this to be real.
But so much has changed recently. Can being with him, accepting what his eyes are begging me to believe, be as simple as coming home?
And then there’s Rian. She’s a gem. My heart stretches toward her in a way I know is real. It’s also terrifying.
My eyes slide closed with the force of my feelings, but Everton won’t let me get away with it. “Look at me,” his voice is a low demand; one I can’t refuse.
Only once our gazes are locked does he slide deep inside of me. His movements are slow and smooth; nothing hurried. My back arches and my hard nipples rub against his chest while my legs wrap around his waist, and my heels dig into his ass.
“Fuck, yes,” he grits out through his clenched teeth. “Love the way your pussy opens up for me.”
His words send a shiver down my spine as I cling to him. “I’m still mad at you,” I blurt out the words and instantly wish I could be sucked into a black hole.