“It can’t be that easy,” she says.
A tear escapes her eye, and I lift my hand to catch it on my thumb. “Not everything in life has to be hard.”
She presses her lips together and slips out of my grip. “Give me two seconds, okay?”
I let her move around me, and she disappears into the bathroom. The faucet turns on, and three minutes later, the real Memphis appears.
No wig. No contacts. Her face scrubbed clean of makeup.
“You’re so fucking beautiful.” I hold out my hand, and she crosses the room to take it.
“I’m in love with you too.” The words tumble from her lips like she just realized how easy it was to say how she feels now that the disguise is gone. After a lifetime of hiding the real Memphis, she’s letting me seeher, and I’m fucking proud.
“Good, because this would be awkward as hell if you weren’t.” I lower my head and take her lips, catching whatever she was going to say next on my tongue.
The time for talking is later. Right now, I need to show her exactly what’s on the table. We were fucking explosive together last time, and I know this time will be no different.
Her hands clutch my shoulders when I leave her mouth and trail my lips down her jaw, scraping my teeth along the tendons in her neck as her head falls back with a moan.
“So fucking beautiful,” I whisper against her collarbone as I shove her club vest and shirt down her arms. Beneath is a silky tank I remove with ease, along with her bra. The skirt goes next, leaving her standing in front of me bare-faced and naked but for the tiny scrap of lace masquerading as panties. “On the bed, baby.”
She backs up a step and bumps into the edge before sitting and moving into the middle. I slide my suit jacket over my shoulders and toss it on the chair behind me without turning to see if it made it. Memphis’s gaze locks on my fingers, and I loosen my tie to slide it free. It follows my jacket. Then button by button, I undo my shirt. With each moment that passes, she shifts on the bed, her fingers gripping the coverlet, and I love it. I want her just as eager as I am.
I toss the shirt, then my belt, shoes, and pants. When I’m done, I stand before her naked, with my cock rising to bump against my lower abs.
Memphis sits up straighter as I place a knee on the bed and move toward her. Her hands outstretch, reaching for me, and I know I made the right decision.
Whatever else happens, I won’t regret making this choice. I won’t regret choosing her. Choosing us.
“You’re mine,” I whisper against her lips as I wrap my arms around her.
“And you’re mine,” she says. “I’m sorry—”
I nip at her bottom lip to stop her. “You apologized. I accepted. Now we move on. No more dirty little secrets, baby. Promise me.”
Her forehead tilts to press against mine, and a shiver travels the length of her body. “I promise. How are you real? You should—”
Her head falls to the side as I grind into her center.
“Fuck you so hard that you have no choice but to fall asleep in my arms and not be able to sneak away in the morning? Yeah, that’s my plan.”
She goes quiet, reaching up to thread her fingers through my hair. “No matter what happens, I won’t ever regret this, because I got to have you.”
I don’t like the fatalistic tone to her words, so I shut her up the best way possible—I kiss the hell out of her until she’s pinned to the bed beneath me, and my hands rove freely. I memorize every curve of her body, every mole and scar and imperfection, because I want to know everything about her. Every detail, every story, every wrong turn she’s ever made.
If I thought I was fucked before, I was wrong.I was fucking blessed.
With her moans in my ears and her nails digging into my shoulders, I make my way down between her legs and feast. Every tangy taste of her pussy fills me with resolve. When she screams out her orgasm, I don a condom and move into position. And for the very first time in my entire life, I don’t fuck or bang.
It’smore.
It’s pushing and pulling together. It’s this precious woman beginning where I end. It’s passion and desire and lust and adoration. I give without taking, but gain anyway.
Slowly, I move inside her, savoring every quiver. Every pulse. Every moan. And for the first time in my life, I make love. It sounds cheesy as hell, but there’s a goddamned difference, and I didn’t know it until now. Until this woman.
For better or for worse, I’m never letting her go. Whatever happens next, happens to both of us.
And when I get closer, feeling the tension between us reaching a height I didn’t realize was possible, her name pours from my lips.