“We’ve got you,” Cash says. “As soon as we can move, you can eat whatever you want.”
And that sounds really good.
Chapter 29
Cash
I wake up on the second morning of Harper’s heat with her pressed against me. Her body is soft and warm, and still trembling faintly from everything we put her through last night.
Even before I open my eyes fully, I can tell her scent has changed again. It’s thicker now, sweeter and sharper, all heat and desperation and need. And fuck if my cock doesn’t respond instantly, aching and already leaking just from the smell of her.
I bury my nose in her hair, skimming down to her neck to inhale deeper, and my body hums with it, wanting more. Wanting her.
Harper shifts against me, restless and waking up, probably because the need is riding her again, even after everything we did last night. She turns so she can face me, her eyes heavy-lidded and glassy with need already.
If it was just that, I would pull her to me immediately and give her what she’s craving, but there’s something else in those eyes too. There’s a hesitation and uncertainty. The quiet shame that always seems to creep in right after her orgasms crash and fade.
“I must be a mess right now,” she murmurs, almost too low for me to hear. “I can’t believe you still want me like this. I’mall…” She shrugs a shoulder. “Sweaty and messy and I definitely drooled on the pillow.”
That hits me square in the chest. It feels like it should be impossible for her to have so much self-loathing that she can’t see what we see. Clearly she’s been told so many times that she’s too big, too much, too broken, and she’s internalized it in a way that she thinks everyone must agree with that, even if that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Suddenly, I’m filled with determination, as well as arousal. I can’t let that stand. Not even for a second.
I don’t say a word, just shift back in the bed. Harper’s eyes go a little devastated, like she thinks I’m leaving, but instead, I scoop her up into my arms and carry her across the room to the large standing mirror that takes up a good portion of the wall.
I ignore her startled gasp and turn her to face the mirror, moving to stand behind her. I let my hands roam over her body, feeling her soft skin, her softer curves, every part of her body that’s so sexy to me. I touch her with reverence, like she’s something sacred, something precious and rare, and I try to show on my face how lucky I feel to even be allowed to touch her like this.
Harper squirms, trying to look away from her reflection, but I don’t let her hide. I grab her chin with one hand and turn her head back to the mirror, making her look at herself.
“I want you to see what I see,” I tell her, my voice low and firm. “You need to look. You need to understand.”
“Understand what?” she mumbles, cheeks flushed red.
I stroke my hands down her shoulders and arms and then over the curves of her hips. I touch her stomach and her thighs, looking up to smile at her in the mirror.
“I should start a list of all the things that are so sexy about you.” All the things I love about her, really. “Your plush thighs and the way they shake when you’re close. The soft curve ofyour belly. You’ve noticed, haven’t you? The way I kiss it when I’m down there, like it’s my favorite place to rest?” I touch her stretch marks, tracing the lines like they’re maps to a place I never want to leave.
Then I slide my hands back up, cupping her breasts, still flushed and sensitive from the night before. She shivers against me when my fingers brush over her nipples, already peaked and waiting to be plucked or sucked into a waiting mouth.
Her neck is marked with bruises from Lincoln’s mouth, and her shoulder is scarred from those Alphas who didn’t know what they had when they threw her away. They nearly ruined her, but here she is, whole and beautiful and ours.
I love every fucking inch of her, and I need her to see it.
“You’re perfect,” I murmur into her ear. “You’re amazing. Every part of you. Every soft, beautiful curve is something I want to touch. A place I want to put my mouth. You have no idea how much you turn me on. How tempting you are. I could stay like this forever, just touching you.”
Harper shivers as my breath ghosts over her skin, and she’s so fucking tempting. She smells so fucking good, and I can’t help but sink to my knees behind her, dragging my hands over her skin as I go.
I push at her thighs, prompting her to spread her legs, and she’s already wet for me.
“Perfect,” I groan. “How could you think you’re anything but perfect when you look like this? When you’re so wet for me?”
“Cash,” she breathes, and the sound of my name in her mouth is enough to have me moving in, desperate for a taste of her.
I lick her open again, slow and hungry and deliberate. She tastes amazing, sweet and strong, and it’s like I can taste her need on my tongue, flooding my mouth with it.
I groan as her body opens for me, blossoming right there with very little prodding, like it’s starving for this. Like this is what she’s needed all along.
“Oh fuck.” The cursing even sounds sweet as it falls from her lips, and she tilts forward, trying to give me more room to work her up. Her hands reach out and grab the frame of the mirror to hold herself up, and shivers wrack her body.