“Gorgeous girl,” I praise. “You’re doing so good, baby.”
I flatten my tongue in one hard swipe from bottom to top, and Hannah shatters. Cries fill the dark room, thighs clench around my neck. I taste and I taste until she can’t take it anymore.
She yanks my head free, crashing my lips to hers as I lift her into the center of the bed. I settle in the cradle of her legs, her fully naked body laid out beneath me. It’s mygoddamnheaven. I pump my hips once, rubbing against her center through my boxers, and I suck in a rush of air. I peel my lips away, force my knees under me, dip my head to catch my breath.
Too good. It feels too good. “I’ll never last,” I pant.
Hannah shoves at my waistband. “We have all night, remember?”
Our gazes lock and the world seems to still. For long seconds, we stare at each other, eyes adjusting to the darkness. I see her. I’ve always seen her—every piece. And what I can’t see, I’ve committed to memory.
I brush the hair around the crown of her head and kiss her.
“Tell me something real,” she says in a voice as soft as the way my mouth moves over hers.
It’s supposed to be a confession, an admission of whatever you’re feeling most in the moment. Except, this time, it’s the one thing she told me not to say.
I find her hand on the mattress, interlocking our fingers. My pulse hammers, voice so tight the words feel like they’ve been carved straightoff the heart in my chest. “I can’t.” A pause, her eyes lost in mine. “Can you?”
Her lips part and emotion swells over her face. She tries to blink it away, but a tear falls down her temple. I catch it with my thumb.
Hannah loves me. I’m as certain of that as I am about my love for her, and I didn’t need my best friend to tell me. When you find your person, you just…know.
But knowing doesn’t lessen the sting when she confirms it with a pained shake of her head and the words “I can’t.” It only makes it hurt more.
So I kiss her. Intentional and long and deep. I pause somewhere in the middle and mouthI love youagainst her lips. No voice behind it, but her breath quivers beneath the confession. Her fingers trace a lazy message over my spine in answer, one letter at a time:i-l-o-v-e-y-o-u.
Then I’m pushing my boxers off the rest of the way, mouthing the words again and again. Her neck, the shell of her ear, the valley between her breasts, her navel, her hip bone, and back to her lips once more as I slide slowly inside her.
I push in until I’m fully seated, my mouth open against hers. Her sexy little whimper combined with the zing of pleasure shooting up my spine sends a string of curses tumbling out of me.
The feel of her is everything familiar and all things new and never been this good.God, she’s tight and warm and clenched and I’m never going to make it.
“Baby, I’m gonna come too soon.”
She moans through a narrow roll of her hips. “I’m right there with you. Just move, baby, please.”
“First time’s gonna be hard and fast,” I spit out. “But I swear it’ll be sodamngood. I promise I’ll make it even better for you the second time.”
A breathy laugh coasts over my cheek, sinks to a husky whisper against my ear. “Prove it, soldier.”
I narrow my eyes.Challenge accepted.
Falling back on my haunches, I pull out, sweep a hand under her back and hurl her farther up the mattress. Her hungry gaze and self-satisfied grin stay locked on me as I toss all the pillows tothe floor.
I take her arms above her head, wrap her fingers around the slats of the headboard. “Hands stay here.”
She licks her lips and then bites her lower one. I tuck her knee against my chest, spreading her wide beneath me. I position myself at her entrance, dragging my hard length up and down, coating myself in her wetness until she begs.
“Ugh, Rowan! Please!”
“Mmm, that’s my girl.” I push inside on one punishing thrust, stopping at the hilt. Her head falls back on a moan, breasts lifted toward me like flowers reaching for the sun. I wrap my mouth around one nipple, sucking it to a firm peak.
I meet her eyes for a beat and plant a tender kiss on her lips so I can mouth the words one more time.
I love you.
She writhes her body, urging me to move. The wood bed frame creaks beneath us as I begin to piston my hips just like I promised. Her voice hitches higher with each hard, swift thrust. Every one of her sounds has that pressure at the base of my spine building.