His gaze shot back up to mine, searching me for something as he answered begrudgingly. “Seventeen.” He admitted, his gaze sliding away quickly, darkness consuming him again.
“Doesn’t that balance it out?” I felt like a fucking idiot, but I needed some way to lift his spirits that didn’t involve spreading my body over his and giving him a fresh taste of my mouth.
“Not like that. It doesn’t work like that.”
I couldn’t stand the despair in his voice. I wanted to take it all away for him. I’d take it on myself if I could, just so he didn’t look so lost.
I edged closer, my thigh bumping his, lifting my arm. “Come here,” I said.
It was more of an order, one I didn’t want him to refuse.
Harry dropped another breath as he let me grip his arms. I pulled him to me again, clutching at his back, his head resting on my shoulder, his weight pressed into me.
“I know you did everything you could,” I said, nudging my nose against his hair. I wanted him to hear my heart pounding, feel the warmth of my skin as blood rushed through me, especially down to my cock as he shuffled closer to me. Even though it wasn't the time for it.
“It’s never easy.” His sigh was so heavy that my chest clenched with need. “There are some things I can get used to, but never that...”
I kissed his forehead, breathing in the scent of his hair, stroking him, loving him as his body shook. I could feel him forcing back his tears.
I knew it added to my long list of hypocrisies, but I didn’t want him to hide anything from me.
“You can cry if you want to,” I murmured, pulling him closer, his hips nearly on my lap as I held him.
His body shuddered, his fingers digging into my shoulder as a pained gasp fell from his lips, and he let go.
Harry
Idon’t know how long we stayed like that. Dom kissing me, telling me how well I had done, even praising me, though I didn’t deserve it.
I managed to steal six hours of sleep when I finally left the hospital. Susie pushed me into a taxi, and I stumbled through my front door, crashing into my bed without changing. I was smart enough to set an alarm when Dom called just as I was leaving, or I wouldn’t have made it to his flat.
I still wanted to avoid him. I couldn't talk about what happened on the yacht, especially when I was so exhausted.
But, knowing Dom, he would have shown up at my house, knocking on the door with the food already prepared.
Dom’s large hands traced wide patterns on my back, his t-shirt damp where my tears had fallen, his breaths soft against me as his lips continued to caress me.
My forehead, my hair, nuzzling my ear as he kept a firm grip on my hand.
It was too much, too close. I was letting him cover me, hold me, but I was sinking too far into it, enjoying it too much.
And it was exactly what I needed.
Each tender kiss, every murmur, the rumble of his chest, the way he stroked the back of my hand with his thumb… I knew I should have moved away, that I was indulging myself, but it felt too good to let go.
My face was still pressed into his shoulder, so I could hide how badly I wanted him to bring his lips further down, to kiss away my tears and let me climb onto his lap so I could bury myself into him. In the mess of confusion and my own hurt, I was forgetting Molly and our unresolved conversations. Instead, I chose to be swept away by his body, which stayed flush against mine.
Groaning, his fingers travelled up my back, curling through the hair that brushed my spine. He found my birthmark again, gently massaging me.
I was so tired, and it was easy to surrender to his touch. I would have fallen asleep if it weren’t for my awareness of Dom lighting me up from the inside.
I wasn't in the right headspace. We needed to talk. I had to know what it meant to him.
But then Dom cupped my head, the tips of his nails scraping my scalp. Rather than a sound of exhaustion, a moan crept from the back of my throat, muffled against his shoulder, and I froze.
I needed to back away. He was just trying to be kind. That was what he did; it was part of who he was. The touching, the caring. He’d been doing it for years.
I couldn’t deal with the consequences of what might happen. But I still wanted to lean back, to risk it, and see what expression sat there.