Page 84 of Just This Once

“Do you—do you want to stop?” My voice shook, and I’d probably bawl if he said yes, but I’d stop for him if he couldn’t do this.

At that moment, I’d do anything for him.

“No.” He rattled out a hard laugh and shook his head. “Fuck no.” His gaze lifted to mine and there was no more uncertainty in their depths. “Nothing could keep me away from you right now.”

I dusted my fingertips over his cheekbone. “Then what do you need?”

He shook his head as if he didn’t need anything. But he closed his eyes briefly and pressed his brow to mine. “I just need you to swear,” he answered in a rough voice. “It’s just this once, and we take it to our graves. Right?”

“Right.” When his lashes opened and he looked into my eyes, I nodded. “I swear. I won’t tell anyone.”

“God… Hope,” he choked out, then pressed his lips to mine as he pushed inside me.

21

PARKER

There was always a certain thrill about that initial thrust into a woman. The soft give of her flesh as her wet, inner muscles wrapped around your dick and took you in. The sound she made at the shock of your entrance. The widening of her eyes, dilating of her pupils, arch of her breasts, clenching of her thighs. Her hands on your body, gripping with desperate demand.

I liked to just sink in and get lost in the feeling, fucking my way through a fog of charming sighs and groans. And more times than not, I blocked out my partner completely, just using her to focus on my own pleasure, which ended up getting her off too. But there was always that mental separation between me and the girl, which kept it purely physical.

Tonight, I got none of that shit. The second I sank into Hope and her body latched around me, clamping on tight, she had me in her damn clutches. Our gazes connected, all her worries and concerns and wishes and dreams became mine. All my fears and insecurities and hopes became hers. We were in this together, locked tight as one.

I was a hundred percent fully present with her, unable to disengage and float off into my own haze. There was no such thing asmypleasure anymore; it was allours.

Hope and Parker.

And God, that pleasure was real.

I laced my fingers through hers because I just wanted to hold her damn hand as the lightning bolts of heat licked over me, and then I pinned her arm above her head.

Watching her expression as she adjusted to the stretch of her body around mine, I pressed deeper, making her take more.

Her lips pressed together, eyebrows lifted, and her throat worked as she swallowed, trying not to show her feelings. But I could feel them anyway because they were my feelings too. And they were overwhelming. She wanted to shy away from the connection just as much as I did. I’d never exposed so much vulnerability to anyone before.

And yet?—

“Stop fighting it,” I ordered because I wanted to go up in flames inside it.

Her brows furrowed in knee-jerk annoyance, but then she licked her lips and rasped, “H-how?”

I pressed my brow to hers and cupped her jaw gently. “Relax this.”

“Relax myjaw?” Confusion laced her features, and she squinted before shaking her head. “Why?”

“Because it’s one thing to concentrate on, and while you’re busy making sure your jaw’s not too tense, the rest of you will naturally relax along with it.”

“Oh.” She nodded in approval before saying, “That’s actually not a bad idea.”

God. This girl. I was buried balls deep in her, and she still wanted to use rational thought. I was going to have to change that. STAT.

With an amused grin, I nodded. “Yeah. So you gonna give it a try and see if it works?”

“Oh. Right.” She grinned up at me, and her smile was so fucking adorableI’mthe one who lost my train of thought.

I kissed her, and she hummed in approval, kissing me back. When her legs shifted to wrap around my waist, I pulled out sharply and then stroked back in, setting a rhythm that had her breaking away from the kiss to gape at me with dazed and shaken confusion.

“Par-Parker.” She gulped and then shook her head. “I’m not—This is too—I can’t?—”

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