Page 127 of Unloved

“Does it feel good?”

She nods.

“Do you want to come?”

Her blush is furious, but she manages another nod. Her fingers tangle in the chain on my neck, pulling a little sharply. She could pull me around with it and I’d follow like a damn puppy.

I kiss her temple and hike her up again. “Then keep going, princess. Just like last time.”

Ro whimpers, melting into a low, desperate moan. She rollsher hips more quickly now, sharp nails sinking into my flesh as she climbs higher and higher before cresting.

“That’s it, pretty girl,” I mumble into her neck, kissing her while encouraging her. “Come on, Rosalie. Let go. Come for me,please, Ro, I need to feel you—”

Her shout bleeds quickly into a keening cry, nearly a sob of relief that has my cock rising again in record time. I grip her hips, slowly moving her as she slumps more and more into my body.

Placing her back on her feet, I wait until Ro regains her balance and smiles at me, sated and happy. I thought pleasinganyonereleased endorphins in my body, high on the feeling of being needed and wanted in the same measure. But with Ro, it’s overdose level—and I’m raring to keep it going.

Grabbing her sponge, I lather an exorbitant amount of soap—soap that smells like flowers and coconuts andher—and scrub across her chest, stomach, gentle between her legs. I kneel to wash her legs in slow, sweeping strokes.

Looking up at her, I pause. Her eyes are on me, breath heavy and low—but it’s not arousal I see. It’s gratitude and awe, like she isn’t sure if she’s dreaming this.

I feel the same.

I think you’d be really easy to love.

Loving Rosalie Shariff would be the easiest thing I’ve ever done—I know, because I’m already doing it. I think I’ve loved her since the day she stood up for me in that conference room. As a friend first, something I’ve never had, but now it’s more.

It’s overwhelming, suddenly hard to swallow or evenlookat her. So I turn her around and wash her back reverently. I can’t stop myself from pressing a kiss into her back, right at the top of her spine.

I think loving you would be the greatest thing in my life.

CHAPTER 45Ro

I’m high on Matt Fredderic.

He leaves me in the shower with a quiet command to rinse off. I bundle into a big green towel and sit on the lip of the bathtub, feeling hazy and dazed. Like walking through clouds.

My clothes are folded neatly atop the sink counter, but it feels wrong to put them back on. Instead, I slide on an oversized shirt that looks a bit like a Lisa Frank art piece and pull my hair down. The curls are bouncy but frizzier from the extended steamy shower.

Ishouldfeel self-conscious, but it’s impossible to feel anything even similar where Matt Fredderic is concerned.

Instead, it’s only a floaty joy bubbling under my skin. He’s like a shower and cool sheets after baking in the summer sun. A nap after the beach, all at once comforting and invigorating.

Healing.

There’s a slight awkward silence when I come into the bedroom and stop across from Matt with a towel wrapped around his waist. We both hesitate, shy smiles and twitching hands.

He clears his throat. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

Matt leans over my desk, pushing aside the spread papers for the cardboard beneath, pointing to it as he angles his head over his shoulder to ask, “What’s this?”

Every bit of syrupy warmth evaporates, ice in my veins.

“I don’t—it’s stupid.”

He frowns but decides to trek on. I can’t decide if I hate him or love him for it. “Why? It looks like a fun list.”

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