Page 26 of Serendipity

LEAH

The way Stone’sgreen eyes blaze with heat makes me squirm even more than I already am. I wasn’t lying earlier when I told him about my previous experience in the bedroom. Or about my list.

I’m so turned on and wet and honestly if he touches me in my center I’ll probably go off like a rocket, soaring through the clouds.

“Leah,” Stone groans. “You can’t say stuff like that.”

“Why not?”

“Because it gives me ideas and trust me I don’t need anymore ideas. You…” he shakes his head, leaning his forehead against mine, “You don’t realize how much I want you. Not just physically.”

“I know that, Stone. You’ve made that clear and for that I believe you. I’m not saying I’d like to have sex with you right now, but I don’t think I can bear another second not being closer to you. This might be our first date but it’s not. Not really.”

“You’ll find, I can’t say no to you.”

He stands from the bed and strips out of his jeans, removing his socks but leaving his black boxer briefs still on. My breath comes out shaky when I see the tent in his shorts. It’s… well… substantial. I haven’t even gotten a look at him fully yet but I can tell he’s much larger than Brett. I hate myself a little bit for comparing the two in this moment.

Rather than sit here like a total dud, I stand up and do the same, removing my jeans while leaving on my underwear. It’s nerve-wracking. Letting him look at me this way. My thighs don’t have a gap between them and I’m sure he can see the faint stretch marks on my skin, but as he said earlier, they tell a story and one I’m proud of.

Sucking in my courage, I stand up straight and allow him to look. I shouldn’t be ashamed of the way I look. I’m a woman in my upper forties who exercises when I can, eats what I crave, and enjoys wine.

“I need to apologize because beautiful isn’t even close to how I see you, sweetheart.”

Stone scrubs a hand down his face and groans.

“Is that a good groan or a bad groan?”

“It’s a I-don’t-know-how-I’m-going-to-keep-my-hands-to-myself groan.”

Well, that’s good for my ego. Damn good.

“Who asked you to?”

That’s all it takes for whatever control he had to snap. I find myself practically flying through the air, my back landing on the mattress and Stone’s muscular body covering mine.

“Sweetheart,” he whispers against my lips. “We had a plan. Going slow. No sex. Not yet, anyway. And you’re making it really hard.”

“Making what hard?”

His response is not one he needs to say out loud. I canfeelit.

“Maybe…” I pant, “Maybe I was a bit hasty in my decision earlier.”

He grins and kisses me with a roughness meant to claim. He doesn’t need to claim me, though. I’m already his. I think I’ve been his since we ran into each other at the grocery store.

“I know I’m probably giving you whiplash in my uncertainty, but I was so caught up in my head, not all that confident, I suppose. But the way you look at me, with so much affection andwant,it gives that confidence I lost in myself back. Little by little, you’re giving that back to me, Stone. I’ve been confused and unsure of myself. You told me you were all in, that you will wait for me but no more waiting. We, what we have together, we’ve been building it for over a year. It’s time to see if we’re as compatible in the bedroom as we are out of it.”

“This isn’t why I had you over for dinner, sweetheart.”

“I know it isn’t, and that’s why it’s perfect.”

He stares into my eyes for only a second before, just like moments before, he slams his lips down and covers me with a searing kiss. I was right earlier. It is definitely a claiming.

We kiss and moan and claw at each other’s bare skin for so long, I think I’m going to go crazy. I’ve never been so turned on before in my life. At forty-seven, I assumed my time for this type of passion had long passed. I’ve never been happier to be wrong.

So.

So.

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