Page 78 of Show Off

Then I start to move, andfuuuck. “Baby, you feel so good.” Like nothing I’ve felt before. “Look at me.”

As her lashes flutter and her eyes find mine, there’s a connection I can’t describe. A bone-deep sense that we’re linked beyond our flesh, beyond anything between us so far. This is new territory.

“Dal!” she cries out, hips lifting off the bed. “How are you—how is this?—?”

“I don’t know.” Because I have no answers. Not anymore. All I know is that we’re finding our way together. “That’s it,” I murmur when I feel her tense around me. “Let go.”

“But—” Her protest cuts off as I drive deep inside her, moving faster now. When she cries out again, I know I won’t last long.

“Lana.” Her name falls from my lips like a prayer, like a battle cry, like a song. She’s everything, this girl. “Yes!”

There’s a sharp cry as she shatters beneath me. I’m one breath behind her, shouting my bliss as her nails rake my back and her thighs grip my hips like we’re meant to fit together. Like we’ve raced toward this moment forever.

As I feel her go boneless beneath me, I roll to my side. Pulling her tight against me, I brush some blond hair from her face.

Her eyes flutter open and she smiles. “Hi.” There’s an unexpected shyness in her eyes. “That was amazing.”

“I love you,” I blurt.

Her mouth falls open and blue eyes go wide. “Holy shit.”

Not the response I expected.

But then she laughs, and it’s somehow better than if she’d said it right back.

And just to be clear. “I didn’t say that expecting you to respond,” I continue, since she’s clapping a hand over her mouth. “You don’t have to feel the same way I do. I said it because it’s the truth and speaking the truth is?—”

“Shut up, Dal.” She kisses me hot and fierce and makes me forget my own name. Then she draws back and grins. “I love you, too.”

“Yeah?” I search her eyes, looking for truth. It’s unmistakable. “God, I love you. I really love you.” I can’t stop saying it or drawing my hand down her back to feel her shudder. “You’re something else, Lana Judson.”

“Something good, I hope.”

“No doubt.” Something way beyond good or great or even magnificent. “The absolute best,” I say, then kiss her again, wondering what took me so long to get here.

* * *

“Want the last piece of bacon?”

“Nah.” Dropping my fork, I scrape my chin with a red cloth napkin. “I’m stuffed.” I pick up the tray tucked between us in bed, stacking our plates still sticky with syrup. “You can have the bacon.”

“I wasn’t offering it toyou.” Clutching the bacon, Lana leans over me to hand Mouse her treat. “That’s it. Nice and gentle. Good pup.”

My dog—who is indeed a good pup—takes it gently and with a reverence reserved for sacred offerings. Mouse groans as she chews while Lana scratches under her collar. My dog keeps one eye squinted hopefully in case there’s more salt-cured pork.

“That’s all,” I tell Mouse as I ease out of bed and start toward the kitchen with our breakfast things. “Ready for a walk?”

Mouse springs into action, bacon forgotten. She prances by the basket at my bedroom door, where I keep one of her many leashes. Lana sits up and stretches, hair tumbling over her shoulder. As the sheet slips off her breasts, I reconsider my plan. We don’t need to walk right this second. “Actually, we could?—”

“Give me five minutes to splash water on my face.” Lana bounds out of bed and strides toward the bathroom. Admiring the view, I grip our tray so I don’t pounce on her. “Actually, that’s a figure of speech. I just need to pee.”

“Sure.” I’m only half listening, fixed as I am on her perfect bare ass. “Have you ever said that to a guy before?”

Lana stops short and cocks her head. “Said what?”

“Peeing.” This is one of those blunt things I shouldn’t ask out loud, but what the hell? “Just curious.”

She laughs as a shock of hair falls over one breast. “I suppose I haven’t.” Patting my butt as she slips past, she calls out as the bathroom door closes, “Guess you’re rubbing off on me.”

---