Page 36 of Dangers of Love

My stomach dropped. Oh. He’d said that I wasn’t going to be alone, and that he wanted to be with me, but he hadn’t said that he still wantedme. He wasn’t breaking up with me because I might be pregnant, but that didn’t mean that the results of the test wouldn’t shape where we went from here. He was a good man, and he’d take care of his child. Or we’d pick up our relationship where we’d left off before, dating and heading toward a possible serious future.

I just hadn’t realized until now that they were two separate things. It made sense, though. I’d guilted him into sleeping with me that first time, and then I’d told him that I was safe from pregnancy because of my IUD. He’d trusted me, and I’d let him down.

These thoughts tumbled one over the other through my mind, swift and severe, the edges cutting at me, telling me all the ways I’d messed up, the mistakes I’d made. How I’d not only put myself into a position to derail my future but also Eoin’s, and possibly an innocent child. How could Eoin ever trust me again? Why would he want to? Would I–

Fingers snapped in front of me.

“What’s going on in that mind of yours?” Eoin brushed his knuckles across my cheek. “You disappeared into your head, and I can see on your face that what’s happening there isn’t good.”

I took a step back. “It’s nothing.”

“Don’t do that.” His voice was firm but not harsh. “Don’t shut me out, please.”

He was right. I owed him honesty. Or at least as much as I could bear.

“You didn’t want to kiss me again.” I looked at his chin, unable to bring myself to look him in the eye as I spoke. “I’d just thought that, we’re here in your house that you wanted me to see, and you kissed me, and when we kiss, it usually leads to…” Heat flooded my face, and I let my words trail off.

“You still think I could look at you, touch you, and not want you?”

His voice was thick with emotion, and that was what made me look at him. The ferocity in those vivid green eyes made me catch my breath.

“Just seeing you, hearing your voice.” He stepped closer so that our bodies were almost touching. “Fuck, Aline, just the thought of you…” He shook his head.

“Why didn’t you kiss me back then?” Maybe it was the hormones or some sort of placebo effect from me thinking I was pregnant, but I needed to poke at the hurt, needed to hear him state it clearly.

He took a lock of my hair and tucked it behind my ear, his fingertips lingering on my cheek. A small smile played on his lips, the intensity shifting to something…tender.

“You’ve had morning sickness, and then less than an hour ago, you had an exam and procedure I assumed would make you not want…contact.” His thumb stroked across my bottom lip. “I didn’t want to pressure you into anything or for you to even think that’s what I was doing.”

“So, it’s not because I might be pregnant?” I forced myself to ask the real question. “That doesn’t make you…not be attracted to me?”

He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what I was saying. “If you knew the things I want to do to you…”

Hope and arousal twined together. “Like what?”

He stepped into me, forcing me to take a step back. “Lick and suck and bite your nipples until even your softest bra is too much.”

I swallowed hard and took another step back. He was taking me back to the wall, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened when we reached it.

“Pick you up and fuck you against the wall until you scream my name.” Step. “Take you on your hands and knees, spanking your ass until it’s a pretty shade of pink.” Step. “Maybe I’ll tease your ass with my finger, see what that does for you.”

My back came up against the wall.

“But I think, right now, I’ll be content to just make you come on my fingers.”

He didn’t specifically ask permission, but he didn’t do anything until I nodded. Only then did he undo my pants and slide his hand into my underwear. I shifted my stance to let him get where he wanted to go, and the first pass of his finger over my clitoris was pure bliss.

He didn’t move his hand any lower, simply moving his fingers in tight circles, the perfect pressure and the perfect friction driving me to a quick and explosive climax. I pressed my face against his chest to muffle my cries, unsure who might be able to hear me, but that was the only coherent thought I could muster.

Everything else was the sort of pleasure that left my knees weak and my muscles limp.

He held me there, murmuring things I couldn’t quite hear as his free hand moved up and down my spine, soothing me. In that moment, I knew that I was falling hard, that Ihadfallen hard. I could only hope that he would be there to catch me.

Or, better yet, that he’d fallwithme.

Twenty-One

Eoin

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