Page 19 of Midnight Player

11

She inhaled deeply. Awareness returned in stages. His scent surrounded her, along with his big body that had kept her warm all night. And his arms felt like home. She wanted to stay within the circle of them forever. But even Cinderella’s time at the ball ended, and so too had her nights in Jake’s arms.

Jake pressed a kiss against the back of her neck, stirring against her.

And that wasn’t the only part of him that stirred. “Morning, sugar.”

“I have to go,” she blurted, panic setting in.

He flicked his tongue against that one spot on her neck that made her powerless to resist him. “Not yet. We were up late. We?—”

“Jake,” she sighed, biting her bottom lip to contain her moan.

He rose behind her and tugged her onto her back. He glared down at her. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like what you’re about to say?”

Because he saw her unlike any man ever had. She would miss everything about him. But she cupped his face. “It’s time for you to leave and let me go.”

Jake scowled. “Why? Do you have more of the conference to attend?”

“Well, no?—”

“And do you have a flight you need to catch this morning?”

God, why was he being so difficult? “No, my flight is later this afternoon.”

“Then why do you want to get rid of me at eight in the morning? We have plenty of time. We can go to the airport together. We can grab a bite to eat. We can?—”

Her heart painfully squeezed at all the talk ofwe. If she let him continue, the thin shred of resistance she clung to would wither and die and she couldn’t allow that to happen. “Jake, there’s no we. I have to pack and get ready to fly home and return to my life. And you’ve got to go to yours.”

He glowered with thunderclouds in his eyes and snarled. “That’s bullshit, and you know it. And I can prove it to you.”

Jake kissed her. Hungrily sealed his lips over hers in a world-altering kiss that spun her head and made her wet. And because she was weak for this man, she surrendered to his incendiary heat. How could she not? They would never see each other again. It broke her heart into a million pieces. But she didn’t belong in his world. She couldn’t withstand the side-eye glances without it decimating her heart and soul.

She kissed him back with everything she felt. In another life, she would have given him every part of her being. He was everything she wanted, everything she craved. But she didn’t get to keep him.

Willa opened for him as he shifted his large body between her thighs. She welcomed him, reveling in his solid weight atop her. His fingers speared her sheath, testing and stretching her. But she didn’t need much prep work, not when her body recognized she belonged to him on a cellular level. One touch and she was wet and aching for him.

There were no lingering caresses or playful banter. A passionate storm thundered between them. Two storm fronts slamming into one another and creating a tornado. His kiss was punishing in his attempt to prove her wrong. And there was a part of her that wanted to relent. That wanted to say she was sorry for even suggesting it and agree to whatever he wanted as long as he never left her side.

And when he slipped inside, she clung. Her arms surrounded his torso. Her fingers dug into his back as they moved together. Amazement flooded her over how good he felt plunging deep and connecting them, how right he felt. Because her body rolled out the welcome mat.

Oh god, how was she ever going to live without him? Now that she knew what heaven tasted like. Now that she’d peaked behind the curtain and knew beyond a reasonable doubt how magnetic their connection was, the likelihood she would ever find anything like this again was slim at best.

And it’s why she had to have him one last time. She needed to shore up as many memories as possible to keep her warm in the days and years to come.

In another life, she would have loved him forever. If she were different, more confident in her ability to navigate his world, there wouldn’t be a force on this earth that would keep her from him. And she knew a soul-deep truth. One she had avoided since the moment they met—she loved him.

As a romance writer, she never fully believed in instalove. Instalust, sure. That happened a lot. She’d experienced it before with some of the Doms atThe Eros Pit. But her first look at Jake blew all her suppositions into the atmosphere. How could it not?

Because she had taken one look at his sexy smile and loved him. And then he’d charmed her. Allowed her to see the man behind the playboy exterior. He was sweet, yummy goodness, wrapped in the most exquisite packaging with a bad boy attitude and a heart vaster than any ocean.

This was a man she wanted to submit to for the rest of her existence.

But she had to let him go. She wasn’t strong enough for his world. And if he cheated—let’s face it, professional baseball players traveled a lot and had women throwing themselves at them—it would crush her soul.

The thought of letting him go, of never seeing him again, had tidal waves of grief striking through her heart.

And she clung even tighter, needing him to feel her emotions and know she cared before saying goodbye. She was loving him because she knew she was about to lose him.

---