Page 138 of Tides That Bind

“Jesus,” I hiss against her when her tongue massages the thick vein on the underside.

I cry out when I slip from her mouth as Harper makes her way back up to the hoop. It amazes me how in the sea of aftershocks her strength floats to the surface. When she’s back up and safely secure, I lean forward, scraping my teeth along her knee.

I can feel the way her body has relaxed, has loosened, as if this was merely a warm up.

“Riley.” Harper runs her hands in my hair, pulling my attention up to her. “Catch me,” she whispers.

When Harper slides her body off the hoop, my mouth runs up from her center right up her stomach and to her lips. Her legs wrap around my waist.

While I don’t have the strength, stamina, or grace of an acrobat, I manage to guide us over to the mirrored wall with my pants still shackling my ankles. I have to drop her now, because I’m not letting her miss this.

My chest rises and falls quickly. “Turn.” I give her ass a slap and then guide her closer to the mirror. Running my hands from her shoulders down her arms, I smile at the goosebumps they leave on her smooth skin. I grab her hands. Harper leans back into me, but I push her forward, abandoning one of her hands so I can trace the valley of her spine.

“I told you, you need to hold on.” I wait until Harper grabs the bar. “If your knuckles aren’t white, you aren’t holding tight enough.”

Leaning forward, I slide against her slick entrance. Harper gasps.

“Better. And see? Rubber band did the trick. Now I can seeevery inch of your gorgeous face while I fuck you from the back.” I lean forward. “And have full access to this perfect neck.”

I pepper the column with kisses from back to front, each one melting Harper’s body more against me. And the moment I feel her relax, I whisper her name so she finds my eyes in the mirror.

I push in, and out of her mouth? My name. Over and over again, punctuated by no other words, only whimpers, heavy breaths, the sound of my balls slapping against her.

“I can’t,” I finally whine. “I can’t you’re too perfect.”

I grip her hips tighter, trying to hold off, to savor every feel and squeeze of her heat. I keep repeating into her skin how perfect she is, how in her depth, I’m lost, unable to tell up from down, left from right. The only direction I know is forward, isin.

I tighten and swell, my strokes frantic, and Harper must know. Because she calls my name a different way.

“Riley…”

When I find Harper’s eyes again, I find all of her.

I don’t look away, don’t bury my head into the crook of her neck, or close my eyes when I come.

And I keep looking at her after while my body shakes and trembles above and inside her.

I realize, in this moment, because of Harper, it’s not that I’ve lost myself. It’s that I’ve been found.

“No. Nope. Ugh, definitely not.”

I step back from the rack of dresses in my closet. What does one wear to a not-really-first-date anyway? And why am I stressing out about a not-really-first-date with a guy I’ve already slept with, someone I’ve known for years?

I jump when my phone rings from where I left it in the bathroom.

“Hi,” I answer Claire’s call, expecting to hear Lucas on the other end.

“Everything’s fine,” she begins, “but we’re coming home a little early. He just fell asleep, so hopefully he won’t hear me when I tell you he said his stomach hurts because he’s a little homesick.”

My face falls into a pout.

I sigh. “I’m sorry, Claire—”

“No, no don’t be. And don’t tell Lucas, but I’m exhausted.” She laughs. “Anyway, I’ll probably will drop him off in an hour and a half or so. Thankfully there’s no traffic this way.”

I turn my head when I hear the backdoor open and bite my lip. “I’ll be here.”

Sighing, I head downstairs. Riley is at hiscomputer—still on my dining room table—furiously typing away, so focused he doesn’t even look up when I walk across the living room and around the table to stand behind him.

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