Page 84 of Midnight Wishes

Every few thrusts, he went deep again, just enough to make her gasp. Just enough to make her increasingly desperate.

And when she was wriggling under him, pushing her hips back in desperation, a string of whisperedpleases tumbling out, he showed mercy.

After turning her onto her back, Alex shuddered when he filled her again. That was always her favourite part. When he decided to let her finish because he couldn’t hold out anymore. She’d mused on his immaculate control earlier. It made it all the more satisfying when he lost it.

‘Okay, Princess,’ he panted. ‘Need to see you come. Need to see your pretty face all flushed and pink for me. Need to hear your voice go tight with how much you want this. Need you to squeeze me. Just,fuck, need you.’

His words unlocked something. She didn’t even need the finger he was brushing between her legs. If he carried on speaking, he could talk her into an orgasm at this rate.

‘Tell me again.’

And she knew. Knew there was only one thing he could be asking for. ‘I love you.’

‘You gonna come for the man who loves you now?’

Instead of answering, Sarah moaned, pleasure washing through her. Alex followed immediately, collapsing over her.

Later, when they’dcrawled back into bed after cleaning up, Alex reached for her hand. ‘Princess, do you want to be my friend yet?’

Sarah rolled onto her side, looking at his strong, beautiful profile. ‘Aleksander, I want to be your best friend.’

Chapter 40

SARAH

Someone To You | BANNERS

‘I missed youso much.’ Alex’s voice was muffled, his head cradled to Sarah’s chest while she stroked his hair.

‘Are you talking to me or my tits?’

Alex laughed. ‘Do I have to choose?’

‘I missed you too.’ They’d said it already, but it bore repeating. And the soft joy it left on Alex’s face had her doubling down. She was ready to lavish adoration on him, to make him feel wanted and welcome in the ways he never had. ‘Nothing’s ever been this good.’ She traced a dark golden eyebrow, and his eyes fluttered closed, that dimple popping next to his upturned lips.

Next to her, Alex’s fingers found his discarded bow tie. The soft silk brushed her skin as he danced it through his fingers. ‘I’ve never asked anyone to do that, you know? Never trusted anyone enough. But with you…’

‘Why do you like it?’ Sarah asked, wriggling down the bed until they were face to face, eyes close. She laced their fingers together, trapping the tie between them.

Alex sighed. Looked away. Focussed back on her. ‘You know what my job’s like. It’s completely taken over my life in the last few years. The hours are a killer, sure, but it’s the stress more than anything else. I handle insane amounts of money every day. And if I slip up, if I forget a deadline, if I miss an email…it could be a million-pound mistake. I have to be a hundred percent on top of things, in control, all the time. That’s a lot for someone who would forget to feed themselves if it wasn’t made as easy as humanly possible. And this week. Wanting you, missing you, reconciling how much I love you with how much I wanted to hate you. It’s been an emotional avalanche. So letting you take charge, getting out of my head, not having to think beyond how beautiful you are and how good you feel? I needed it.’

‘Are you telling me we’re using the handcuffs every time we have a fight? Because I worry that sets a dangerous precedent.’

‘I can handle a few more fights if that’s how we make up.’

Sarah wove her legs through his, wound her arm around his waist, and pulled him closer, breathing in the cologne and soap and sweat of his skin. ‘You know I’ll gladly be your stress relief, Aleksander, but I wish you didn’t need it.’

He’d been putting on a brave face for the wedding—it was Alex’s special skill, after all—buthis eyes this weekend had been even more tired than the last time she’d seen him. Part of that was probably her fault, she reasoned, but she found it unlikely that his job had suddenly started allowing him to leave at a reasonable hour. Of course she could see how his schedule would make a relationship difficult, but if he didn’t mind her borderline gremlin-state when she was on a deadline, she could live with his stretches of late nights. If they could coordinatebusy periods, their schedules might end up aligning anyway. She could put down her paintbrush to have a glass of wine with him and hear about his day while he ate his reheated dinner. She just wanted him close, feeling safe and loved. Knowing that it didn’t matter how busy he was, they would find a way to work with each other’s lives, and Sarah would never do to him what his ex had.

‘It’s just a few more weeks.’ Alex interrupted her mental vision of candles and foil trays, hands clasped across his breakfast nook.

‘I know, but after this project, there’ll be another and—’

‘There won’t. I quit.’

Sarah sat up, barely registering the pain emanating from the hair stuck under Alex’s arm. ‘Youwhat?’

Alex shrugged.

---