Page 28 of Bond Strength

A sharp laugh escaped me, and I ran a hand along his plump ass again just because I could. The red marks across his cheeks from how hard I’d rode him, gripped him, sent a flutter through me. I wasn’t sorry. I needed to to get him cleaned up, but I didn’t want to budge.

“Freezing cold water or waiting until morning?” I asked.

“We can change the sheets and wait until morning. Maybe by then, the power will be back on.”

The comment deflated some of the happy feelings I floated on. Once we got power back and the tree got removed from Declan’s driveway, we’d return to real life. What would wait for us then? Would we go on with our lives like this hadn’t irrevocably changed things?

“Come lie on me instead of the wet spot.” I spread my legs.

Declan peeled up. “Then I’ll smear my cum all over you.”

“Do you see me complaining?”

He pushed up, his arms trembling, and crawled on top of me. I locked my arms around him. He rested his cheek on my chest, starfishing out. His legs threaded with mine, and any turbulence inside me quieted from his presence, his warm body pressed against mine. Contentment flowed through me. The lantern light flickered, casting shaky shadows, and outside, the rain still fell in the darkened night. Yet nothing else mattered to me. I had the man I’d always longed for in my arms.

I didn’t want to let go.

Chapter eleven

Declan

Iwoke up sticky and warm.

Light streamed in through the windows, and I was in my bed, but a furnace heat surrounded me.

Coming directly from the massive man wrapped around me.

I swallowed hard. Right, Noah and I had slept together last night. Literally. It had taken a while for me to fall asleep, but the moment he wrapped those big arms around me and cocooned me against his body, I’d been done for. Something about his presence shut my brain down in the best way, and I craved the peace. My mind seemed to always be running, and to be able to shut off as if I powered down—goddamn.

If this was why people had relationships, I could understand the appeal a little more.

Which, I wasn’t even sure Noah wanted that. We’d done a whole lot of fucking and not very much talking. Though, I couldn’t complain about the former, even if the latter would eventually be necessary. Ishifted, a slight soreness in my hole. A thrill shot through me. That had been the hottest sex of my life.

Noah’s steady breathing stuttered, and he moved beneath me. “Hmm?”

“I haven’t checked the power yet,” I said. He wasn’t making any effort to unwrap his arms around me, and I sure as fuck didn’t want to budge either.

“Do you have to?” He wrinkled his nose.

“Yes. I mean, as much as I’d love to lie in bed for the rest of the week, I’m pretty sure we’d starve and then need to resort to cannibalism.” I glanced up at him. “I’ve become a recent fan of your cock, and I’d prefer not to have it with some fava beans and chianti.”

Noah’s chest rumbled with his laughter. I plastered my cheek against him again to capture the vibrations.

“I want to run my hands through your hair so badly,” he murmured. “It’s such a tousled mess, and I love it.”

“If I haven’t fixed it for the day, you can.” I was enraptured by the bleary bliss of the moment. “I just don’t like going through the effort of making myself presentable for the world to have it mussed up.”

“Like a chink in your armor.”

My chest warmed at his understanding. “Exactly that.”

He plunged his fingers into my hair and stroked through it with the same steadiness that had me wanting to curl up on him and purr. Goddamn.

“You keep doing that, and I’m liable to fall back asleep.”

“I wouldn’t be opposed,” he murmured. “Though I guess we’ve got to call out of work and such. If my phone even has a charge.”

I wrinkled my nose. Ugh, work. Yeah, if I didn’t have power and couldn’t leave my driveway, that wouldn’t be happening today. My phone had still been plugged into my charger last night. I’d left it therewhen I’d gone out to greet Noah, and I’d never grabbed it after, so hopefully, it had juice.

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