Page 80 of And Everything In Between

“Shh, I know I don’t.” She looked up at him with those eyes that never lied. “But I want to. That’s the difference.”

He set the plates down carefully, knowing damn well dinner was about to get cold. Some things were worth the wait.

“Do your thing, baby.”

She tugged at his waistband. Paige wasn’t about second-guessing, not anymore. Not with him. “You always take care of me. Today, my daddy. Yesterday, my heart. Let me take care of you.”

Giovanni didn’t say a word. This was Paige speaking her love language, and he wasn’t about to interrupt. She was on her knees, but he was the one humbled. Because this wasn’t about sex. It was about trust. About a woman who’d carried the world finally choosing to let him hold a piece of it.

Her hands worked his belt, unzipped his pants with the familiarity of a woman who knew what was hers. His dick was already thick and ready; it had been that way since he watched her lips form the word “love” through the phone earlier.

She looked up again and kissed the skin above his waist.

She pressed her lips to his skin. “Thank you. For my dad. For showing up. For loving me.”

She freed him from his briefs, her warm palm circling him, stroking twice before her mouth replaced her hand. The heat of her tongue against him made him release a slow hiss. His muscles tightened across his abdomen. Her lips slid over him, taking him in deeper with each pass.

Giovanni’s hand found the back of her head, not pushing, resting there, feeling the gentle bob as she worked him. The silk of her scarf was smooth under his palm, a contrast to the wet heat of her mouth enveloping him. He watched, mesmerized, as she hollowed her cheeks, creating a suction that had him seeing stars.

He almost broke then, almost pulled her up to tell her that she didn’t need to thank him for loving her right. That she deserved this and more. But the lump in his throat and the look in her eyes told him to let her have this moment.

“Paige, I ain’t gon make it. You wildin,” he managed to voice through gritted teeth.

Her eyes met his again, mischievous now, and she deliberately ignored his warning. Instead, she took him deeper, humming around him, the vibration sending shockwaves through his body. Her hands weren’t idle, one gripped his thigh for balance, nails pressing into his balls enough to remind him who was in control right now.

For a woman who'd spent years guarding her heart, this was surrender. She was choosing him, trusting him, showing in every touch that the walls she'd built now had a door, and he held the only key.

“Paige,” he groaned, the simplicity of her name carrying everything he felt.

She took him to the edge, reading his body with the same precision and calculation she brought to everything else in her life. When his breathing shifted, when his muscles tensed beneath her hands, she knew. She didn’t break rhythm, didn’t hesitate, she stayed with him as he coated her tongue with his children.

His legs nearly buckled as release washed over him, but he stayed upright, one hand braced on the counter, the other still cradling her face.

She looked up, wiped her mouth with her thumb, that satisfied smile he loved already curling on her lips.

“I don’t know what the fuck you just did to me…”

He laughed, soft and shaky, dragging a hand over his face. “But I ain’t ever had it like that.”

“I can’t believe you almost turned that down.”

He drew in a breath, still pressed to her. Then he lifted her with ease, his voice brushing her ear tickling her skin in the process.

“Come here.”

Dinner? Forgotten.

Now it was his turn to kneel, his turn to worship. Because that’s what they did, they gave each other exactly what they needed, when they needed it, no questions asked.

She was his match. His mirror. His. Point. Blank. Period.

They finally made it to eating hours later, plates warmed and rewarmed, talking about nothing and everything as their legs tangled beneath the table. Paige laughed at something ridiculous he said, head thrown back, throat exposed, and Giovanni caught himself staring. Mesmerized. This moment. This woman. The way her eyes crinkled when she was truly happy. The universe had been preparing him for Paige his entire life, and now that he’d found her, he recognized that this was more than passion, more than compatibility, maybe more than love.

This was his future. His peace. His whole damn heart and soul walking around outside his body. And as she looked over at him, making him feel things he couldn’t name, Giovanni knew without a doubt, this woman would wear his last name, bear his children, and grow old laughing at his jokes.

This was the foundation. The blueprint. The cornerstone of everything he would ever build from this day forward.

Chapter 20

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