Page 66 of The Pieces We've Lost

The streets were beginning to clear out more and more as parents started to herd their children home and the college kids funneled into the bars.

“Let’s go home, shall we?” He brushed his fingers against mine. A delicate touch that proclaimed the attraction between us—this tension—was more than just that.

Colter drove us home, his hand resting on my thigh the entire way. When we got to the house, he stopped me right before the front door, grabbing my waist and pulling me toward him.

“Colter.” His name was no more than a whisper as I looked into his eyes. They tracked from mine down to my lips and back up, reminding me of the afternoon we spent sitting in the back of my dad’s F-100 and the dream I had of him. This time was different, though. This was real and I wanted Colter, needed him. I needed him as much as I needed air.

“You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you right now.” His eyes were hungry. For me.

“Then what are you waiting for?” I barely got the last word out before he yanked me toward him and crashed his lips onto mine. He tasted like cinnamon and vanilla, and he didn’t push me or try to rush. He kissed me slowly, like he was savoring the moment. I parted my lips, inviting him to deepen the kiss.

Weeks of push and pull had led to this. Half of my heart was still begging me to stop before I got in too deep, to rebuild the fortress around my heart, to fill the cracks that Colter had been chipping away at, but the other half was falling willingly.

Before Colter, it was like I was drowning in the loss of my dad and the pressure I put on myself to avoid feeling the same pain that I believed my dad’s love for rodeo—our love for it—caused. But being with him made me feel like I could finally breathe again. He was steady when I stumbled, patient when I was stubborn.

He pulled me through the front door, kissing me all the way from my lips across my jaw to my ear and down my neck.

“Are you sure you want this?” he asked me.

I couldn’t be more sure of anything at that moment. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“If at any point you change your mind, please tell meand we’ll stop.” He looked me in the eyes as if waiting for an acknowledgment, and I nodded, not wanting this to end.

He picked me up, wrapping my legs around him as he carried me into the bedroom. After tossing me on the bed, he crawled over top of me.

This time when he kissed me, he wasn’t gentle. He pulled on my bottom lip with his teeth, eliciting a moan as he moved one hand up my tank top, running his thumb over my hardening nipple and rolling it between his fingers as he moved his other hand down beneath the waistband of my jeans

He slipped one of his fingers in, causing me to gasp from the sudden pressure. “Mmm, so ready for me. You’ve wanted this as much as I have, haven’t you, baby?”

I grabbed at the cotton fabric of his T-shirt in response, wanting to feel him, the softness of his skin and the solidness of his chest, against me.

His hands retreated from my body, despite my protesting whine, to yank his shirt off and to pull mine over my head, revealing every inch of my chest.

I already knew his body was toned from rodeo and working on the ranch, but there was still a softness to him as I ran my hand across his stomach.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears as he whispered, “Absolutely beautiful,” before he made his way down my body, pulling off every last bit of my clothing and peppering my body with kisses as he went. He stopped at my breasts, taking one in his mouth and sucking gently, causing me to arch toward him as a jolt went through my body. This man was slowly destroying me in the best way possible.

He took his time, worshiping me with his mouth and fingers like I was the last woman he would ever be with.

“Colter, p-please,” I stuttered, needing more of him.

“What was that? I don’t think I heard you.” He removed his fingers—making me ache for him, I was so close—and looked up at me, teasing me.

Cruel. So blissfully cruel.

“I need you inside me. Please, I can’t take it anymore,” I pleaded, hating how desperate I sounded for this man’s touch.

“That’s my girl.” He pushed himself up to kiss my lips, getting off of me for a split second. The pull of a zipper and a tear of a condom wrapper broke the brief silence. A moment later he was back and pushing into me, our bodies connecting in a way I’d never experienced in past relationships.

I’d had sex before, but nothing like this. This was meaningful and unhurried.

Our eyes met as he moved in and out in a steady rhythm, never slowing, even as he leaned down to kiss me.

“You feel so good,” he murmured as he started to pick up his pace.

“I-I’m close, Colter,” I moaned as a wave of pleasure washed over me. Pressure kept building, and it only intensified as Colter reached down to massage my clit. I tilted my head back, my mouth slightly opening as I closed my eyes.

“Eyes on me, Ellison. I want to watch as you come all over my cock,” he ordered as he grabbed my legs and pulled me even closer to him so I could wrap them around his waist. The look on his face was unlike any other that I’d seen from him. His pupils were dilated, eyes full of lust for me and only me.

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