Page 140 of Aftersome
“Kate let me borrow it,” I whispered. “Why? Do you not like it?”
A spike of uncertainty twisted in my gut, but when I caught his eyes darken, I knew I had it all wrong.
“Do I like it?” He laughed. “Fuck, I more than just like it, Doe, but so does every hot-blooded male that gets his eyes on you.”
His palm connected with my hip, and in seconds I was pulled in flush against him.
“They can look all they want, but only one man gets to see what it looks like off.” I raised up onto my toes and only halfway there, Mal’s mouth crashed into mine.
It was a lay of claim and I fell right into it as our tongues lashed.
With his hand still protectively covering my waist, the other found my cheek where he guided our kiss where he wanted it.
It was exactly what I needed.
What I wanted.
And finally on one last nip along his bottom lip, we pulled away, desperately trying to catch our breaths.
“Fuck, I missed you,” he groaned.
Just from the gleam in his eye and the way he caressed my face like I was the most precious thing in the world made me realize just how deep we were.
The raw honesty of this beyond-vulnerable man never ceased to amaze me.
And it was all solely for me.
His affection. His tenderness. His protectiveness.
Every ounce of what the world had never seen, I did.
And it made me feel like the luckiest woman alive.
“I missed you too.”
Then hand in hand, Kate and I decided to part ways for the night after Mal and James showed up. James had even hugged Mal, which had my eyes bulging out of my head, but to my utter shock, Mal had hugged him back.
The biggest, brightest smile filled my face, which caused Mal to roll his eyes. Although he shrugged me off as if it were nothing, I knew it was something.
A step toward something more.
A step toward letting the light in after being stuck in the darkness for so long.
When we finally got back to Mal’s, the second we walked through the door, he was on me. Warm lips trailed over my neck and along my shoulders as his desperate hands lifted me off my feet.
We didn’t make it far as he tripped over the corner of the living room rug, causing us to topple over onto the ground withhim hovering over the top of me. Luckily, his hand protected the back of my head, but his worried eyes still scoured mine for any pain.
“Jesus, are you okay?” he panted.
Brushing away the strands of hair that fell over my face, I couldn’t help but laugh. A burst of giggles fell from my mouth as a look of confusion spread across his face.
“I’m fine,” I reassured him as my laughing continued. Then finally, when he realized that I was okay, his mouth curved at the sides and a beautiful rumble of laughter escaped Mal.
There was something so unique, so powerful about this moment of pure, genuine laughter, that I never wanted it to end.
Together our laughter intermingled until eventually it subsided into smiles. When there was only silence left in the air, Mal looked down at me as if there was nowhere else in the world he’d rather be. His eyes were heavy with adoration and warmth, and he began to lovingly caress the top of my head and down the side of my face with his hand.
“Tell me you're mine, Doe,” he demanded.
