Page 121 of Protected from Malice
Then I pull almost all the way out before sinking inside her again.
I lift her hips, changing the angle so I can go even deeper.
Spread out on the white marble like this, Eden looks like a perfect offering—all creamy skin and slim curves and her dark hair bursting free of its restraints. Her breasts rise and fall in a rapid rhythm. A flush spreads across her body. Her eyes are heavy-lidded as she gazes up at me and a slight smile curves her lips.
“I love you,” she says roughly. “I love you so much.”
“Ah, baby.” I drape one leg over my shoulder and plunge deep again. “I love you, too.”
And with that, she comes with a shout.
Her eyes slam shut.
Her walls convulse around me.
The last of my willpower dissolves and I race off the edge along with her, pulsing hard and hot inside her.
It feels…
There are no words to describe it.
Now that we’ve switched to birth control instead of condoms, there’s no barrier between us, so I can feel myself filling her. In my forty years, I’ve never wanted to go without before. But with Eden, it feels right. It feels…
“Perfect,” Eden whispers. “It’s always perfect with you.”
Oh.
How the fuck did I get this lucky?
“I know.” My voice is unexpectedly gruff. “It is.”
We endedup being only five minutes late.
We would have been on time, but Eden was worried about her dress being wrinkled. So I steamed it for her while she freshened her makeup and redid her hair. “A perk of dating someone who used to be in the Army,” I told her. “I’m a pro with an iron. And I always make sure my creases are razor sharp.”
“I guess I really scored when I found you,” she replied with a smile. “Because I despise ironing. I literally choose my clothing based on whether I can get away with just pulling it straight from the dryer.”
If she wants me to iron everything for the rest of our lives, that’s fine with me. Just like I don’t mind doing all the cooking, either. I don’t give a shit that some guys would consider thatwomen’s work.I don’t need to prove I’m a man by pushing all the household stuff onto Eden. I can prove myself in a hundred other ways instead. Like protecting her. Like doing repairs around the house. Mowing the lawn. Cleaning the gutters.
CouldEden do all those herself? Of course. If she put her mind to it, she could do anything. But I want to do those things. I want to share the responsibilities and make her life easier.
“Hey, guys.” Ace approaches us with a smile. He has a beer in one hand and something that looks like a mini corn dog on a toothpick in the other. “Good turnout, huh?”
I glance around Indy’s living room, taking in all the people milling around it. “For sure,” I agree. “I wasn’t expecting so many people to come from out of town.”
Eden leans against me. Her arm is looped around my waist, just as mine is around hers. “It’s a good thing Indy went with the bigger apartment,” she comments. “If he’d taken the smaller place, there’s no way everyone would have fit in here.”
She’s right. When Indy was looking for a short-term rental, he had it narrowed down to two places. The first was a modern condo about ten minutes from Eden’s house, and the other, the entire first floor of an old row house fifteen minutes away.
If he’d chosen the condo, half of us would be relegated to the kitchen. But here, at the row house, we have plenty of room to spread out. And given how many people are here, we definitely need it.
“Is that a corn dog?” Eden asks, eyeing the food in Ace’s hand with suspicion. “Did Indy seriously serve corn dogs for this?”
Ace looks at it. “I’m not sure. I just grabbed it.” He takes a bite, chews, swallows, then nods. “Yup. It’s a corn dog. A pretty good one, too.”
Eden shakes her head. “I told Indy just to pay for a caterer. Or ask Rafe to help cook. But he insisted on doing it himself.” She scans the room, finding Indy standing over in the far right corner, chatting with Tyler, Webb, and Dante.
“I think he wanted something to keep him busy,” Ace offers. “Since the new job doesn’t start for another couple of weeks.”
