Page 54 of Unexpected Love
He’s so deep inside me, I know I’ll feel him long after this is over.
“I’m so close, Jules. I can’t hold back.”
“Let go. I’ve got you.” I repeat the words he said to me earlier.
He fucks into me, his thrusts so powerful, he slides me up the bed. My hands seek purchase against the headboard, bracing myself against the onslaught of his hips hammering into mine. Then he rolls his hips, and I gasp, coming undone around him.
Two rolling thrusts later, he follows me into oblivion. We are a gasping, heaving pile of limp muscles. He drops to an elbow and kisses me.
Softly, sweetly. Reverently.
He ends the kiss, pressing his forehead to mine as he catches his breath.
Too soon, he’s withdrawing from my body, and disappearing to the bathroom. I hear water running, and then he’s back with a warm cloth and a dry towel. He makes quick work of cleaning me up, then pulls me out of the bed and wraps me in the towel, shuffling me off to the side, refusing to let me help as he changes the linens.
In no time at all, the towel is stripped away, and I’m wrapped in his arms, head on his shoulder, legs intertwined.
There’s so much that we need to say. So much that just changed between us. Instead, I close my eyes, focus on his steady breathing, and drift away.
Fingers trail up my spine, dragging me from the bliss of a dream. I shift in his arms and snake my arm around his waist.
“It feels so right.” Though I barely make a sound, his fingers cease their exploration, and his arms band around me.
“It does.”
In the warm cocoon of his arms, I can fully explore the puckered scar that mars his shoulder.
“Tell me about this,” I whisper against his chest.
He gives me a squeeze and then releases me, rolling to his back, hand diving into his hair.
“Last fall, I was on a fire scene. You remember when the courthouse caught fire in Newman?” At my nod, he continues, “There was a really bad guy there, firing at us when we approached the scene.”
I’m confused. I think I know what he means, but it doesn’t make sense. “What does that mean?”
“The building was rolling when we got there. We were in a rush to get in and knock it down before we lost any more of it. That courthouse is on the historical registry. It’s a town landmark. We couldn’t lose it on our watch. But as we pulled line and made our initial attack, the guy who’d started the fire opened fire on us. I was on the initial crew and was a sitting duck. His first bullet ripped through my shoulder, and everyone else had to back off until the scene was secure.”
“I remember that. I was working at Daily Brew that day. And Chief Hawkins was the one who took down the arsonist, right?” Melancholy sits like a heavy weight on my chest.I trace the outline of the scar, marveling that we’d been in each other’s orbit for a while, it seemed. I press a kiss to the place where the bullet ripped into him. I could’ve lost him before we ever found each other. We need to get off this topic before I start getting sappy. “Were you working the night of the tornado?” I ask.
“Yeah. It was pretty much all hands on deck.”
“I’m sure. It was awful. I was in my starting-over phase after my divorce. Learning to live on my own. You know that’s how Jordan and Nate met, right?”
He’s idly stroking my side and presses a kiss to my hair. “Yeah, I was working with Nate and Thoren that night. Her house was trashed.”
That means… I raise up on an elbow and peer down at his handsome face.
“Another way we were orbiting each other. I rode to the hospital with Jordan. I don’t remember seeing you there, though.”
His finger traces between my eyebrows, soothing where they’re pinched.
“I hate that we missed that time. But honestly, you wouldn’t have liked me back then. Confession? I wanted to ask you out before this deal happened between us. I was trying to muster up the courage that day Dani dumped Charlie off, but my card failed, and I was fucking embarrassed.” He traces my hairline, his eyes following the movement, but he’s deep in thought. When he speaks again, his voice is soft, like he’s a million miles away. “It’d been a shitty night, and I was reminded of all the ways you were too good for me. I couldn’t have handled your rejection then.”
“How do you know it would’ve been a rejection?”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, his fingers slipinto my hair, and he pulls me into a kiss, gathering me close. I sink into his strong chest and meet him there at the edge of oblivion and lust, knowing that on the other side will be a soft place to land.
Chapter 22
