Page 102 of The Marriage Deal
I yawn and Briggs says again, “Thank you all for coming.”
Nash chuckles as he claps a hand on Briggs’ shoulder. “Yeah, we know. Get the fuck out.”
Briggs grins. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
I gasp. “Briggs!”
Madelyn laughs as she leans in for a quick hug. The squeeze she gives me tells me to watch my heart, as though my bludgeoned heart needs another reason to sink into the pit of despair and bubbly it’s found itself in the deep of my belly.
I retiredto the room I’ve been sharing with Briggs. He promised to see everyone out and lock up the house, but I’m beyond exhausted and apparently it showed. I should be in bed and asleep, but as soon as I steppedin the shower, I broke down in tears that just would not stop.
My heart hurts.
All of me hurts.
Eventually, I’m going to walk away from Briggs like we agreed. Eventually, it’ll just be me and my brood of fur balls living in a little woodland cottage. I’ll be all alone with the cracked shell in my chest where my heart once lay intact and full.
How I thought I could do this, I’ll never know.
The door cracks open as I’m about to slip between the sheets. Both kittens and Senior are already snuggled up in sleep, the kittens together on the foot of the bed and Senior next to his pup bed on the floor.
His eyes heat as they always do when they land on me. The man is impossibly insatiable, but he says, “I thought you would be asleep.”
“I took a long shower. Then I blow dried my hair.” Again, I don’t know where I found the energy. “Everyone is gone?”
Briggs dips his chin, fingers moving to the buttons of his shirt. “And the house is locked up.”
My aching heart does a quick little flip as his shirt parts to expose the muscles of his chest. His hands, big and veined, shift to his belt. The clink of the buckle is all it takes to warm my body.
It’s insane, my response to him. I never thought my body could be so tuned in to another person that thesound of a belt buckle loosening would send my body into a state of need.
I hate it and I love it.
God, help me.
I settle on my back in the bed, pulling the blankets up high. I’m not sure I can handle being fucked by him tonight. I feel so tender already. So fragile.
I hear him kick off his jeans, then he moves. But he doesn’t move to the bathroom like I expect. He moves to his side of the bed, sliding in beside me. The room is dark, but I don’t need to see him to know his eyes are on me.
“What’s this?” He fingers my nighty. I haven’t been wearing one lately. What’s the point when he just takes it off?
“I thought you’d be out longer.”
“Mmm,” he rumbles, his fingertips drifting over the smooth skin of my belly. A tickle pulses through me and my breath hitches as my belly quivers.
Now that I’ve adjusted to the darkness, I see him smile. “Briggs—” I catch his wrist but release it as he moves his hand up the length of my body. A new flood of warmth surges inside me, and I decide what the hell.
Why not fuck him again? My body obviously craves his. And after everything tonight, I could use the release.
No, I need the release.
“Kiss me,” I beg, and his lips move to mine. Over mine. His tongue sliding against mine.
He kisses me soft and slow, breaking away only as his hands push my nighty up and over my head. My panties go next, and then his body is moving over mine, his mouth working mine until I’m a quivering and needy mess beneath him.
I ache for him inside me, so wet as he strokes me with his hard, hot length.
“Please,” I murmur against his mouth. “I need—I need…”
