Page 69 of By Your Side
When I lowered her onto the bed, the quilt bunched under her, and the faint scent of laundry soap rose. She looked at me—steady, open, trusting—and it hit me harder than I was ready for.
Her hair spilled across the pillow in a golden halo, her lips parted on a sharp inhale as I slid my hands up the warm, bare skin of her waist. She arched into me instinctively, her thighs tightening around my hips, pulling me closer.
I almost couldn’t believe this was real. She made the sweetest little noises when I touched her. The thought that I should have been the only one to hear them pounded in my head along with my heartbeat. But along with that intrusive thought came the knowledge thatthis—what was happening between me and her—was better than anything I’d ever felt in my life, and I knew she felt it too. I was here now, and that was all that mattered.
I needed more.
Bending, I kissed along her jaw, down the column of her throat, tasting the soft pulse beating there. Her fingers tangled in my hair, tugging just enough to make me groan. Every brush of her nails against my scalp, every desperate press of her body against mine, stoked the fire already burning through me.
I dragged my palm down her side, over the curve of her hip, until I could grip her thigh and hitch it higher against me. The sound she made—half sigh, half moan—nearly undid me.
“Hunter…” she breathed, tilting her head back, offering me everything.
I kissed her deeper, tongue sliding against hers, and felt her shiver beneath me. Her hands fumbled at the hem of my shirt, tugging it upward until I yanked it off, the cool air hitting my heated skin. She traced her fingertips down my chest, lingering lower, until my breath caught and my hips pressed harder into hers.
Even though it had been years, God, since I was a teenager, I knew I would soon come in my pants if I didn’t get inside her.
“I need you naked,” I growled against the soft skin of her neck.
We moved fast after that, hands pulling at fabric, mouths finding skin. She tugged my belt loose with shaking hands, and the brush of her palm over me had me groaning into her kiss and throbbing in her hands.
Every movement was hungry and reverent all at once, as if I could memorize her body by touch alone. The way she gasped when I kissed the hollow beneath her ear. The way her nails dug into my shoulders when I pressed closer, grinding against her until she was trembling.
Sliding into her was like coming home after years away, a rush of heat and relief. She gasped softly, nails biting into my shoulders as I pressed deeper.
“God, Paige,” I groaned, forehead pressed to hers. “Why didn’t we know it would be like this? We could have been doing this for years.”
Her eyes fluttered open, dark and shining. “I think we were both too scared of losing each other,” she whispered, her breath warm against my lips.
I slowed, filling her deep, hip to hip, before stopping to pull her close.
My voice dropped to a softer, raw tone, filled with emotion. It almost hurt to hear the sound of it. I’d never felt more vulnerable in my life. “Remember that night after prom? In the back of my truck. The night of the pact. I almost kissed you then. I wanted to.” I remembered it—too well. The quiet night air, the way she’d leaned close like she wanted me to kiss her. I should have done it.
“I would have kissed you back.” Her legs tightened around me, pulling me closer. “It was always like that. Always something in the way. Things only changed after the divorce. That’s when I finally saw you. Really saw you, like this—with me. Just us.”
The words wrecked me. I kissed her again, hard, tasting every ounce of truth in what she said.
We moved together in a rhythm that felt inevitable, like we’d been waiting half our lives for this moment. Every kiss was deeper, every touch hungrier, until she came undone beneath me, crying out my name like it had always belonged on her lips.
I followed her, my release tearing through me as I buried my face against her neck, groaning her name.
Afterward, I stayed inside her as I shifted to my side and let my weight rest into the mattress, keeping her close. The blankets were half-slid to the floor, the air cool against our overheated skin. I tucked her against my chest and pulled the quilt up around us.
For a long moment, we just breathed together, hearts pounding in the same wild cadence. The world outside faded to a hush, nothing left but the tangled sheets and the quiet, aching certainty between us. I stroked her cheek with the back of my hand, memorizing the flushed glow on her skin, the soft curve of her smile.
“I wish we could stay here forever,” I murmured, brushing her damp hair back from her face. “Just like this.”
She smiled, slow and sleepy, her fingers tracing idle circles against my skin. “We can’t, but I want to,” she whispered, voice barely a breath.
I pressed a kiss to her temple, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. Not anymore.
We took turns in her bathroom to clean up, then got back in her bed.
Chapter 21
Hunter
Iwatched her as the light slipped in through the bedroom curtains, spilling pale gold across the rumpled quilt and catching in the loose strands of her hair. Outside, the maple tree in her front yard swayed just enough to make the light shift, dappling her skin in warm, uneven patterns.
