Page 62 of Reckless Hearts
Wood splintered, the cot collapsing beneath us. We hit the floor in a tangle of limbs and breathless laughter, but I couldn’t stop. I was too close. I grabbed Delilah’s leg and pressed it with the other, putting her on her side. My fingers dug into the soft swell of her thigh, using it as leverage to drive into her faster. Her laughter died with a moan.
Heat built at the base of my spine. My hips stuttered, thrusts erratic and desperate. “Baby, please,” she whimpered. “Come for me. I need you.” My cock jerked. A groan tore straight from my chest.
Every muscle in my body went rigid, right on the precipice. The lights flicked back on. She was absolutely wrecked. Skin flushed, lashes wet, hair wild. The sight alone sent me over the edge. The pressure exploded, ricocheting through every cell in my body. I fell on top of her, crashing my lips to hers while I pumped her full.
We were all gasping breaths and sweat-slicked skin after. I brushed her hair back, my hand trembling. “You okay, sweet girl?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded, eyes dragging with a dopey smile. “Just will be walking funny tomorrow, but that’s okay.” I chuckled, lying beside her. “I think I’m addicted to you,” she said on a long sigh.
“I know I’m addicted to you.” I ran a hand up her thigh and along her hip. “I hated being away from you.” Hated was an understatement. I’d felt like a zombie all week, stuck in a perpetual state of loss. I hadn’t felt that directionless since I came home right after retiring from the Army.
Her leg slipped between mine, toes cold. “Me too. Let’s not ever do that again.”
“Deal. But that means we have to tell everyone—my sisters. Are you sure you want to do that?” I would do whatever she wanted. It didn’t matter to me one way or the other what my sisters thought. My love life was none of their business, but Delilah cared. She cared a lot, and that was the only reason why their reactions were important to me.
She became fully alert then. “Yes…no.” She scrubbed her face, groaning. “I don’t know.” She rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. “I just know I’ve wanted this for…well, forever, so I have to tell them.” She looked at me then. “Right?”
The corner of my mouth twitched with a smile, and she shook her head, already knowing what I was going to say. I pulled her into my side. “About that.”
Delilah covered her face in her hands, burying it in my chest. “Can we not talk about that and say we did?”
“Don’t tell me after nearly thirty years of knowing me, you’ve suddenly decided to get shynow.”
She lifted her face, eyes searching mine before she said, “I’ve had feelings for you since I was nine.”
The words knocked the air right out of me. Twenty-one years. She’d been carrying that around while I’d been too blind to see it. I didn’t know what to think. What to say. “Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately. It’s very pathetic of me, I know.”
“I don’t think it’s pathetic. I’m just confused why you never said anything until now.”
She pursed her lips, staring at my chest. “Because I knew you didn’t feel the same,” she said, her voice small. “I didn’t want to put myself out there like that just for you to reject me.” And that’s exactly what would’ve happened had she done it. As brutal as it was, it was the truth. I hadn’t seen her as anything other than my sisters’ friend until a few weeks ago.
Safe to say I was a goddamn idiot.
“Then why’d you offer to sleep with me?”
Her eyes met mine. “Because I couldn’t take watching you suffer anymore,” she said. Her lips went to a flat line, and she shrugged. “It became worth the risk of losing you completely.”
My heart somehow broke and mended itself all in one go. She was the most selfless person I knew. “Delilah…”
“I figured it was the only way I could help you since you quit therapy with me. And I wanted it to be me rather than someone else. Even if it meant it was nothing more than sex. Nothing more than that one time.” She toyed with my chain. Swallowed roughly. “The one-time thing was more for my sake than anything else. I knew it’d hurt me regardless, but it’d hurt a ton more if it became a regular thing.” Her laugh was weak. “And you know how that went.”
“Please don’t ever put my feelings over your own ever again.” She looked away. My grip on her tightened, forcing her to look at me. “I’m serious, Delilah. Promise me.”
“I promise,” she whispered.
I couldn’t believe she was mine. That I had someone who cared about me this much. I didn’t know what to do with all this love I felt. Was this how everyone felt when they fell in love? Consumed and overrun by the need to protect this person who’s suddenly become so precious to you? “I’m gonna be a shit boyfriend,” I said, my voice rough. “Just a heads up. I don’t know how to date. Never really did. But I want to try—for you. I want to be everything you’ve ever wanted.”
She arched a brow. “What makes you think I want you to be my boyfriend?”
My stomach dropped. I’d just assumed that was where this was going. “I—” A smile spread across her face. “You brat.” I swatted her ass, and she giggled.
Her thumb traced the curve of my jaw. “I don’t care what kind of boyfriend you are,” she whispered, smiling as she kissed me. “As long as you’re mine.”
“I’ve been yours the last six weeks, sugar.” I kissed her again. “And I’ll be yours until my last breath.”
“I like the sound of that.” She nuzzled into my side, holding me close.
