Page 50 of Payback
I press myself up behind her, my hand resting on her hip as I murmur into her ear, “I don’t have one-night stands.” I kiss her shoulder and add, “You were my exception.”
She rolls onto her back and stares up at me, her face illuminated by the faint glow of streetlights outside the window. “Why wasIyour exception?”
She puts extra emphasis on “I” like she can’t possibly believe she’s special. I fucking hate that shit. I hate that she doesn’t see what I see. It makes me want to dick punch her ex because he’s probably the one who put those doubts in her head.
I cup her face, gliding my thumb over her lips that ache to be kissed. “Because I like how you go after what you want, Lis. When I met you, you had a goal and you weren’t going to stop until you achieved that goal. That kind of determination is sexy, even if you hadn’t been wearing a garter belt.”
She smiles and rolls her eyes, a line forming between her eyebrows as she thinks deeper about my reply. “I think you’re putting me on a pedestal that I don’t deserve to be on.” She scrubs her hands over her face, and I can feel the anxiety in her body like there’s a third person in bed with us.
I pull her hands down, lining my finger along the furrow in her brow. “What can I do to turn this frown upside down?”
She sighs and looks up at me like she wants to say something. Whatever it is can wait, though, because I need to taste her again more than I need to hear what she’s about to say. I lower my face and press my lips to hers. She instantly opens for me as my tongue slides in to tangle with hers. I taste the faintness of alcohol and mint as her hands wrap around my neck and she holds me to her, propelling the kiss deeper and more intense than I originally planned.
This is what I like so damn much about this woman. She takes what she wants, everything else be damned. I grew up watching my mom cater to my sisters’ father and apologising for shit she had no business apologising for. It was a reflex for her, ingrained in her bones at a young age. Allie is different, though. She’s a fighter.
Allie shifts to wrap her leg around my hip, and I pull back with a laugh even though her skin feels like a slice of heaven against mine. “You’re relentless.”
“You’re a tease!” she retorts, her brow still furrowed in frustration.
I kiss the crease on her forehead and then move back to my pillow. “Sleep, then sex.”
With another huff, she rolls away from me, her body tense as I wrap my arms around her and nudge my cock between her beautiful ass cheeks.
“You only have yourself to blame for that situation,” she mumbles in reference to my erection and then she inhales a big yawn.
I drop a kiss to her hair. “I know, mooi. I know.”
The smile on my face feels permanent as we both let sleep do the time travel for us.
