Page 47 of Play Hard
I still couldn’t believe that Adrian had shown up here. His reaction to me confronting him about Lindsey had been to shrug that shit off and attempt to gaslight me. He hadn’t, to my knowledge, attempted to contact me via my job or any of the other mutual friends we had. Yes, I’d blocked him from my phone and all social media, but he knew where I lived and worked, and he hadn’t shown up at either of those places before I left. So why now? And what was with that bullshit about asking me to come back? He didn’t care enough to be faithful but the minute I walked away he discovered how much he needs me?
Needsme.
Not loves me.
He came back because he needs me to get him out of trouble.
I’d almost laughed at that thought but instead had quickly swiped at the fresh tears that formed.
Noah had reached across the console and laced his fingers through mine at that point. The same as I was doing to him now.
Once inside of the bathroom, I dropped his hand and moved to the shower stall to turn on the water. Turning back, I watched him lean his butt against the sink. He had to be exhausted. From all the work he’d done today—the activities he’d engaged in with the children and other members of the town, to the tension of wondering how the event would turn out, and then, the fight. I stepped closer and reached for the hem of his T-shirt. He lifted his arms slowly, and I pulled the shirt and the ribbed tank he wore under it up and over his head. His chest was impeccable, sculpted in a way that made those fitness models look like amateurs, smooth cinnamon hued skin over beautifully defined muscles.
I leaned in, placing a soft kiss over one ebony nipple, then the other. His hands went to my shoulders, then slid down my arms until they were at my wrists. I pulled back slightly, giving just enough room for him to lift my wrists so that we could both see the angry red bruising around them. I didn’t need to raise my eyes to his to know he was growing angry again. I could feel him tensing right in front of me.
“I’m okay.” My voice was soft against the sound of the water behind us.
“This shit isn’t okay,” he grumbled. Then he lifted each wrist to his mouth, dropping soft kisses over the marks.
As I watched, I caught sight of the bruises on his knuckles. Maneuvering so that I now held his hands in mine, I stared down at where the skin had been ripped from his knuckles. It wasn’t so bad that blood was dripping from his hands, but it still looked painful. Those punches he landed on every part of Adrian’s face had sounded painful. “This isn’t okay either.” I brought his hands to my lips, kissing each cut.
When I was done, he moved a hand to grasp the back of my neck, pulling me into him before crashing his lips down over mine. This kiss was laced with every emotion we were feeling in that moment—exhaustion, anger, pain both physical and emotional, and love. We hadn’t spoken that last word, hadn’t re-committed ourselves to the depths that word could take us, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
I’d felt it each time he entered me these past few weeks, with each stroke, each kiss, each time he buried his face in my neck and mumbled my name. When he showed up at the lake house before heading to his shift at the bar just to stand on the back porch and kiss me until time insisted that he leave. Or those nights when he left the bar late and I was already in bed, and he would text or call just to say goodnight. I felt it in the butterflies that soared through me each time I saw him and the dull ache in my chest each time we parted. I knew I still loved this man and that he still loved me.
The kiss would’ve gone deeper, we could’ve easily stood here losing ourselves in each other. We’d done it so many times before, but tonight there was a bigger priority. Easing back slightly, my breath coming fast, I whispered, “The water’s gonna get cold.”
He nipped my bottom lip, then pulled back enough so that he could get me out of the jersey and the tank and bra I wore beneath it. I pushed the basketball shorts he’d been wearing and his boxers down. We both removed our shoes and stepped out of the garments, then got into the shower. The moment we were beneath the spray of water his hands were on me again. At my waist, then around to cup my ass as he backed me into the wall. I looped my arms around his neck, lifting my chin so my lips were waiting when his met them once more. This kiss was more frantic, hunger clearly taking precedence over all else. I was so caught up in the dancing of our tongues, the sound of our moansechoing throughout the stall that when he slipped a finger into me, I gasped.
“Every time I touch you,” he growled, his lips right against my ear. “Every fuckin’ time you’re always so wet.” He bit my lobe. “So hot.” Licked my neck. “So ready.” Found my lips again.
I sucked his tongue into my mouth like I was starving, and I was…for him. Only ever for him. My nails dug into his shoulders as he pushed another finger inside of me, pressing against that spot that had me gasping and forgetting my name. When my knees began to shake, he tightened his arm around my waist. “I gotchu, sweetness. Give me what belongs to me.”
I knew exactly what he wanted; my release. And whether I wanted to give it to him or not—which I definitely did—it was coming. Fuck, it was coming! He was devouring my mouth again, his fingers working my core until I was sure I would combust at any moment. My entire body trembled with need as his fingers pushed me closer to the edge. When I screamed his name, body shuddering around him, I was rewarded with a “that’s my good girl” in his sexy ass tone just before he pulled his fingers from me.
He lifted my legs, wrapping them around his waist and thrust into me in seconds, both of us gasping with the entry. “Next time you cum on this dick,” he groaned, pulled back, then sank deeper and deeper.
I swear with each thrust he went impossibly deeper. My back slammed against the slick shower wall, water crashing down on us as his dick moved expertly inside of me. He controlled the pace, working us both until we were a jumble of incoherent cursing and rambling about how fuckin’ good this was. How so perfectly right it felt.
And when we both reached our peaks, we washed in lukewarm water. Stepping out of the shower, Noah grabbed a towel to dry my body first, then his. Then he scooped me up andcarried me into his bedroom where he laid me ever so gently onto his bed. I immediately spread my legs as he moved over me. Then he simply stared down at me. I stared right back at him. Looking into deep brown eyes that I’d once upon a time bared my soul to. He wasn’t that guy from college anymore; he was a grown ass man now. One who’d been through a tremendous amount of trauma but was still standing. Still living and trying to be the best man he could be. When it probably would’ve been easier to lean into what some people thought he was, to give in to the darkest temptations in his soul, those black places that had been implanted into him with every demeaning and hurtful episode from his past. My heart ached for the boy who suffered in silence and for the man who still struggled day by day.
Without a word, he eased his length inside of me again. He rested his elbows on either side of my head and leaned down until his lips touched mine. “I love you,” he whispered, pulled back, and thrust into me again.
And again. In and out in a torturously slow rhythm that was ripping away every shred of resistance I’d attempted to put into place since arriving in town. Every obstacle that had been in our way, every moment that we’d been apart. He felt so fucking good inside of me. He owned me.
“I love you,” he repeated swiping his tongue over my lips. “I love you.”
My head was full of his words, my pussy full of his dick, my heart full of him. I couldn’t breathe, felt like I was falling and falling with no end in sight. The tendrils of fear that tried to seep into my core were washed away when he pulled back and lifted my legs until they fell into the bend of his arms.
Then, he went deeper, stroking me with every syllable of the three words he continued to speak. Like he wanted those words and his dick to leave a mark on me. To wrap them and himselfso securely around me that I couldn’t push him away again, I couldn’t run again.
He pushed my thighs back, until they touched my chest, bringing his face to mine as I swear, he went even deeper. “Oh shit,” I cried. Tears literally slid from my eyes, and I reached up to cup his face.
“Say it,” he prodded and continued thrusting inside of me. “Say the fuckin’ words, sweetness.”
“I love you!” I screamed.
Smiling, he kissed me.
