“Yeah?”
“I want to stay. Here, I mean. I want to stay here with you.”
“You sure?”
“Just me and you, right? We’re exclusive?” I ask, feeling nervous.
“You’re damn right we are,” he assures me, pulling me a little closer. Something I would never have thought possible a few seconds ago. “I want you here, Layla. In my arms, in my bed, in my heart.”
“I don’t know why you came into my life, Owen Riggins, but I will forever be grateful that fate brought us together.”
“It’s the magic, baby.”
“Maybe, but I think it’s all you.”
“There goes another piece,” he says, kissing my shoulder.
“What?” I turn to look at him, even though it’s dark. When he doesn’t answer, I roll over and blindly reach out, placing my hand against his cheek, running my fingers over his beard. “What did you mean?”
“Another piece of my heart belongs to you.”
I don’t know what to say to that. This man robs me of my words. Unable to speak, I bury my face in his neck and breathe him in. A flash of what our future together has the potential to be streaks through my mind. I want him, and all the pieces he’s willing to give me.Chapter 15OwenMy eyes pop open when I feel a soft hand wrap around my hard cock. Layla. Her eyes are watching as she strokes me gently, and she doesn’t realize that I’m awake. Biting down on my bottom lip, I try to remain still, but when her grip tightens, I can’t hold back. She’s snuggled up to my chest, so I pull her close. “What are you doing, baby?”
“I wanted to touch it.”
Fuck. I swallow hard, letting her do her thing. I’ve imagined her hands on me for weeks, and my imagination didn’t do justice to the sensations she’s causing inside of me right now. “Tighter,” I murmur. Moving my hand to lay over top of hers, I guide her strokes, and it doesn’t take long for her to gain a rhythm of her own that causes my eyes to roll back in my head. “Lay-la,” I croak out. “Babe, you need to stop.”
“I don’t want to stop.”
“Things are about to get real messy, beautiful,” I murmur, running my fingers through her hair, trying not to think about how incredible it feels to have her hands on me—trying not to lose control.
She continues to stroke me from root to tip when her head lifts, and her eyes meet mine. “Life is messy, Owen. If anyone knows that, it’s me. There are good messes and bad messes. I think this is going to be a good mess.” The corner of her mouth tilts up in a grin, and I have to kiss her.
Sliding my hand behind her neck, I fuse my lips to hers. I want to fucking devour her, but with each stroke of her hand on my cock, she leaves me breathless. “You don’t have to do this,” I pant. I don’t want her to stop. Fuck me, I never want her to stop touching me, but I want her to do it for her. Not for me.
“I want to do this. I’ve never felt comfortable enough to explore. Men, well, they make me nervous, but not you. You make me feel at ease, and I want to experience this with you. I want so many things I’ve been too afraid to reach for.”
“Come here,” I murmur, pulling her lips back to mine. I kiss her like she’s the air that I breathe. I kiss her until I feel my spine start to tingle. Pulling away, I rest my forehead against hers.
“I want to watch you let go,” she says softly.
As if her words have a direct line to my cock, I bite down on my bottom lip as I spill over into her hand, and onto my belly. I hear her suck in a breath and force my eyes open to watch her witness my embarrassment as if I’m a teenager all over again. Instead, what I see steals the breath from my lungs and causes my cock to remain hard as steel. “Layla.” I all but growl her name. She ignores me as she swipes her index finger over the head of my cock and brings the now wet digit into her mouth.
I watch as her nose scrunches up. “Not as bad as I thought, but not exactly yummy,” she says quietly, almost as if she’s talking to herself.
Her words have laughter bubbling up inside me. “Come here, you.” I pull her into me, and she squeals.
“Now, we’re both messy.”
“You started it,” I say, kissing her softly.
“Thank you, Owen.”
“Um, babe, after that, I’m the one that should be thanking you.”
She rolls those baby blues and a smile tilts her lips. “I mean it. I feel alive. Like I’m really living for the first time in my life, and I have you to thank for that.”