I shook my head. “No. You didn’t.”
“He was fine until I laid into him. This isn’t a coincidence.”
“He wasn’t fine, Drew. You must have seen that while you were fighting. He was hurting before you said a word.”
“Then I pushed him. I pushed him into this, and-”
“Stop.” I reached up, cupping his face in my hands. “This wasn’t your fault.”
My thumbs lightly ran across his stubble as the weight pressing down on me pushed harder. Those eyes. They stared into mine, searching for answers. Searching to see if I meant what I said.
“Drew-”
I was cut off when his lips crushed against mine. The stubble that a second ago had been beneath my fingers, grazed my cheeks and chin. He grabbed at my hips, gathering me in.
“Wait.” I rested my hands against his chest, trying to catch the breath he’d stolen from me. “I need to tell you-”
“No more talking.”
His mouth bore down on mine again, body reacting faster than brain. His tongue pushed against my lips, and I let him in, letting him closer when I needed to step back, to think. Impossible when he held me against him, stealing my self-control with every touch of his lips. He’d never been like this before. Enthusiastic and hot as hell? Yes. But never with so much desperation, like the world was going to end and this was the way he wanted to spend his last moments. I loved it. Wanted it.
Jason’s lying in a hospital bed. You helped put him there.
I wriggled out of Drew’s arms. Jesus. My body still trembled from his touch while my mind insisted on thinking rationally. I wanted to smack myself for breaking away, or maybe for giving in when I needed to talk to him. Either way, I was frustrated as hell.
“How can you want to do this right now? After everything that’s happened.”
Drew buried his hand deep in my hair. “I need you, Ellie. Right now, I really need you.”
He kissed me again. More softly, but still with a desperation that screwed with my self-control. His pain hit full force, mixing with my own, causing tears to form in my eyes. Lips brushed against my eyelids, cheeks, the tip of my nose, along my jawline.
“Please,” he whispered. “Please.”
As the first tear dropped, I moved closer, taking his face in my hands again. Nothing more needed to be said. This time, when he kissed me, I responded with equal intensity, tugging at his shirt because he wasn’t close enough.
Couldn’t get close enough.
I didn’t realise how much I needed him, needed this. To lose myself in him, and let him lose himself in me. Everything we felt became fuel for our hands to tear at each other’s clothes, pulling and ripping. Instead of heading to my room, Drew shuffled me towards the living room, our clothes leaving a pervy Hansel and Gretel trail behind us as they dropped to the floor.
Well, this is new.
When Drew lifted me up onto the edge of the dining room table, only our underwear remained intact; doubts were nothing more than a distant memory. He unhooked my bra and tossed it across the room; hungry lips found my breasts, stubble scratching hard against my skin. As Drew’s mouth continued its assault, I slipped my hands inside his boxers, tugging them down and thrusting my hips forward, feeling how much he wanted me. Heat shot through me as he gave a low, primal growl. I raked my fingers through his hair then pulled him up to me, needing his mouth on mine.
God, I loved the way he felt under my hands, the way he responded to my every move, the salty sweat on his skin.
Tender kisses turned to animalistic need. From the force of Drew’s fingers digging into my flesh, I was sure I’d be bruised in the morning.
I didn’t care. Being wanted this way, this much, lit a fire in me. I nipped at his neck and shoulder with my teeth and he firmly held my hips, lifting me up just enough to rip my knickers off, pull me towards him, and thrust inside me, our eyes connecting.
My pulse spiked. Behind the intense expression so familiar to me, something else shone through. A wildness, like a caged tiger that had been set free; free to roam, to explore. To claim.
I moaned, loud and desperate, clamping my legs around him, pressing my hips against his and burying my head against his shoulder. As he brought me closer and closer to the edge, I refused to fall, not yet, not yet. I bit harder, trying to hold on; making him growl again, making him push harder until neither of us could stop the waves any longer.
Cries of pleasure, cries of relief, bounced off the walls around us, echoing through me as my shaking, sweaty body sagged against Drew’s. Weak, but so damn satisfied.
Without a word, Drew scooped my trembling form from the table, and carried me to my room. Carefully, he pulled back the duvet, and lowered me onto the cool, crisp sheets before climbing in beside me and gathering me in his arms again, softly kissing my forehead.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.