“No? Why not?” I insisted.
“Because when we go to bed, I want it all settled between us.”
“Oh.”
He looked at me for a moment and then he said, “I’ll be fast.”
Slash disappeared into the bathroom, and I didn’t move. I was too tired to move. Too grateful that he was back with me to move.
He showered quickly and came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. His inked skin was damp, and his salt-and-pepper hair was slicked back from his face.
“You’re beautiful,” I murmured.
Slash came over to me and crouched down in front of me again. The towel almost came off him. “I need you to know—”
I quickly covered his lips with my fingers to silence him.
“Me first,” I said. “I love you, Slash. I do. You didn’t tell me about the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, and I…I made that about me. I didn’t think about what it would be like for you to share that. I understand, okay? I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m so sorry you ever had to hurt. But I love you and—”
He kissed my fingers and then pulled them away from his face. “My turn.”
I nodded.
“I should’ve told you. I wasn’t sure how, yeah? We happened so fast, and the baby…” His other hand came up to rest on my belly. “I never wanted you to think that because I’d already been a husband and a father, that somehow you meant less. I didn’t keep it from you to hurt you, Brooklyn. I kept it from you because I wanted you to know that even though I’m so damn grateful I get a second chance at love and having a family, you aren’t a replacement. You aren’t a stand-in.”
I curled my hand around the back of his neck, urging him closer to me.
“If I don’t get inside you, I’m going to die,” he growled.
His words sent tremors straight to my core.
We looked at each other and then we clamored together. Our lips meshed, our fingers plowed through hair, our moans littered the bedroom. He tore his mouth from mine, but only so he could stand and lose the towel.
He stood back and pumped his erection. My mouth watered.
“I can’t be gentle, Brooklyn.”
“I don’t want gentle,” I said as I quickly slipped out of Slash’s clothes.
I lay back on the bed and spread my legs and he was on me. A moment later, he was inside me. I winced from the pain of his thrust, but my body quickly and easily adjusted to his invasion.
He’d come back to me, and I hadn’t left him.
I would never doubt him ever again.
He reached underneath me to grab the back of my thigh and hauled me toward him. Our skin slickened with sweat and desire, and it wasn’t long before I felt the aching pull of pleasure. He dragged an orgasm from my body, and I submitted to it entirely. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as I rode each wave.
Slash groaned into my neck, and I was sure he was about to have his own release, but then he pulled out of me.
“All fours,” he rasped.
I hastened to do his bidding. He bent over and licked me from behind. His tongue tasted me, and I pushed back against him.
“God, you’re fucking drenched,” he gritted.
He sank into me, stretching me in the best possible way.
My fingers curled into the sheets as his hands gripped my hips. He drilled into my body, taking everything he needed. He was primal and completely selfish. He was using me the way he needed, and I loved every minute of it.