25
Dax
Laura and I sat together and breathed, our bodies falling in sync. “Are you okay?” I whispered against her ear.
“I’m fine,” she whispered back, her warm breath flowing against my chest. I knew she would be fine. She was one of the strongest women I’d met.
“Let’s go back in before Beverly thinks that I’ve done something else to you and rips me a new one,” I suggested.
Her head snapped up as she glared at me. “Wait one damn minute. I’ve revealed to you shit that I’ve only shared with two other people in this whole world and all you’re going to say in return is, ‘Let’s go back.’ Nope. Hell no! And no again. It’s not going down like that,” she declared.
Her eyes sat wide and daring, holding me in place. “You are going to sit right here and tell me how someone from one of the richest families in this country ended up getting tortured.”
I swallowed. I hated talking about my childhood. My family had shoved me into the offices of some of the best shrinks in the city, and they couldn’t make me talk. My gaze panned over the balcony as I released a sharp breath, hoping the splendid view would drag me away.
However, Laura’s intense gaze remained aimed at me. She’d backed out of my arms and put too much distance between us. She bent her head and glared into my face, waiting.
“It’s just you and me, Dax. It’s best to get it off your chest no matter how much you want to cling to it.”
A tiny smile surfaced on my lips. “Are you sure you didn’t go to school for mental health therapy?”
She chuckled but kept me pinned in her stern glare. “I couldn’t afford to go to school, but Bev and I pooled our money together so that she could go. She worked part-time, took all the classes, and ended up with a degree in social work. She’d come home and teach me everything useful. One degree, one price, but two students. All a part of our motto of using what we’re given to make what we need,” she affirmed as she heaved a deep breath.
With every passing moment, Laura was growing before me, amazing and shining in a light that she was unaware she created.
She wanted my back story, one I never intended to repeat in its entirety. The men I was closest to knew only half of it, and I’d known them for years. I was contemplating telling her everything after having known her for a month.
“I’ll tell you my story if you do something for me in return,” I tossed out.
“It’s like that?” she questioned, one eyebrow stuck in the air. “I need to give up something, just because I’m interested in knowing more about you? The shit makes no sense,” she muttered, frustrated.
Her head shook as she tossed her arms across her chest. I’d tugged at the one nerve she had remaining. Where it once irritated me, I found her short fuse cute as long as I avoided getting blown apart by it.
“Laura, I’m not asking you to give up a kidney. I’ve never told anyone the full story. I want to tell you, but I’d like for you to sit closer, so I don’t have to yell it.”
A tiny smile peeked in my direction before she stood to sit closer. When she bent to take the seat, I stopped her with a firm hand across her ass. The action caused her to snap her neck around and glare at me. A questioning glint followed when she noticed me patting my lap as the place I wanted her to sit.
With great resistance on her part, I drew the human-sized stick of dynamite onto my lap, placing her so that her hips sat across my thighs, the back of her feet dangling at my left ankle.
“This is damn awkward. Just unnecessary,” she muttered under her breath as I adjusted her on my lap. With the prospect of me telling her my story, she stayed in place, fussing the whole time.
Truth was, I just wanted to be close to her. I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to persuade her to have sex again. By some miracle, I hoped that she’d ask for it. She was alpha enough to take it if she wanted it. Either way, I’d be willing to give her whatever she wanted.
She stared straight ahead which put her cheek inches from my mouth. I planted my lips against her warm brown skin, expecting her to pull away, and was surprised when she didn’t. My forehead sat against the side of hers as I sank into the euphoric sensations her closeness wrapped me in. Her warm breath caressed my skin. Her small hand gripped my forearm, the other stroking my nape. One of her lashes brushed lightly over my skin. The smallest details of our closeness elicited a contented smile from me.
“Laura,” I whispered, my breath kissing her cheek and bouncing back against my lips. Our gazes met and stilled when she faced me. This was it, the feeling-it-and-knowing-it moment. I was kicked in the chest with a powerful blow that prevented me from taking my next breath. My mind was struck with one impacting revelation. My heart pumped emotions instead of blood. My body connected to her special energy, the sparks sending tingles all over my body. I’d believed it would happen when I’d be well prepared for it, but like most things in my life, Laura had blown in like a hurricane and swept me away.
My gaze delved into her big brown eyes that stared back into my soul. There was no doubt, no confusion, and no pretenses in our exchange. There was no denying I had genuine feelings, overwhelmingly deep ones that didn’t allow me the chance to convince myself otherwise. When had this happened? Had it been happening since we met? How could I have overlooked such raw emotions? When had I gone from lusting after her to caring so deeply?
There was nothing she could tell me to convince me she didn’t sense the penetrating connection we shared. Her heavy-lidded eyes, intense stare, and heaving breaths revealed she experienced every pang, tug, and tingle I did. The light tremble in her body mirrored the tremble that course through mine.
I took advantage of our state of heightened awareness and leaned in, my lips inches from hers, waiting. “Please,” I breathed, begging for her kiss. I’d never begged anyone for anything, but for another taste of Laura, I accepted that I’d do just about anything. At her slight movement toward me, I pressed my lips against hers, the warm, soft touch yielding her response to my begging whisper.
The connection was immediate, the intensity taking my heartbeat from a pulsating thump to a hammering beat. The warmth of her breaths, mingling with mine, the smooth surface of her lush lips, and the fiery impulses that forced me to cling to her, caused sensations to explode in my chest and drop to the pit of my stomach.
My aching hand coursed up her back, driving her closer, her invigorating warmth wrapping around me tighter. My intention was to be closer to her, but this was better. She tasted sweet, enticing me to drag my lips across hers before delving deeper. When her tongue met mine on impulse alone, a shot of lust snapped our sweet kiss into one laced with a demanding desire.
We had to stop. We needed to. Once I went past a certain point with her, all the rules I’d set in my brain would crumble apart and I’d be dragging her to the nearest bed. Thankfully, she was strong enough to stop our demanding desires. Our harsh breaths battled in the tight space we shared, her chest heaving against mine, her arms around me now as mine were wrapped around her.