“Hale, touch me.” Her desperate request breaks the fucking damn.
Tugging my hands from the loose knots, I grab her hips and spin us around so I’m on top. “This okay?” I mutter into her neck, licking up the side, her flavor exploding on my tongue. One hand encircles her back while the other grabs one of her luscious tits. Holding her steady as my mouth moves down her chest, I keep my hips still, waiting on her answer.
“Please, Hale, don’t stop.” She doesn’t have to beg me twice.
Sucking her taut nipple into my mouth, my hips move, thrusting slowly at first before picking up pace as her legs wrap around my waist. “Fucking perfect,” I mutter with her nipple between my teeth.
Her nails scrape along my back, and her channel tightens painfully as her back arches, and I know I have seconds before she lets go. Grasping her hips, I hold her steady as I hover above her, watching her face as I provide the pleasure she desperately seeks.
“Let go for me, darlin’. Take everything you want from me.” I’m not sure if it’s timing or my words, but seconds later, her eyes roll back, her body tenses, and she lets out a silent scream on a cataclysmic orgasm that has me wishing time would stand still as I follow her over the edge into bliss.
Dropping my head onto her chest, it takes a while before I can stabilize my breathing, let alone roll off her. When I look up again, she’s watching me with a demure smile on her face. Kissing her, I lick the sweat off her top lip, and she scrunches her nose. “Still blueberries. Don’t move; I’ll be right back.” Pulling out of her supple pussy fills me with regret because I sure as fuck enjoy being in there.
Taking care of the condom, I re-enter the room to find her in the middle of the bed, curled around a pillow, fast asleep. Spooning from behind, I pull the blankets over us, kissing her shoulder and holding her all night.
Just like I thought, she’s the one. Laken is my forever.
Laken
“Are you sure?” Staring at the clock on the coffeemaker as I wait for it to finish brewing, dread forms in the pit of my stomach.
“Positive. This will be the one and only appearance you have to make. Once everything is signed, Laken, you’ll be free. That bastard can’t get anywhere near you again. The protective order remains in place until he’s no longer deemed a threat. The judge is requesting your appearance to be certain you aren’t doing this under duress.” Andrea’s words make me want to cry.
“I have to tell Hale, then.” Glancing back at the hallway leading to his room, I can hear him moving around and know I have only seconds to make my decision.
“You slept with him?” She sounds…proud?
“I did.” And it was perfect. Amazing. Everything I never knew making love could be.
“And?” Are we talking like girlfriends do?
“He could be the center of my universe. He’s selfless and amazing and so patient.” I nearly cried twice during sex because he was so beautiful to me. “I think I want more with him.”
“Then tell him. Before you leave. It’ll giveyoutime and space to figure out whether this is real andhimtime to process without feeling pressured to be with you as much as possible.”
I hear footsteps come down the hall. “I have to go. I’ll see you soon.” Hale steps into the kitchen.
“Everything okay?” I sense genuine curiosity and not jealousy. I’ve forgotten what that’s like. What trust is like. And I’m about to shatter it.
When Hale approaches me, I step back. I can’t go through with this if he’s touching me. Not and say everything I need to say. “I have to tell you something.” He stops where I had been standing, grabs two cups, and pours the dark liquid into each.
“Sounds ominous.” Yet he doesn’t seem worried.
“I should have told you sooner. So much sooner. Especially before last night.” I’m blabbering, and as my skin heats with embarrassment, I try to compose myself.
“Tell me now.” He hands me a drink before taking a sip of his.
“Maybe you should sit. We should sit. I need to sit.” My hands shake nervously as I walk over to the table and sit down before I spill the hot drink all over myself.
“Laken, darlin’, whatever it is can’t be as bad as you think.” His smile is supportive, but in his eyes, I see the worry.
Tapping my fingers against the side of the mug, I stare into the steam and pray I handle this right. “I’m married, Hale.” Tears fall, mixing in with the coffee, and when I finally look up, he’s unreadable. “I left him almost a year ago. We were together for a little over a year altogether, and he was…he….” Choking on my words, I force myself to breathe. “He hit me. He beat me. He tore me down until I never thought I could get up again. He made me believe everything he said about me. That I was useless, stupid, couldn’t stand on my own two feet. He made me believe I was undesirable.”
Still, nothing from him, and I feel like my heart is about to collapse.
“I need to go back tomorrow. I have to be there to testify and sign the divorce papers, and then I can go home if I want. I can see my parents again. I can live again.” I really want to come back here, though. I want Jacksonville to be my home base. I want Hale and Jesse to be my touchstones.
“I’m sorry, Hale. So, so, sorry.” I don’t know if he caught anything beyond saying I was married, and the stoic way he sits makes me believe he didn’t. Standing, I wait for a response, and when none is given, I head back to his room to get dressed so I can leave. I had a feeling this would be the outcome. Had hoped it would be different, but all the same, I was right. I feel as though I’m always right when it comes to matters of breaking my heart, and I can’t stand it.