ChapterTwenty-Four
Oliver
Piper is heaven around me. It’s unbearable. I can’t last. I can’t come yet. I have to make this good for her.
She whimpers. I home in on her face. Her expression is dreamy, eyes hot and drowsy.
Our gazes lock and hold. She moves on top of me, slowly rising and falling. I soak in the warmth of her body and the tenderness in her touch, taking it into my being, where it fills up all the dark, cold places.
Her smile is a comet streaking across the sky, making my heart twinge. She leans over, her lips seeking mine as she moves, taking me with erotic abandon. The needy sounds tumbling out of her mouth enflame my body, shoving my desire into the stratosphere.
I’m going to combust. Burst into flames. Grabbing at her hips, I thrust up into her, curving my body to reach with my mouth wherever I can taste her skin. I can’t be slow and soft—not now.
She meets my frenetic pace, her hands gripping my shoulders. My mind blanks, and my body locks, my spine arching as I surrender and plunge into the depths of pleasure, barely registering when Piper falls over the cliff right behind me.
When the haze of postcoital bliss lifts around the edges, Piper is sprawled over my chest, her finger trailing patterns against my skin. I’m holding her against me, my fingers cupping the curve of her ass. It’s my hand’s favorite new resting place. I’m more relaxed than I’ve been in years. Or ever. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this boneless and peaceful.
She lifts her head. “Do you think dinner is ruined?”
I move her hair back with a finger. “Are you hungry?”
“Pretty sure I’ve worked up an appetite.” Her cheeks tint with pink.
“We can’t have that. You’ll need more energy.”
Because once was not enough, especially with us being as hurried and frantic as we were. I need more time with Piper, to explore and play and discover everything she likes, everything that makes her squirm and release those breathy little noises. This will never be a rebound. It will never be temporary or casual. Casual is anathema to every thought I have about Piper.
“Stay here. I’ll get it.” With one final squeeze of her rear, I roll out from underneath her.
She snuggles into the bed, her eyes following me as I stalk across the room to grab a pair of cotton shorts from the walk-in closet.
I return, bending over to brush a kiss against her lips. “I’ll be right back.”
She smacks my ass as I turn away. “Hurry.”
Fighting the smile tugging at my lips—I’ve never smiled so much in my life—I make it to the kitchen in record time. The sauce is a little burned, but I can’t even muster up the energy to care. With Piper, I don’t have to be perfect—I can just be.
I mix the sauce and pasta, grab extra snacks and waters, and haul all of it to the bedroom. Piper is lying in bed on her side, still naked, uncovered, and completely uninhibited. Desire courses through me, all my blood heading to the center of my body.
She eyes my growing arousal and then tosses me a sultry smile. I try not to stumble over my feet and drop the food everywhere. I barely manage to get it perched onto the table at the foot of the bed.
Then I pounce on her. Her laugh is sultry and resonant, and I feel it deep in my chest when I cover her body and capture her mouth with mine. Food no longer my primary concern, I settle between her legs.
Wait. Condom. I reach over the bed, rooting for the box of condoms.
“Oliver.”
I stop fumbling and look down at her.
She bites her lip. “I’m on the pill, and I’m clean. I was tested after… after, even though we always used protection. Are you, do you—”
I swallow, my pulse thudding. “I’m clean.” I search her face. “I’ve never been with anyone else without a condom. And as I mentioned, it’s been… a while.”
Her fingers grip my shoulders. “Are you sure?”
I nod. “Are you?”
“Yes.” Her whole body relaxes, and she winds her limbs around me.