“Yas,” I grit out. “Keep doing that.”
I sit up, framing her hips with my hands, kiss her breasts. She links her ankles at the base of my spine, bracing one hand behind her on the bed and hooking her elbow at my neck. Our eyes lock as a storm of lust rolls in between us. Her expression wrenches almost like she’s in pain. Moments like these feel so good theydohurt. Hurts that it’s this perfect and that it has to end; that it’s fleeting, yet indelible. That the feel of her will be tattooed onto my skin the way I hope that mine will be on hers.
That’s how it is with us.
I come, gripping her hips, pushing up into her, flooding her with a stream of heat and bliss that leaves me spent and breathing hard. Her hair is everywhere, spilling around her shoulders, strands clinging to her cheeks. She brushes her fingers over my chest, traces the muscles in my arms.
“You just keep getting better, don’t you?” she asks, a slight smile curving her lips.
“Trying.” I laugh, running my palms down the smooth plane of her back and squeezing her ass. She caresses the stubble on my chin, traces my cheekbones.
“I’ll miss you when you’re in Charlotte.”
“Don’t remind me. At least it’s a quick trip. I’ll be back Tuesday.” I pull myself up to sit straighter, resting my shoulders against the headboard with her still straddling my lap. “You sure you can’t come with me?”
We both know she can’t. The kids have school and Kassim has basketball and she has commitments for the Skyland Association.
“You and Harvey got it.” She leans forward and kisses down my cheek, down my throat. “Give Ken and Merry my best.”
“It feels full circle in a way, right? Us expanding to Charlotte the way we wanted to years ago?”
She pulls back to watch me closely, because the expansion isn’t the only thing we’ve come back to. We’ve come back to each other. Not with rings and vows and promises. Those proved to be flimsy, but we’ve come back tothis. To the heat we’ve only ever found together. To the burn of our bodies. The singe of our skin. Every time I’m in bed with her it feels like I leave pieces of myself in the sheets. That’s not what this was supposed to be, but I don’t know how to resist the deep, volatile pull that always draws us inexorably together.
“I’ll make sure to check on things at the restaurant while you’re gone,” she says.
“Don’t stress. You got enough on your plate. Anthony and Vash got it.”
A frown sketches between her brows and her smile fades, lips tightening. I link our fingers across my chest.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” She drops her eyes to our hands, shaking her head.
“Yas.”
She closes her eyes, biting her lip. “I don’t like to think of you this way with…her.”
Well, damn. Didn’t expect that. “You mean with—”
“Vashti.” She opens her eyes, but they’re clouded with emotion. “I understand I have no right to feel that way. We weren’t together. We’re divorced. I get it, but the thought of her being with you like this drives me a little crazy.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, my throat constricting.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know, but I’m sorry it hurts you.” I choke out a laugh. “If it makes you feel any better, I nearly lost my mind watching you kiss Mark on your first date.”
Her startled eyes meet mine. “How’d you see…Huh?”
“Security camera. Kitchen feed.”
She searches my face for a beat before glancing down.
“Nothing more ever happened with him. He was…” She shrugs. “I guess I just needed to feel like I was moving on since you were, but there was never any chance of more with him.”
I nod, letting that soothe my savage thoughts a little bit.
“Do you want to ask me anything about my relationship with her?” I squeeze her fingers until she looks back to me. “You can.”