And when he felt he couldn’t take any more, was certain he was about to take his last breath, he screamed her name at the same time his hips bucked upward. Hers slammed downward, and the impact triggered an orgasm he wasn’t sure he would live to see to completion. But he did see it through, and every sensation known to man...and some man might not have experienced yet...surged through him. He would have been knocked flat on his back had he not already been there.
And he knew she felt the enormity of what he’d experienced, as well. It was there in the eyes looking down at him, in the way she was breathing, the way her nipples were still hard. How in the world did she think he would allow her to do this with another man? There would never, ever, be another man for her. Only him. And it was more than just wanting an exclusive relationship with her.
That startling fact rammed through his brain, scorched the cells there, when he comprehended what that meant. The one thing that had happened to him, that he’d thought, swore, declared, avowed never would. He had fallen in love with her.
The dawning of that idea had him reaching up, running his fingers around her lips in shocked silence. Then he tumbled her off him and into his arms and then shifted his body so they could lie sideways facing each other. While she was trying to get her breathing back under control, he stared at her as if seeing her through a different pair of eyes. In a way, he was.
“Jules...”
After drawing in several slow breaths, she answered. “Yes?”
He caught himself, knowing he couldn’t tell her what he felt. He would botch things up if he did. What he would do was wait until he found the right words to make sure she fully understood the depth of his feelings. So instead he said, “You didn’t give me a chance to take off my jeans.”
She chuckled. “Now we’re even.”
He lifted a confused brow. “Even?”
“Yes. The first time you made love to me in this bed, you didn’t want me to take my boots off.”
A smile touched his lips. “No,” he said, remembering. “I didn’t.” In fact, he’d taken her a couple of times that night before finally removing those boots. There had been something erotic about making love to a woman with her boots on.
She was about to say something, but he figured whatever she wanted to say could wait until later because at that moment, he wanted to kiss her again.
*
The next morning Dalton opened the door to his brothers and their wives. Jace frowned. “Texting me about a meeting for eight in the morning at your place is becoming a habit, don’t you think?”
Dalton smiled. “Nothing like a little family get-together in the morning. Come on in. I’m glad you could make it this time, Shiloh.”
She grinned. “Thanks for inviting me this time, Dalton.”
“You would have been bored to tears at the last meeting. It was Granger Aeronautics stuff.” When everyone had made it into his living room, he said, “Grab a seat, everyone. Jules is in the kitchen making coffee.”
Shana blinked. “Jules is here?”
Dalton fought back another smile. “Yes, she’s here.”
“Kind of early for visitors, isn’t it?” Caden asked.
Dalton knew he wasn’t referring to them but to Jules. “Depends on who the visitors are. I have something to tell everyone. Jules and I both do.”
“Oh, hell, please don’t tell us you got her pregnant,” Caden said in his Dalton voice with all the dramatics. “But, then,” he said, reverting back to his Caden voice, “that’s not possible because the two of you aren’t an item. You two can’t stand each other. You’re bloody enemies. Right?”
“Tell your husband to shut up before I hit him, Shiloh,” Dalton said, trying not to smile. “I’ll go help Jules with the coffee.”
Dalton quickly left the room. When Caden had jokingly asked the pregnancy question, Dalton had almost stopped breathing. Jules would probably be pregnant if she hadn’t been on the Pill. But he would admit the thought of her pregnant with his baby didn’t make him crazy like it once would have. He rather liked the idea, which only proved just how far gone he was.
*