I roll over in the feather-soft bed, putting my hand out to find Dean. He’s not there, but the sheets are warm from his body. I open my eyes and find him sitting in a chair by the French doors, dressed in unbuttoned jeans and a wrinkled white shirt.
He’s twisting a loop of string between his fingers, his strong hands spread apart, the cuffs of his shirt pulled up to reveal his hair-roughened forearms, hard with muscle.
Warmth floods me. His thick hair, which has grown longer over the past few weeks, brushes the back of his collar. He’s wearing his reading glasses, his forehead furrowed slightly in concentration.
He glances up and finds me watching him. A smile tugs at his mouth.
“Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” he says, his voice a husky murmur that makes heat pool in my lower body.
I yawn and stretch, feeling my muscles lengthen deliciously. “What time is it?”
“Almost six. Coffee?”
“Not yet.” I shift onto my belly and rest my chin on my hands. My mind is foggy with pleasure, my body still pulsing from the thorough fucking I received a few hours ago.
A shiver travels down my spine. This is it. This is the solution. And it’s so easy. It’s what we’ve both known all along—all we need is us. All we need is to be alone, cocooned again in our own private world where neither of us has to explain or overthink anything.
It’s the place where we don’t have to distinguish between Dean’s need for control and my unending desire to give him everything. From the beginning, he has taken me places I didn’t know existed, and he has always kept me safe. I’ll follow him anywhere, and he knows it.
That will never change. And for the first time I realize… it doesn’t have to.
Because the opposite is also true. Dean always has and always will follow me into unfamiliar territory, knowing that his heart is safe with me.
“Your plan worked,” I whisper.
“Mmm.” His gaze tracks over my body beneath the sheet. He untangles the string, then lifts his hand and makes a circling gesture with his forefinger.
My heart jolts. He puts the string and his glasses aside and pushes to standing. The sight of him coming toward me, all masculine grace and prowling heat, sends my pulse soaring.
Already hot with anticipation, I shift beneath the sheets so that my back is to him. I feel him stop beside the bed, grab a fistful of the sheet and pull it off. The cotton slithers over my body, cooler air brushing my naked skin. My breasts press into the mattress, and I bury my head against my crossed arms.
Dean settles his large palm against my ass, rubbing his hand in circles. A thousand quivers fall through me. I twist to look at him over my shoulder, my breath catching as his dark eyes meet mine. He’s all disheveled masculinity, his muscles coiled with that taut, intense energy that has my heart racing.
I shift, wiggling my ass enticingly. I want that energy unleashed on me.
After another slow rub, he trails one finger down the cleft of my rear to where I’m already damp between my legs. I tuck my face against my arms again and surrender, feeling my whole body yield. Dean leans over me to press a kiss right below my left shoulder blade. Then he pushes himself between my legs, spreading my thighs wider as he probes me gently with his finger and circles my clit.
My blood flames. I start to push myself onto my knees, thinking this is what he wants. Still standing beside the bed, Dean grabs my hips and eases me back down. He tugs me closer so that my legs dangle off the side of the mattress. There’s a rustling sound as he pulls off his jeans. I start to turn and look at him again, wanting to see his thick, erect cock…
“No.” He puts his hand between my shoulder blades, urging me down again. “Don’t move.”
Excitement spirals through me. I curl my fists into the bedcovers, my heart pounding as I feel the hard knob of his sheathed erection against my folds. With a muffled groan, I try to push backward and impale myself on him. He gives a hoarse laugh, and in one movement, plunges into me so fast that I shriek.
“Dean!” I instinctively jerk forward against the suddenness of the impact and the tight, full sensation of his shaft.
“Don’t move.” Dean clutches my hips to keep me still, his breath rasping outward as he waits for me to adjust to his entry. He shifts, his sac pressed against my *, the hair of his legs abrading my inner thighs.
I part my lips to draw in air. Sweat breaks out on my forehead. Dean lowers his full weight on top of my back, curling his hands around my wrists. He pins my arms to the bed. His flat belly presses against my ass, his legs tight against mine.
The muscular weight of him is overwhelming, pushing me into the bed, his cock throbbing inside me. I bury my face against the mattress. My legs already ache from being spread so wide apart. He tightens his grip on my wrists.
“Christ.” He shifts, rubbing his stomach against my bottom. “So hot…”