That’s what we lived through.
“You’re safe, princess.” I wrap my arm around her and press my lips against her head. “We got out of there. He’ll never hurt you again.” Sometimes I wish I’d been the one who killed him for what he did to her.
She grips my shirt in her hand and shakes. “In my dreams, you always save me.”
“I always will.” I run my fingers through her soft hair and shift my hips away. Pretty fucking sure she doesn’t need to know my cock is ready to rip through my boxers, it’s so damn hard just from the feel of her bare legs pressed up against mine. “Sleep, Lindy. You’re safe. He can’t hurt you anymore. No one will ever hurt you again. I’ll never let them.”
We’ve never done this.
Lie together like this. Bodies tangled together. Awake. Sober.
I carried her to my hotel room the other night and laid her down on her side after she passed out. Then I watched her sleep for hours, memorizing this woman.
The sugary sweet scent of her hair tickles my nose as I inhale her with each breath. Her delicate curves mold to me like she was made to fit against my body. Because she was always meant to be mine.
The quiet of the night is almost deafening as I listen to her breathing even out. “Did you mean what you said before, E?” The weight of her words hangs heavy in the air.
“I said a lot of things recently. I meant them all. But you’re gonna have to be more specific if you want a specific answer.” I get the feeling the importance of my answer matters too damn much to chance the question being wrong.
“Yesterday, you told me it was always me. Did you mean it?”
“More than I’ve ever meant anything in my life, baby,” I whisper back without a single fucking second’s hesitation because it’s maybe the most honest thing I’ve ever told another living person.
Lindy is quiet for a long few minutes that stretch on like fucking hours. So long I wonder if she’s fallen asleep. And I think she may have until she moves her head just enough to look up at me. Her long lashes kiss her cheeks as she blinks away tears. “It’s always been you too, Easton.”
She drops her head back down to my chest and wraps her arm around my waist. “It’s only ever been you.”
I don’t move a fucking muscle after that.
Within minutes, Lindy’s asleep in my arms.
When I open my eyes hours later, I’m more rested than I’ve felt in fucking years. I’m also sweating my balls off because my wife is wrapped around me like a vine and a snoring bulldog is pressed against the inside of my knees. She legit sounds like a cartoon dog snoring. Like Scooby-fucking-Doo. What the hell?
Lindy’s breathing catches as her body goes rigid, and I almost laugh.
Guess we both slept well last night.
“Good morning, princess.”
She slowly extricates herself from me, pulling her leg back from where it’s thrown over mine, rubbing up against my cock in the process. “Umm . . . At least I remember last night this time.” She buries her face in my chest. “I can’t believe I slept here.”
“Don’t be like that. I fucking loved having you next to me. That’s the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had. Even Myrtle didn’t wake me up.” I sit up and lean back against the pillows, bringing her with me, loving this sleepy, soft side of her. “You’re my wife. You’re supposed to be in my bed.”
“Technically, you’re in my bed,” she teases, and a pretty little flush creeps up her face. “I guess you can stay as long as you need to.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. I lined up a place to rent yesterday.”
I watch as her blue eyes dim. “You’re moving out? Already?”
“Didn’t think you really wanted me here,” I tell her as I run my fingers up and down her spine.
“I . . .” she flusters. “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.”
I lift her chin up and bring her eyes to mine. “I’m twenty-seven, Madeline. I need my own place. I can’t crash on your spare bed forever, and even if I could, I don’t think I’d survive living with four women who aren’t my wife.”
“Where are you moving?” she asks, seemingly disappointed and a little pouty. And damn, doesn’t my dick like that look.
“The two-bedroom downstairs. The one next to Maddox and Callen.”
Her expressive eyes grow wide as she blinks before she bites down on her bottom lip. “Oh.”
I press my thumb against that pouty lip, freeing it, and my girl sucks in a sharp breath. “Oh? That the best you’ve got?”
Her lips wrap around my thumb and kiss it gently, and I groan as the feeling shoots straight to my dick.
“I need my own place, wife, because like you said last night, I need to date you. And that means I need to pick you up at your door and bring you home afterward.”
“You do need to date me, hockey boy.” A devilish smile spreads across her face. “What do you plan on doing from your own place that you couldn’t have done from mine?”
“Baby, I’m gonna make you scream my name so loud, your roommates wouldn’t be able to look at you again without turning red.”
She runs her hands under my t-shirt, dragging the tips of her fingers along my abs, and my muscles contract. “Madeline,” I warn as she plays with the waistband of my boxers. “I’m trying to be a gentleman here.”
“Pretty sure gentleman went out the window with me screaming your name, E.”
The way she looks at me . . . Fuck.
I wrap my hand around her long neck and run my thumb over her thrumming pulse. “Lindy . . .” My other arm wraps around her back, and I brush my mouth over hers, groaning when her sweet taste explodes on my lips.
Lindy moans, and electricity zings between us. My cock pushes against my boxers, and I pull her into my lap, dragging her closer. Needing more. So fucking much more.
But knowing it’s too soon for that.
This girl deserves romance and roses and candles.
She deserves the fairytale.
She deserves everything.
Trailing my mouth along her jaw, I taste her skin and touch her the way I’ve wanted to for fucking years.
The sexy sigh she exhales as she slides her hands up my chest and drags her nails against my bare pecs is intoxicating. My dick presses against her soft thighs, wanting in on the action.
As if knowing what I need, Lindy slides herself along my cock and moans as she leans into the kiss. Her tongue testing the waters. Tentatively touching. Learning. Exploring. Igniting every fucking nerve-ending like a wildfire that’s just starting to burn.
One you know is going to burn out of control.
Her nails dance across my nipples, and I fucking growl as I run my tongue down her neck, stopping to suck her racing pulse.
Lindy clings to me, grinding against me like we’re two teenagers dry humping, afraid to get caught. The only thing separating us are the scrap of silk of her panties and my boxers.
The heat of her pussy tempts me to take this further than I know we should.
Not yet.
“Lindy . . .” Unfocused eyes stare back at me, scorching my soul.