She reached for his hand, and a sudden burst of confidence made the ache in his chest subside. He reached out with his free hand to thread his fingers through her hair, the heel of his palm resting on her temple to force her not to look away. He watched, his heart in his throat, as she leaned into his touch.
“I’m falling in love with you,” he said again, his voice soft but firm. “And I don’t have much experience with fighting for the woman I want, but I will rip Neil apart if that’s what it takes, and I swear to God, I will be the last man standing.
“Because I am the man for you, Libitz. I am the right man, no matter how deep my faults. I will keep trying, and I will not quit, and I will never, ever cheat. If you just give me a chance, you’ll see. I’m not being an asshole giving you a line when I tell you that I can—I will—be whatever you need me to be. You said that people can change and people can choose. Well, I’m changing and I choose you.
“And—and—and you are the right woman for me, because you are the only woman for me. Because thirty-four years of playing the field tells me that you’re a fluke, an anomaly, a mermaid, a fucking—a fucking unicorn. You know why? Because since you, I don’t remember any of them. Not one of them matters. Because there is only you. My heart wants you. My heart wants to give itself to you.
“Let Neil find someone else. There are a million other girls who could make Nice Neil happy…but you’re it for me. Besides, you don’t belong to him. Whether you like it or not, Elsa, you belong to me.”
“I like it,” she whispered, her voice so soft, he almost wondered if he imagined it.
“You like it?”
She nodded against his palm, opening her eyes slowly. “I like it that I belong to you.”
“Were you coming here to break things off with me?” he asked, slightly surprised by the efficacy of his clumsy, heartfelt, impromptu speech.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Neil got home early. I broke up with him. I was coming to tell you that I’m free.”
I broke up with him. I’m free.
If there were sweeter fucking words in the English language, he didn’t know what they were.
“No, baby,” he growled, untangling his fingers from hers so he could cup her face with both hands, “you’re not. Weren’t you listening? You’re mine.”
His lips crashed down on hers with a possessive kiss meant to brand her as his, to promise her that he was hers for as long as she wanted him, for as long as she would have him. Her fingers plunged into his hair, her nails razing his scalp as she opened her mouth to his, sliding her tongue against his with a moan of satisfaction. And because he wanted her—because he needed the affirmation of physical love after sharing his feelings with her for the first time, he scooped her up in his arms and made it to the bed in seconds, lowering her to the soft duvet without ever letting go of her lips.
Settling his body over hers, his elbows bracing his weight on either side of her head, he took his time kissing her thoroughly. Whether he knew it in his head or only in his heart, he was about to learn what it meant to love someone with his body—not just to give and seek physical pleasure but also to declare his feelings for her, to give and receive not just because his dick was hard but because his heart ached for the closest possible connection he could forge with her.
Rolling to his side, he gazed down at her bee-stung lips and glazed eyes with a grin. His fingers grazed the pearl buttons of her blouse, giving her a moment to protest, because he started unfastening them slowly.
“When did you know?” she asked, raising her arms over her head after he’d opened the silk so that he could pull it over her head.
“At Ten’s wedding,” he said, letting the fabric fall with a whisper to the floor.
“That early?”
He nodded. “I was jealous of you talking to your prep-school friends. I’d never felt jealousy like that before.”
With a flick of his fingers, he opened the front clasp of her bra, gently spreading the fabric open to reveal her small, pert breasts capped with dusky areolas and large, light-brown nipples. They strained toward him, small but fierce, he thought, bending his head to take the top of one between his lips.
“Unh,” she moaned, arching her back, her high heels hitting the floor as she bent her knees and slid her feet up the bed.
He drew back and flattened his tongue at the base of her breast then licked up, the erect nub interrupting the smooth sweep of his tongue. Sucking it strongly into his mouth, his cheeks caved at the same time Libitz’s back rose off the bed, and J.C. repositioned himself between her bent spread knees. Licking his fingers, he reached for her throbbing nipple, rolling the slick flesh as he swirled his tongue around its twin.