Steadfast (True North, #2)

My heart broke at the sound of that. But I’d given up my right to weigh in on her family drama the day her brother died. I stood up tall and looked her square in the eye. “Soph, I’d give you anything. But I don’t have a lot to give.” That was the God’s honest truth.

We were so close together—pancaked together—that she was able to state her purpose in the softest whisper ever heard. “I haven’t been properly fucked in three years, Jude. After all that’s happened, are you going to make me beg?”

I swear I practically burst into flames at the sound of her sweet mouth whispering fuck. It took all my effort to keep my hands on that door. I wanted to yank the clothes off her body instead. “You haven’t been fucked in three years?” I repeated on a whisper. I pressed my forehead to hers and stared down into those eyes at close range.

She blinked up at me. “I said properly.”

Jesus Christ. She’d issued a fucking challenge. She’d always pushed my buttons effortlessly. I’d do anything for my girl.

A small voice in my head corrected that notion. Anything except for the one thing she needed most from you. Sobriety.

But it was easy to push that thought aside, because Sophie had just made me picture someone else’s hands on her skin. God, how I loathed that idea. My fingers itched to reclaim what was mine. I wanted to cover her with my body. Touch her everywhere.

My self-control was perilously close to breaking. How utterly familiar.

“Jude,” she whispered, and those naughty hands coasted down the center of my belly until her hand skimmed over the waistband of my jeans, then lower, finally covering my rock-hard cock. “It’s just sex.”

My heart broke again when she said that. There was no such thing as “just sex” with her. Not for me.

She popped the button on my jeans, and I squeezed my eyes shut. If she thought a good fuck was the best I had to offer her, it was hard to argue that point.

And who said I didn’t know my place in the world?

Sophie unzipped me, and I let her. But then I caught her questing hands in mine and kissed her again. She whimpered at the first slide of our lips together. As our tongues tangled, I put my hands on her hips and backed into my room, towing her with me. She tried to push me toward the bed, but I wasn’t having that. Too much like the old days. I caught her jaw in my hand and dove into her mouth for our deepest kiss. One more taste. That was all I allowed myself. If she wanted to do this, we were going to do it my way.

I grabbed her jacket and shucked it to the floor. Seizing her hips, I turned her around to face my dresser. There were two clean shirts on top but I swept them to the floor. Sophie caught on right away. She dropped her elbows to the surface for me.

“Good girl,” I murmured, tracing a hand down her ass. Her response was a moan. She was wearing a sweater dress that felt soft under my fingers. “Gonna fuck you just like this,” I growled, lifting the dress. There was a pair of tights underneath, so I grabbed the waistband and shoved them down. No panties. There was only soft, smooth skin and her perfect, round ass in my hands. I wrapped one hand around her hip and slid my palm down her belly, into the trimmed V of soft hair. She whimpered when my fingers met wet pussy. And I groaned like the horny beast I was.

That was it. My conscious mind gave up the fight and let my desperate body take over. My mouth found the back of Sophie’s neck, my lips worshipping her soft skin. She dropped her head, moaning, as I teased her sweet body with my fingers. I circled through her slickness, desire pounding in my ears.

Mine, mine, mine, chanted my asshole brain.

With my free hand I yanked my jeans and briefs down just far enough to release my aching cock. Sophie pushed her ass into my crotch, trying to get closer. We were a tangle of half-shed clothes and raging need. But there was still one detail to manage.

Until now I’d avoided looking into the tarnished, old mirror over the dresser, because I knew that staring into her eyes would only make this tougher on me. But now I met Sophie’s reflection. “Do you still have…” When we were together, she’d gotten an IUD.

“Yeah, go on,” she panted. In the hazy mirror, her eyes begged, trapping mine in their tractor beam of desire. So I was staring right at her as I bent my knees, lined up and teased her clit with the head of my dick.

Her eyes went half-mast with pleasure, and her lips slackened. It was the sexiest fucking thing I’d ever seen. My heart beat so hard that I could feel it in my ears. Sophie pushed back against me, so full of wanting that I couldn’t stop myself from doing it.

For the first time in years I pushed inside a girl. My girl. The clutch of her wet, velvet pussy was everything I’d ever wanted. This moment was never supposed to happen again, and I didn’t have any idea why it was happening now. But I broke out in a sweat as a new wave of lust washed over me.

I had to brace, tightening every muscle in my abdomen, barely staving off climax. And I had to break Sophie’s gaze, tipping my head back. I took a few seconds to inspect the old plaster ceiling overhead.