“We agreed not to comment on each other’s underwear.” My lips drag across the stubble on his jaw, his throat. I slip my hands under his jacket and push it off his shoulders. He lets it fall, then brings his hands right back to my body.
“I also agreed I wouldn’t touch you without an audience,” he says, grabbing my ass in both hands and pressing me against an impressive erection. “Are you saying you want me to stop?”
“God no. I’m saying I want more.”
More, Nathan. More.
Now, Nathan. Now.
I slide his bowtie from around his neck, then pull his shirt out of his pants, undoing his buttons because he’s seen me naked and now, I need to see him. He watches me work, his eyes on my fingers, and then, when the last button is free, he’s kissing me before I have time to appreciate what I unveiled. We’re a tangle of limbs, desperate to feel everything, all at once. Months of chemistry boiling to a head.
To this moment.
The two of us finally giving in.
Nathan hooks his arms under my hips and I wrap my legs around his waist. He carries me past the kitchen to a first-floor bedroom that looks like it’s been plucked off my mood board for his new house. He places me on the edge of his bed, then kicks off his shoes and lets his shirt fall to the floor. I trail my fingers down his chest and abs, tracing the smattering of dark hair that disappears into his pants. He’s had me moaning in pleasure and now it’s my turn to return the favor. I work the button at his waist but he takes my hand, kissing each finger before he kneels in front of me to work the strap of my shoe, his thumb caressing my ankle. His lips kissing my calf.
First one.
Then the other.
Then the zipper of my dress and the one in his pants and he’s climbing on top of me, his knees spreading my thighs as he lowers me to his bed. “I’m gonna be greedy this time,” he whispers, “but I’ll be generous afterwards.”
“Be greedy,” I say, reaching between us to wrap my fingers around his cock.
He groans, a guttural sound that has my legs draping around his waist, heels digging into his ass. I want him inside me, thrusting, hips rocking, bodies sweating.
“Condom,” he murmurs as I grip his length, pumping him toward my opening.
“I’m on the pill.”
Nathan’s gaze captures mine, hooded, heated, hungry. He presses his crown against me, stretching me as he slides agonizingly into place. My mouth opens, my jaw thrust forward, eyes locked on his as I adjust to his girth. I’m panting, close to exploding, and he hasn’t even started to move. Just having him inside me is a masterclass in pleasure.
“Fuck, Mina. You’re perfect.”
And with a single roll of his hips, our worlds shift, moving inexpressibly closer. Intermingling. Unifying. A blessed harmony.
I gasp and moan as he braces his hands on either side of my head, his lips crashing over mine. Our skin slaps and his pace speeds and I clench around him because oh holy fuck I didn’t know it could feel like this.
“Mina…” My name tumbles from his lips, into my heart.
I rake my fingers into his hair and press my forehead to his. “I love it when you say my name.”
“Mina…” Nathan groans, panting as he stares into my eyes.
I’m floating. Disintegrating. Coming undone and being made whole in an infinite loop. His lips are a necessity. His touch an inevitability. He brands me with his energy. He is everything and I am more than I’ve ever been and a flutter starts low in my belly then rises through me. For no reason and every reason, I realize my entire life was driving me to this point. Into his arms. His bed. His body hitting mine like a live wire.
I clench and I buck.
Coming apart.
Coming back to life.
Nathan nips at my throat. My jaw. “I warned you I’d be greedy,” he rasps. “I’ve wanted this too long.”
I’m beyond answering. Beyond caring. I am sensation and pleasure. I throb and scream, my hands on his ass, his name on my lips, my teeth on his shoulder.
With a guttural growl, Nathan finishes, spurting inside me with one last thrust as his eyes squeeze closed and my body holds him tight.
TWENTY-NINE
Nathan
Holy fuck.
Oh hell.
What the shit.
I collapse beside Mina, my lungs on fire. My head clear of the roar of questions and worries that have been my constant companion for weeks. Maybe my entire life.
I close my eyes.
Whatever happens next, this was worth it.
Mina was worth it.
I am not made for barbed wire and raised defenses.
I am made for her.
After this night, there’s one thing I know for sure:
I was stupid to think I didn’t like Mina Blake.
She lays her head on my chest, tracing designs on my belly with her fingernails. “I think we just violated every single rule we set for ourselves at the beginning of this. Maybe a few extras. I don’t know.”
I wrap an arm around her shoulders, fully relaxed. Completely sated. Sliding into sleep with her body pressed against mine. “Fine with me.”
The words slip into the room as my eyes close. So this is what contentment feels like. A complete lack of urgency to be anywhere but where I am or do anything but hold her close and breathe her in.
Mina presses a kiss to my chest, my throat, the soft spot beneath my ear. “But you’re in your villain era,” she whispers. “And I’m the sweet damsel caught in your trap. Shouldn’t I be afraid?”
I’m the one who’s caught. I’ll never not want you again. Why doesn’t that scare me?
No time for thoughts like that. Not now. Not yet. They can wait until tomorrow, when I have it in me to care about right and wrong. When I can wonder how Mina slipped through the barbed wire wrapped around my heart.
I run a hand through her hair. “Is that what happened? I trapped you?”
