Change of Heart - By S.E. Edwards Page 0,73
his strong arms around me and don’t move, letting the link between us linger.
Chapter Fifteen
“Hey.” Rich’s voice rustles in my ear. “You ready for round two?”
“So soon?” I ask, stunned. “You can do that again?”
“Of course.”
I’m struck with disbelief. “You’re a god,” I whisper.
“It’s not me.” He runs his thumb down from the top of my brow, over the line of my jaw, to let it rest at the corner of my mouth. “It’s you.”
***
My whole body is raw and exhausted.
It’s the best type of exhaustion.
I nestle close to Rich, snuggling right up to his chest. He has one arm around me. We’re using my black sweater as a makeshift blanket. It covers only the lower half of our bodies.
Rich is gazing up at the night sky. The firelight dances over his body. I am content to just look at him.
He’s so gorgeous like this. I can see now why Amanda—hell, why any girl—would be so protective. He hadn’t shaved this morning. In the night, and in the glow of the fire’s dancing light, the stubble makes him look even harder. Even more masculine. As if he needed the help.
His body is all dense, lean muscle. I’ve never had time to just appreciate it before. I’d tell him he doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him, but he’d probably heard that compliment from more than a few girls before. Maybe dozens. Maybe more. Maybe—
No. I cut off that line of thinking before it can infect my entire brain. Rich is obviously a bit of a player. But I will not be one of those girls who gets jealous of the past. Although I can’t help but wonder how many women Rich has been with. If I ask, would he give a truthful answer?
Fuck! There I go again with that terrible line of thinking. What matters is what we have now, in the present.
I brush my fingers over Rich’s abs, loving the way I can feel each individual muscle and distracting myself from unsavory thoughts. Rich turns his head lazily to me. “What are you thinking about?” he asks.
“You,” I admit.
“That’s funny.” He kisses my forehead. “I was just thinking about you.”
“I hope they were pleasant thoughts,” I tease.
“Oh, they were the best,” he assures me. “Yours?”
Something electric in his voice sparks memories of what we’d just experienced together. I shiver in a shadow of pleasure as I remember the way my mouth had explored every inch of his delicious skin. I shudder as I recall the cataclysmic third orgasm he’d coaxed out of me with his tongue. The way our bodies tangled together, wrapped around each other. The way we lost ourselves for those long, perfect moments under the stars. “The best,” I echo him in a whisper.
He chuckles and turns his attention back to the sky.
I feel my eyelids growing heavy. I don’t want to fall asleep yet. I want to stay here forever, comfortably numb beside Rich, oblivious to the worries of the outside world. Without a single sign of civilization around us, it’s easy for me to forget everything that had brought us here.
“Rich?”
“Hmm?” He does not look at me this time.
“Can I ask you something? It’s something I’ve been curious about for a while.”
“Sure.”
“I saw you fight Victor. You were fearless. Where did you learn to do that?”
“Oh.” He shifts to prop himself up. He doesn’t pull away from me, yet I can sense his hesitation. I don’t want him to withdraw. Not now.
“Never mind,” I say quickly. “It was a stupid question.”
“No, I can tell you, if you want.” When I don’t say anything, he continues. “I got in a fight with my dad once. I started it. I think I was sixteen. He did something to really piss me off—I don’t even remember what anymore. I thought I was tough, all grown up. It was the first time I remember realizing I stood taller than him.” Rich chuckles. “I threw a punch. Big mistake. It glanced right off him, and he beat the living shit out of me. He told me later if I really wanted him to see me as a man, I had to earn it.”
He pauses. “That was probably the only useful lesson he ever taught me.”
“Wow,” I say. I know this is treading way too close to personal history for Rich. Still, I have to ask, “Is that why you hate him so much?”
Rich looks down at me. “Because he beat me once? No. I deserved it. And he’s