Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,46
to make food.
I was about to sit down in my usual spot when I decided against it. Going over to him instead, I slowly lifted one of my legs and propped it down on the cushion next to him.
“Did you mean it? What you said earlier.”
He looked up at me, a flash of desire slipping past the expressionless mask he was trying to keep in place. “Every word of it. Including the part about us only being friends.”
“I thought you didn’t want to be friends.” I put my hands on his shoulders cautiously, watching for any indication that he didn’t want me to touch him.
Nothing came.
He even slid down a fraction of an inch, widening his legs so his thigh pressed up against my knee next to him. “I never said I didn’t want to be friends. I just asked if that was really what you wanted.”
“You know it’s not what I want.” Holding on to his shoulders for balance, I raised the other leg and placed it on the couch too. If I lowered myself down, I’d be on his lap. “It’s been a really long time since I’ve felt a man’s hands on me. I won’t say a thing to anyone and I know you won’t either. It’s just us here, Carter. We don’t have to pretend or hold back when it’s just us.”
He groaned, his hands coming up to grip my hips. His fingers flexed. “How am I supposed to say no to you right now?”
“You’re not,” I said softly, threading my fingers into his thick hair. “Unless you want to say no, that is.”
“I don’t want to say no. That’s the fucking problem.” He dropped his head against the back of the couch, peering up into my eyes beneath his long lashes. “It’s been more than a week. Why now?”
“I need you tonight,” I said, slowly sinking down until I was sitting on his thighs. “Make love to me, Carter. Please? You said you still wanted me.”
“I do.” He slid his hands around my back and used his hold on me to pull me forward. When my core connected with his, I felt his erection against me and a moan slipped past my lips. His eyes darkened, his pupils dilated, and his breathing sped up. “Do you believe me now?”
“Yes,” I breathed, toying with the strands of his hair as I fought against the urge to roll my hips. “I’ve always believed you. I trust you. I thought we’d established that.”
“We have.” He let out a long breath, his throat working as his eyes fluttered closed. “Fuck.”
“Yes, please,” I said, and he smirked even without opening his eyes.
“I wasn’t offering,” he groaned, his fingers digging into me so hard that it almost hurt. But I liked it. He wasn’t treating me like I was fragile, and that tiny hint of pain only told me just how much he wanted me. “If we do this, no one can know for now. It’s not because I’m ashamed of you or because I’m scared of breaking the rules.”
The expression in his eyes when he opened them again was almost tortured. “It just needs to be that way, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed without any hesitation. I had an idea of what was at stake, and I wouldn’t push him for more than he was ready to give. If it was up to me, I’d have sung it to the world that this beautiful, tough, yet somehow soft man was all mine, but he wasn’t, and it wasn’t up to only me. “It’ll be our secret.”
For now, I added in my head, vowing that I’d go public with our relationship as soon as he gave me the go-ahead.
Something intangible passed between us when our eyes locked. Then he cradled my face in both his hands and kissed me. Everything inside me pulled tight and relaxed at the same time. Kissing him turned me on like nothing else, but it was also like coming home.
His tongue pushed into my mouth in a way that was brazenly sexual, but he held me gently. Almost lovingly.
Yeah, you wish. But that was just the thing. I really did wish that one day it would be a loving caress instead of just lust. I was still confused about why I wanted that so much after knowing him for such a short period of time, but I felt it deep in my soul.
He was always supposed to have been mine. Just as surely I was already his.