run his hands up and down her legs in that beautifully soothing manner. “Nobody’s got life figured out, and the ones who seem like they have are simply better at hiding their shit.”
“Their shit, huh?” She smiled. “Is that the technical term?”
“Pretty sure it’s what all the top psychologists would say, but what do I know? I’m just a blue-collar guy.”
“There’s no just about it.”
Trent was a force—maybe people didn’t see that about him because he was so affable and fun-loving and unpretentious. But Cora was the kind of person who looked deeply, who tried to find the true essence of a person under all their disguising layers—layers she knew intimately because she wore them, too. Trent was more than a joker.
“Can we stop talking now?” she asked, leaning forward. “As lovely as this has been, and as much as I’m enjoying this storm, what I really want is…”
He raised a brow, a sexy smirk dancing on his lips. “Tell me.”
“You.”
He leaned forward, pressing his mouth to hers and coaxing her lips open. His hands drove up into her hair, fingers threading through the strands and cradling her head, making her feel precious and cared for and…loved.
No, not loved. Never loved.
It was a star too high to aim for. All she wanted now was to feel good physically. To feel wanted and desired and to be able to return that want and desire. The rest…well, it had no place here.
Scooping her up, blanket and all, Trent strode into the house, still kissing her. Cora wrapped her arms around his neck, hanging on as she was swept into his bedroom and laid gently down on the bed. He disappeared for a second to grab a condom from his wallet. While she waited, Cora stretched out on the bed, letting herself sink into this delicious fantasy. Letting herself wonder what life might be like here with a man like him. With a passion like this.
When he came back into the room, he stood before her, naked. Inviting. The hard jut of his cock left her mouth dry.
“Good?” he asked in a way that wasn’t really a question. Trent knew he looked like a last meal and Christmas morning and fireworks rolled into one.
“Do you want me to stroke your ego?” She beckoned him to the bed.
He took a moment to roll the condom down onto his length, and he tossed the foil packet onto the floor. Awareness raced through her veins as the bed shifted under his weight and he crawled forward, muscles coiled and eyes like a hurricane.
“I want you so bad,” he said, his accent even more pronounced with the lust thickening his words. “I wanted you so bad the second you set foot in this house.”
“Really?” The word was a whisper.
How could he have wanted her then? She was a mess, a broken woman made of parts barely held together with hope and concealer. She’d been a shadow of herself, a mere sliver.
“Really. The fact that you didn’t turn tail and leave, that you wanted to help fix things and do your part, the fact that you were so beautiful and stubborn and sweet… God.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t resist wanting you.”
The revelation made her heart swell. How had he seen something in her then that she couldn’t even see in herself? It was like smoothing a balm over her soul, tending to the emotional cuts and bruises in a way that made her feel whole again.
She reached for him, pulling him toward her with an instinctive need to have him close. Her body sank farther into the mattress as he came down on top of her, muscular thighs parting her softer ones.
“Now,” she breathed, her body already crying out for more. “I want you.”
In the past, Cora had been a little self-conscious in bed, not finding her confidence until she had been with a man a few times and felt more comfortable around him. But Trent had tapped into something deep inside her, like flipping a switch that had needed the cobwebs to be dusted away.
She felt safe with him. Not judged.
“Don’t rush me,” he drawled, taunting her. One hand ran over her body, cupping her breasts in turn and tracing a line from her navel to her sex.
“Please,” she begged. “I need…I need you.”
As he pushed inside, her body gave in to him, melting and yielding and turning to liquid pleasure. The weight of him pressing her into his bed consumed it. It burned her