can’t breathe.
Inside me, in the space between the atoms that make up my muscles and skin and bones.
When the fire inside me won’t be checked, I walk her toward the dresser, lifting her. She studies me with half-lidded eyes under dark lashes as our lips brush.
“Are you…”
My words are hoarse, the first sound in the silence that’s not the slide of fabric or the pant of breath or the moan of a sigh.
Annie nods. “Do it,” she whispers.
Four words.
They’re all we need tonight.
When I press inside her, it’s slow. I thank a god I’ve never prayed to before as every inch of her takes every inch of me.
I memorize the way her eyes change color when she’s full of me. I devour her sighs and moans.
This is home.
This is love.
This is everything I’ve missed, everything I’ve wanted and never dared to name.
I’m lost with her, but for once, lost doesn’t feel like panic. It feels like trust.
When she shudders in my arms, her mouth coming back to mine as if she can’t stand to be apart from me, I know the truth.
I told myself I could make do with her giving me all of her tonight.
But it’s not enough. It will never be enough.
14
Tyler Adams is a sore loser.
We play games on the plane back from New York. It’s been a while since I traveled first class, but with him, I wouldn’t care if we were stuffed in with the bags. Sitting next to him, hearing him laugh and seeing him smile, is amazing and maddening.
“It’s a word game app,” he argues, jerking his chin at my phone in his hand for emphasis. “You’re going to win by default.”
“That’s not true,” I say, wrenching the device away from him. “Man up and compete already.”
He narrows his gaze. “You’re going to attack my masculinity in the middle of a commercial flight?”
Then I feel a tickling at my waist and stifle a surprised shriek. “Sorry,” I say to the flight attendant and the cabin in general as I shove his hands away and face the front of the plane, flushing.
To him, I murmur, “You are a menace to society.”
His curved lips brush my ear. “That’s not what you called me last night.”
My thighs squeeze together at his lowered voice because I think I’m wet again. We had sex three times before falling asleep, and twice more this morning.
How either of us is still horny defies logic and biology.
“You promised not to do that on the plane.”
“Do what? Distract you with thoughts of what else we could be doing right now? Forgive me if two years is a long time and I’d rather be so deep inside you—”
I clap a hand over his mouth because if he finishes that sentence, I’m going to come right in the middle of first class.
I shove my phone in my bag because there’s no way I can concentrate on a game now.
After the flight attendant comes around to offer us drinks—we both opt for water, which comes in individual bottles with fancy glasses on the side—he asks, “So how does Mr. Douchey Ex not being involved affect your show?”
“If Ian’s not the first investor, I need to line up some alternatives. And the truth is he was our best chance because he knew us and knew our work.”
I pull out my tablet and open up the files I started to pull while we waited for our flight.
“Bios,” I explain as he looks over my shoulder. “On every other funder in Ian’s circle of friends.”
“Blackmail?”
I laugh. “Not quite. I know what they’ve invested in, what their history is. Ian’s not going to do me any favors, but I’m hoping he won’t interfere. Still, on the chance he won’t…I need a Plan B.”
His slow grin has me arching a brow.
“You’re sexy when you’re plotting,” he decides.
I laugh, realizing we haven’t talked much about serious stuff in the past week. “Thank you. What about you? Why are you chasing women to New York instead of working on new music?”
Tyler leans in. “I told you, I’m on a break. I’m getting surgery.”
“But you’ve already had surgery.”
“This’ll be the fourth time.”
My heart squeezes as the pieces click into place.
He’s still trying to fix it. He might be past holding a grudge against the world and more relaxed with himself, but he doesn’t believe he’s as good as he was.
“Listen to what Zeke sent me.” He digs out his phone, and I pop in the wireless headphones he offers.
The track streams out, and