was, she’d unclasped her bra, which afforded me a view of her glorious tits, and that was enough
This time around, I had even less finesse than previously, though at least I had the luxury of time, as we weren’t racing against the clock as we had been in the elevator. Not that the knowledge slowed me down. The sex was anything other than leisurely. In fact, it was wild, raw and animalistic.
I pulled the lower half of Noa’s body off of the mattress and gripped her by the hips, again controlling the pace and depth of our union. I pushed as hard and fast as my strength and stamina would allow, and then pushed harder.
Her cries of agony and ecstasy rang out around the room, rebounding off the triple-height ceilings, a chorus of need, want and desire, pleasure, ecstasy, and pain. She writhed beneath me, alternating between pulling at my wrists, and thighs, demanding more, harder, faster.
It turned out I wasn’t the only one with exceptional stamina. She matched me thrust for thrust, never skipping a beat. When she grabbed her tits and pinched and squeezed her nipples, then bucked beneath me, like a wild animal caught in a trap, I was hers for the taking.
I growled my release as she screamed hers, gripping me like a vise as she shattered around me. Time accelerated beyond the speed of light, then ground to a total halt, as I surrendered to the sensations overtaking my body.
Moments passed like shooting stars in the night sky, and Noa sought me out, her warm brown eyes tender and questioning. I had no idea what the fuck was going on, and I sure as shit had no answers to give her, verbally or otherwise.
I was emotionally shipwrecked without a life raft, so I did the only thing I could do. The same thing I’d been doing for as long as I could remember. I closed my eyes and shut everything out. Noa, my problems, the rest of the world. Everything.
I didn’t realize I was crying until she leaned forward and kissed both of my closed eyelids. What the fuck?
Chapter 34
Noa
* * *
I watched silently as tears forced their way out from under Raine’s closed eyelids and coursed down his increasingly damp cheeks. His face was expressionless. He looked serene, almost asleep, yet the tears kept coming, so I knew he was anything but.
I wanted to say or do something, but no words or actions seemed to be right, or... enough. Instead, I settled for just being there, not moving, not speaking, just being, and letting Raine do the same without judgment or expectation.
In time, he collapsed down on top of me, burying his face into my collarbone. As I couldn’t see his features, I had no idea what he was feeling or thinking, until I became aware of the ragged shudder of his breath, and heaving of his shoulders. He was still crying, but more heavily now.
With no idea what he wanted from me besides sex, I wasn’t sure what to do next, or what, if anything, to say. The situation was wildly uncharted territory for me, and for want of a better idea, I remained silent, figuring he’d talk to me if and when he felt like it. Instead of speaking, I brought my hands up around his neck and shoulders, and cradled his head, repeatedly smoothing his thick and unruly mop of blond hair.
Although at work he mostly tied back his shoulder-length mane, securing it either in a low ponytail or higher man-bun, outside work, he tended to wear it loose, and I loved the way it fell in front of his face in an unkempt curtain when we slept together.
Eventually, I became aware that his breath had started to slow down and smooth out, and the stream of tears that had flowed down onto my collarbone had slowed and dried to a mere creek.
“You didn’t kill her. She died because of a series of unfortunate events triggered by you grabbing the wheel—which of course, you shouldn’t have done—but nobody was to blame. It was the definition of an accident. It was nobody’s fault.”
“That’s not what the jury thought.”
“Wait. What? You were charged with killing her?”
“Not me. Zach. He served four years for vehicular manslaughter in the second degree.”
“But I don’t understand. You said that you grabbed the wheel. You didn’t kill her, but he didn’t either. Why did he go to jail?”
“Yeah, well, because he’s a noble, selfless person, he took the