CHAPTER40
LARISA
Tanner sank into me, and I was pretty sure my eyes crossed from how fucking good it felt. His face was hovering inches above mine, his blue eyes dark and hooded as he looked at me like I was the only girl in the world to him right now.
He was braced on his forearms, his elbows on either side of my head. A lock of his light hair had fallen across his forehead. God, he’s gorgeous. So gorgeous.
I ran my fingers through his hair and threaded them together at the back of his head as I pulled his mouth down to mine and murmured against his lips. “Are you going to move, or are you just going to lie there, staring at me?”
He chuckled, but it was followed by a low groan. He lifted his hips to withdraw from me and thrust back in like he couldn’t stand not to be inside me. “I was just taking in the moment, but okay. We’re going to have to work on your patience.”
I raised my head to plant a chaste kiss on him. Then I hooked my ankles together behind his stunning ass and moaned when the new angle allowed him to stretch me out, touching every delicious part of me. “It’s your fault. You make me greedy. I’ve never been this needy before.”
“Let’s not talk about before. It doesn’t matter anymore.” He kissed the tip of my nose and rolled his hips, his teeth catching his bottom lip between them. “I’m right there with you. The only thing that could’ve possibly made this feel better is if there wasn’t a condom between us. Should we talk about that?”
“Not right now.” I gasped when he drove into me again. Another loud moan tore out of me and I used my legs to bring him even closer. “Later, okay? We’ll talk about it later. All I need right now is for you to stop talking.”
Chuckling against my lips, he pulled out of me again. His eyes were on mine as he thrust back in. “You got it. Less talking, more moving.”
“Yep. That’s exactly it.” My entire body was on fire for him, aching in ways I’d never known I could ache until he’d come into my life.
He kept his promise. His mouth descended onto mine and he kissed me while at the same time setting a punishing pace with his hips. Mine rose on every thrust to meet his, my nipples rock hard and pebbling against his chest.
As if he knew how badly I needed him to touch them, one of his hands moved up between us and he brushed the pad of his thumb over the peak of my breast. The action sent tingles flying to my extremities, robbing me of my thoughts as I gave myself over to all the sensations he was making me feel.
Tanner was everywhere, his taste on my lips and his body pressing into mine, claiming me and making me feel like I was his. I was taken aback by how much I wanted it to be true. And maybe it could be.
The thought filled me with warmth on the inside as intense as the heat in the rest of my body. It was like I felt the moment my emotions really got involved, and as much as it scared me, I knew that just because I was realizing it fully now didn’t mean they hadn’t already been involved before.
Besides, it made the whole experience so much more intense that I didn’t even try to shut them down. My emotions were a part of this now, and I was going to lean into it instead of letting it bother me.
Tanner kept his rhythm perfectly, his body taking me to heights I’d never been before until he sent me skyrocketing to space, screaming his name even though I’d never been a screamer until now. He watched me closely through it all. Then his body tensed and he roared when he found his own release. His face contorted in the sexiest way possible before his lips sealed over mine again.
The kiss was sloppy but still hot, laced with relief and what felt like genuine adoration. It lasted until it slowed to a natural end. My heart stopped racing and my body returned to normal. He smiled against my lips before rolling off me and leaning back over to press a soft kiss to my shoulder. He got out of the bed.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” he said. “Don’t move. I just need to take care of the condom.”
“I’ll be here,” I replied quietly, my voice barely above a whisper as I got comfortable in his bed. Watching him go, I smiled to myself in the dark of his room and lay back, already looking forward to having him hold me again.
When he got back into bed, that was exactly what he did. He pulled the covers up over us both and guided my head to his chest as he settled in beside me.
My eyelids were so heavy that I couldn’t fight it when I started drifting off. Tanner held me close, his breathing also evening out as mine did. I couldn’t believe I was about to fall asleep with him, in his bed, and in his arms, but I couldn’t imagine getting up and leaving right now.
Giving in, I allowed sleep to take me as I snuggled deeper into his side. I woke with a start a little while later, according to the clock on his nightstand, and to an empty bed. As I became more alert, I heard him talking softly in the other room.
Frowning, I wondered what the heck was going on that would pull him out of bed at this time of night. I got up to go find him and make sure everything was okay. In my experience, people didn’t just call to chat when they phoned in the middle of the night. It was usually trouble, and worry nagged at the back of my mind as I padded out of his bedroom toward the sound of his voice.
When I neared the door of the room he was in, his words and his tone became clearer, and it dawned on me that he didn’t sound distressed at all. The complete opposite actually.
He was flirting.
“Oh, shut up. It’s not like that and you know it.” He laughed quietly. “You do know me, but that doesn’t mean you know everything. I’m full of surprises these days.”
He must’ve listened for a beat because he didn’t say anything else immediately. When he did, it became clear to me that he was definitely talking to a woman and that he was definitely flirting with her.
Flirting, when he’d gotten out of bed with me just a few minutes ago. The hurt of the realization slammed into me, trickling into every part of my being until I felt dirty and violated. A sudden mental image of the redhead’s face when she found us almost kissing in the park that day popped into my head.
It was no wonder she’d looked so shocked. I believed that he hadn’t made her any promises, but he hadn’t made me any promises either, and I was certainly stinging because of this. Stupid. I’m so fucking stupid.