Making His Move (9 page)

“This mean you’re giving me a second chance?” he growled, his wicked gaze locked hard with hers as he quickly lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his chest.

“I’m not stupid.” Surprising herself with her boldness, Sophie looped her arms around his neck and told him, “I plan on holding on to you so tightly, you can’t ever get away.”

“Then I’m the lucky one.” Turning around, he headed toward the short hallway that led to her bathroom and bedroom. “And Soph.”

“Yeah?” she whispered, burying her face against the side of his throat.

“You won’t regret it.” His deep voice was gruff with emotion. “Not ever. I swear.”

She couldn’t help but smile, honestly feeling like the luckiest woman in the world as he set her down on her feet beside her bed. Fading arcs of sunlight slipped in between her slanted blinds, casting the room in an ethereal, otherworldly glow. And that was how it felt. As if she’d stepped into a fairy ring, and was now lost in her dreams. Ones that were as precious to her as they were beautiful. As daring as they were tender.

And as vital and necessary as a breath...or a heartbeat.

If anyone had told her when she’d gotten home from Chris’s that morning that she would be standing in his arms as the sun went down, Sophie never would have believed them. His ex had been polished and gorgeous and built like a freaking lingerie model. Physically, the woman was everything that Sophie had always wished she could be, but wasn’t. And, God, that had hurt.

But the blow to her ego hadn’t been nearly as bad as when Sophie had listened to the things Erin was screaming, and mistakenly assumed that Chris and her were still involved. There weren’t even words to describe how badly that had sliced her open, leaving her emotions eviscerated and raw. And on top of being completely devastated, her heart feeling like it’d been pulverized with a mallet, she’d been mortified by the thought that she’d gone to bed with another woman’s boyfriend.

Given all that, she was still finding it difficult to believe that this —
this
insanely amazing moment — was actually happening.

As if he sensed the delicacy of her emotions, Chris lowered his face over hers, and spoke in a quiet voice that was rough with determination. “This is real, Soph. And it’s going to last. Because we fucking belong together.”

“Then convince me.” They were bold, breathless words, because she wanted him to see that while she might be shy, she was more than strong enough to handle him.

With a sinful, gleaming look in his dark eyes, he picked her up and tossed her into the middle of the bed. As she kicked her sandals off, her shirt and bra were shoved up over her breasts, his talented tongue licking hungrily at one of her plump, sensitive nipples, while he ripped her shorts and panties down her legs. When he had her lower body bare and her thighs spread wide, he kissed his way over to her other nipple, sucking and licking at it like a juicy piece of fruit, his deep voice rough with need as he muttered words like
perfect
,
beautiful
and
forever
. Then he pulled back, gripped her hips in his hands, and lifted her glistening sex to his avid mouth, his tongue slowly thrusting into her, lapping at her tender flesh, as if he were savoring the taste of her.

“
Chris!
” she screamed, trembling with shocking jolts of pleasure, her blood pounding in her ears while he ate at her slick sex like he was addicted to it. He sipped from her opening, sucking at her juices, his tongue lapping and thrusting, doing wicked, intimate things to her from her clit down to her clenching entrance...and even lower.

“I fucking love your greedy little cunt,” he growled, licking wildly at her opening, before thrusting his tongue deep enough to send her into a stunning, breathtaking wave of convulsions as she came so hard she saw stars. Her pulsing tissues kept contracting around his tongue, while his visceral sounds of satisfaction made no secret of the fact that he loved what he was doing.

By the time he lowered her hips back to the bed, her skin was flushed and misty with sweat, and she was pretty certain her orgasm had actually blown a few of her brain cells.

“You convinced yet?” he asked huskily, his mouth and chin wet with her juices.

Still panting for breath, she gave him a teasing grin. “You’re getting there.”

“Then let’s not waste any time.” He reached for his wallet in his back pocket, where Sophie guessed he’d put another condom. But she grabbed his wrist to stop him, drawing his narrowed gaze back to hers.

“Leave it,” she whispered. “I want
you
. Nothing but you.”

“Soph,” he mumbled, looking pained...and so damn tempted. “You don’t have to do that, baby. I’ll wait for you to be ready.”

She couldn’t stop the slow, happy smile that touched her lips, knowing in her heart that this was
exactly
what she wanted. “I’m ready now, Chris.”

“
Sophie
.”

“Trust me,” she told him, satisfaction burning hot in her veins when he looked too desperate to make another protest, as if he hadn’t just spent an entire night buried deep inside her.

It took only seconds for him to lose his clothes, and then his magnificent body was coming down over hers, her legs spreading for his lean hips, her hands gripping tight to his broad, colorful shoulders. The first touch of his hot, heavy cockhead against her entrance made her gasp with excitement, the thought of having him bare inside her, skin on skin, so intimate and sweet she wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time. She was swollen and tight, and he had to work for it, taking her in careful nudges as he slowly fed his thick cock into her clutching, greedy tissues.

“Jesus...you feel so...
goddamn it
, I want to last,” he groaned, his color high as he stared down at her. Seeing the strain on his handsome, masculine features, she whispered she was sorry she was so tight, but he just shook his head, pressed a hard kiss to her mouth, and told her he wouldn’t change it for the world.

Then he set about seducing not only her body, but also her heart and her mind...and even her soul.

With whispered, husky words of praise, he touched and kissed every part of her he could reach, his hunger for her like a physical thing that Sophie could taste and feel, his body pushing into hers again...and again, until the rhythm was so hard and fast, her bed was slamming against her bedroom wall. There was a raw, primal edge to the act that came with feeling him bare inside her...in knowing that there was nothing between them. That when he came, she would be able to feel the heat of him, and know, on the most primal of levels, that he’d found his pleasure.

She’d already climaxed three delicious, breathtaking times, before he finally let himself go over, his need reaching critical mass by that point, so that when the first searing spurt of semen finally shot inside her, he literally roared like an animal. Call her easy, but it was so freaking hot that she came again, her body milking his beautiful cock for everything it could give her.

Sophie was still gasping for breath and pushing her damp hair back from her face, when he pulled away and knelt between her thighs, spreading them wider with his hands, his chest heaving as he stared
hard
at her sex. She braced herself on her elbows and looked down, seeing what he did: a thick drop of his cum spilling from her swollen, gleaming entrance. As they both watched, it started to drip lower, heading toward her bottom.

“
Chris
,” she breathed, when he used his thumb to catch that thick drop and push it back inside her. She was drenched from both his cum and her own, her puffy vaginal lips shiny and pink, and she gasped at how sensitive she was as he pushed more of his thick release back into her opening, the sight so erotic she could have come again just from watching it. Then he came down over her, bracing himself on his forearms, and claimed her mouth like he was claiming something precious.

Eventually, they snuggled together in her soft sheets, needing to take a moment to catch their breaths before getting lost in the heady desire that burned between them all over again. She held his battered hand to her lips, kissing the knuckles he’d confessed he’d hurt when he’d punched a wall after realizing she’d left him. They lay on their sides, his larger body spooning hers as they watched the sky through her blinds shift from the purple of twilight to the indigo of nightfall. Marveling at how happy and wonderful she was feeling, Sophie realized she needed to call Nat to let her know that she was okay, after sobbing into the phone all day while her best friend had tried to calm her down. Nat had told her she needed to talk to Chris and let him explain, and she should have listened to her. If she had, she wouldn’t have spent the day pacing her apartment, feeling like her heart had been ripped out, stomped on, and then torn into tiny little pieces.

Trying to remember where she’d left her cell phone, and hating the idea of having to leave his arms, Sophie jumped when her phone started vibrating in the pocket of her shorts that Chris had tossed to the foot of the bed. Guessing it was Nat checking in on her, she sat up and reached for the phone, her eyes widening with surprise when she read the message from her best friend.

I told you, girl! That boy is too smart not to hold on to you as tight as he can!

Wondering what was going on, she set the phone on the bed and turned her head, looking over her shoulder at the sexy stud lying back on her pillows. “Chris, did you talk to my friend Nat today?”

A grin kicked up the corner of his sexy mouth as he reached for her, pulling her across his chest, his touch exquisitely gentle as he curved his big hand against the side of her throat. Eyes heavy and dark with desire, he said, “I might have stopped by the restaurant where you’ve mentioned she works, hoping she’d have a shift tonight. And then I might have begged her to tell me where you live. How else do you think I found you?”

She shook her head, realizing she’d never gotten around to asking him that, after he’d admitted to looking into her employment file, which still listed her old address.

Clearly worried that her silence meant she was upset, he said, “Hey, don’t be mad at her. It’s not like she handed it over without making me work for it. She bitched me out in front of the entire restaurant before I could explain what happened with Erin. And then she still threatened to unman me if I ever hurt you, before telling me your new address.”

Sophie laughed, knowing exactly how fierce Nat could be when it came to the people she cared about. Sliding him a hot look from under her lashes, she said, “I’m not mad at her. She already knows how crazy I am about you.”

He grinned a little, but there was a new, molten look of emotion in his gaze that made her breath catch. “That’s good to hear,” he told her in a rough, husky rumble, “because I’m already falling in deep with you, Soph. So fucking deep.”

Oh...
Oh, God
. Heat shot through her body like a storm, sweet and intense and incredibly powerful. He hadn’t actually come out and said the L-word — but there was no mistaking that breathtaking look in his eyes. And while it might be crazy, and they might not have known each other for all that long, Sophie believed him. Believed
in
him...and in the way he felt about her. It was right there, burning in those dark, beautiful eyes, every single time he looked at her.

This new direction in their friendship might have started out with that fateful fortune cookie, but they were making this fantasy a reality. One that was going to last, she was sure of it.

Sometimes...sometimes you just needed a little faith. To believe, even when your logic said things didn’t make a lot of sense. That was the amazing thing about relationships. They didn’t have to make sense to work, and she knew she’d be the biggest fool alive if she let this man slip away from her.

And while she might not always have the level of courage she aspired to, Sophie wasn’t a fool.

“Me too, Chris. It’s the same for me.”

“My brave, beautiful girl,” he rasped, pulling her close so that he could kiss her lips. “You’re not going to regret this, Soph.”

“I know,” she breathed, pushing her hands into his thick hair as she settled her body over his. “I believe you. God, I believe you so much.”

That fortune cookie had told Sophie to take what she wanted... and she had. Yeah, she’d made her own fortune, but the push had been nice. And in some cases, that was all a person needed to do the thing they’d wanted to do all along.

With a smile touching her lips as she lost herself in Chris’s devastating kisses and touch, Sophie decided that she knew exactly who she could pay her good fortune forward to.

On Monday, she and Chris were going to give one of those lucky cookies to Nat.