Sweet Spot (Summer Rush #1) (12 page)

She looked up at him, her eyes haunted as she whispered, “Okay.”

When Tenley woke up the next morning with Rowan’s big, muscular body circling her and his erection probing her backside, she knew it was time to take matters in to her own hands. He’d been a perfect gentleman all night, offering comfort and support when he knew she needed it. But she was more than ready to take their relationship to the next level.

Her hand drifted beneath the gray duvet as she rolled onto her back. She watched his long eyelashes flutter against his cheek as her hand circled his semi-hard shaft.

“Good morning,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his ear.

He chuckled, tightening his grip on her. “It is now.” He sucked in a breath when she upped the tempo. “What’re you doing?”

“Pleasuring you like I’ve been wanting to since you sent me that selfie.” Her eyes glided to his headboard, and she imagined him leaning against it, his chest as bare as it was now, while he talked to her on the phone for the first time.

She peppered his hard chest with kisses. “I couldn’t believe it was really you. If I were the kind of girl who got off on fantasizing about men, you’d have been my go-to fantasy even before we met.”

“Is that so?” he asked, propping one hand behind his head as he watched her shift down his body, trailing her mouth over his six-pack. “I like knowing that I fuel your fantasies, ’cause you sure as hell fuel mine.”

“Really?” she asked, crawling between his legs. “Do you ever think about me, you know, when you’re alone?”

He groaned when her tongue circled him before she took him in her mouth.

“Baby, I’ve been thinking of you almost non-stop since we met.” His eyes drifted closed as he arched his back while threading a hand through her hair. “Goddamn that feels good.”

Tenley loved pleasuring him, knowing that she could make this tough guy feel weak and defenseless. She focused intently on his gratification, taking as much satisfaction as she was giving from the sound of his labored breathing. She worked him over slowly and thoroughly before he finally grabbed her arms, putting a halt to her single-minded attention.

“It’s not gonna go down like that, Ten. Not this time.”

He laid her out beneath him, treating her to a sexy grin before he slowly made his way down her body. His broad shoulders spread her legs as he trailed his calloused hands, followed by soft kisses, all over her skin.

She held her breath as she watched him, wondering if this would be the beginning of the end for them. Once he’d had her, would he be satisfied, or would he want to keep seeing her? Would it take weeks or months for him to get his fill of her? She knew it couldn’t last forever. Nothing ever did. But she hoped they would have a little more time to enjoy each other before he decided to move on to his next conquest.

His tongue flicked over her core, and she bit her lip, trying to hold back. As he eased two fingers inside of her, thrusting deeply, she gripped the sheets, trying to maintain some control. His eyes darted to hers while he lapped at her as though satisfying her was his life’s mission.

“Rowan…” His name rolled off her lips while her entire body clenched, the energy building until her heart was pounding and her legs were quivering as she tried to remember how to breathe.

His self-satisfied smile made her chuckle as he reached into the nightstand for a condom.

“Don’t look so proud of yourself. It’s been a while for me.”

Without responding, he rolled the condom on and threaded his hands through hers, pinning her to the mattress. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

She swallowed, trying to read his expression. He looked intense, as though they were on the verge of something more than sex and he wanted her to understand what it meant if they took that next step.

“I think so,” she whispered.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to do casual with you, Tenley. Just so you know.”

His hardness was probing her, teasing her with the promise of the pleasure he could deliver. But she wasn’t stupid enough to think he was saying things he didn’t mean in the heat of the moment. He was asking her if she was ready for a real relationship with him and silently warning her to think it through.

“I’m not very good at relationships. For obvious reasons.” She knew she didn’t have to remind him of her ex-fiancé, but the harsh truth was her ex would always be with her, making it difficult, if not impossible, for her to trust another man.

“What we have is different,” he said, lowering his body. He thrust his hands into her hair, tipping her face up to meet his. “I’m nothing like him. I would never hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”

She nodded slightly. She believed he would never hurt her physically. Emotionally? That was another story. She already felt things for this man she had assumed she’d never feel again, and that scared the hell out of her.

He was a professional athlete. Someone who’s career who could take him to another city halfway around the country at a moment’s notice. And this was her home. Her family, her brothers, and best friend were here. She could never leave.

He brushed his stubble over her cheek as he whispered, “I’m falling for you. Hard.”

Her arms circled his powerful back, and she felt his heart thudding against her chest. He was nervous as he waited for her to respond, and it reminded her that she wasn’t the only vulnerable one in this situation. He was putting his heart on the line too, trying to trust her even though he’d been hurt before.

“I’m falling for you too.” She brushed her lips against his neck as she closed her eyes for fear of a tear slipping down her cheek. Tenley wasn’t a crier. In fact, last night was the first time she’d cried in years, but something about Rowan made her want to bare her soul to him, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” he said, positioning his body so they were perfectly aligned. “That you feel it too.”

His eyed captured hers as he entered her slowly. She was transfixed, feeling more in tune with him than she’d ever felt with anyone. Given their powerful attraction, she’d expected fast and hard, but what he gave her was slow and thorough. He made love to her as if he…
loved
her
.
His kisses were deep and passionate, his tongue tangling with hers as they spoke without words.

His big hand ventured south. His fingertip dragged along her lips before circling her neck, then closing over her breast. The pad of his thumb created a delicious friction over her taut nipple as she shuddered, raising her hips to meet his.

Rowan raised his body above her, his powerful arms supporting his weight easily as his eyes trailed over her. She felt as though he were memorizing every inch of her, drinking her in as if he couldn’t get enough. No man had ever given her the attention he did. Most were too concerned about their own pleasure to worry about hers, but Rowan made her feel as though the only thing that mattered to him was satisfying her.

The build was slow this time, but no less intense as he coaxed another orgasm from her, kissing her through it until she reached a blinding peak of sensuality that made her want to crawl inside him.

“Jesus, Rowan…”

Her teeth grazed his shoulder as she tried to cope with the barrage of sensations assaulting her. It wasn’t just physical. It was emotional too, almost as if his soul were looking directly into hers. When they finally erupted together, he collapsed on top of her, his body still taut before she felt him relax. She stroked his back with one hand while running the other hand through his cropped, dark hair and wiping the perspiration from his forehead.

He tried to laugh, but it came out as a broken sound instead, as though he was still fighting for breath. “Damn, girl. You nearly did me in.”

When he would have climbed off of her, she did something she never thought she would—closed her arms around his neck and held him tight. She whispered in his ear, “Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked, his lips against her ear.

“For making me feel safe. I needed that.” More than she’d realized.

“Making you feel safe is my job now,” he said, smiling to soften the words. “And I take my work very seriously.”

Tenley didn’t want him to feel responsible for her, but she loved that he cared. “I’m not your problem,” she said, feeling the need to regain some of the ground she’d lost when she surrendered to her feelings for him. “And I can take care of myself.”

He rolled onto his side, propping his head in his hand as he looked down at her. “I’d never consider you a problem, Ten. Being with you is a privilege. And I feel honored that you trusted me enough to let me in last night.”

“And again today?” she joked, trying to add a little humor to a conversation that suddenly felt too real.

“Seriously,” he said, flattening his palm against her stomach. “I know that couldn’t have been easy for you, and I just want you to know that it means a lot to me.”

She bit her lip, wondering how to respond. She was used to deflecting when a guy talked about his feelings, but she didn’t want to do that with Rowan, so she was left confused and uncertain.

“I’ll be right back,” he whispered before heading to the bathroom, presumably to deal with the condom.

When he returned, he studied her, looking concerned before he laid down beside her. “Tell me what you’re thinking.” He ran a fingertip over the crease between her eyebrows. “You look so serious, as though you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“I kind of do,” she admitted. “Not only is my ex out of prison, but you’re in my life now, and I’m just trying to process it all.”

“I get that.” He leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to her lips. “But you don’t have to figure us out. We’ll work out the kinks over time, I’m sure.”

He made it sound so easy, but in her experience, relationships were anything but easy. They were messy and complicated and often scary.

“Do you want to tell me about him?” When she looked away, Rowan said, “You don’t have to, but—”

“I met him in high school,” she said, fixating on the wall-to-wall windows facing the south side of his expansive property. “He seemed like a good guy at first. A little misguided, maybe. But he had a tough upbringing, just like I did.”

“So you could relate?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

She smiled when he threaded his hand through hers, and she knew that was his way of lending his support as she talked about another trying time in her life. She felt as though that was all she did with him—whine about her past. That was so unlike her, since she rarely complained about anything. She’d learned a long time ago that life didn’t owe her a damn thing she didn’t have the guts to earn.

“He was my first real boyfriend. I’d slept with guys before, but he was the first person to really care about me.” She remembered how attentive Justin had been at the start of their relationship, when he was still filled with hope about the kind of future they could have. “He was a musician, in a garage band all through high school. They were convinced they were going to make it big.”

“Sounds like every kid who can play a guitar. They’re all gonna be superstars, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“When did you two get engaged?”

“Right out of high school.” She sighed. “Brant was living on his own by then, already working as a cop, and Walker got a football scholarship out of state.”

“So it was just you and your mom at home?”

“And whatever man she’d shacked up with.” Admitting how promiscuous her mother had been was embarrassing, but she didn’t want to hide anything from him. Either he was going to accept her, warts and all, or he wouldn’t. Either way, she had to know for sure.

“I bet you couldn’t wait to get out of there, huh?”

“That’s why I agreed to marry him, I guess.” She wasn’t proud to admit she’d been looking for an out and Justin provided it. She wanted Rowan to see her as a strong and independent woman who could stand on her own two feet, which she was now. But she hadn’t been then. She’d just been a scared kid who wanted someone to be there for her.

“That’s understandable,” he said. “Sounds like he was a little lost too. You helped each other.”

“Yeah, but things went downhill when the band broke up and he realized making it in the music business wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. Before long, I was out busting my ass, trying to keep a roof over our heads and food in the fridge, while he laid around all day feeling sorry for himself.”

“How long did that go on?”

“Too long.” She was ashamed to admit she'd stayed with him longer than she should have. Long after she’d stopped loving him and knew the relationship was over. But she had been scared. Scared to leave him. Scared to be on her own. Scared of what he might do when she told him it was over.

Rowan pulled her into his arms, tucking her head under his chin as he stroked her hair. “But you got out, babe. That’s all that matters. He’s out of your life, and he can’t hurt you anymore.”

He wasn’t asking any more questions about what had happened during the final days of their engagement or whether her fiancé had been abusive, and she was grateful. She wasn’t ready to talk about that. In the past twelve hours, she’d already told him more about that period of her life than she’d told a therapist during their first several sessions.

After kissing her forehead, he said, “Why don’t you grab a shower while I make us some breakfast? Do you have to work today?”

“Not until this afternoon,” she said, glancing at the clock behind him. It read 8:12, which meant she could hang out a little longer, unless he had somewhere else to be. “Do you have to train this morning?”

“That can wait ’til this afternoon. Our trainer takes weekends off, so it’ll just be me and Ace anyhow. And since he’s probably still with Stacey—”

“Oh my God!” she said, sitting up as she flattened her hand against his chest, pinning him to the mattress. “Did you text him to make sure he was staying with her at our apartment?”

“He did,” Rowan said, smiling as he drew her in for a kiss. “I love how much you care about other people.”