I moved into his body and wrapped my arms around his waist. My cheek planted against his chest, and I closed my eyes.
His powerful arms wrapped around me quickly, acting as my crutch so I wouldn’t fall. He squeezed me tightly and showered me with affection, his lips moving to my forehead and then my hairline. “Sweetheart, I’m here.”
“I know…” I never had to be alone again. I always had this man to comfort me, to carry my burden with me. It wasn’t just me anymore, and hopefully it wouldn’t be just me ever again. I completely let him in, let him see all of me, let him be a part of me. “I’m glad you came.”
4
Dax
Carson lay beside me in bed, her body wrapped up in mine, her breathing deep and even now that she was calm.
I didn’t ask for the details because they didn’t matter.
She was sad. That was all I needed to know.
When she told me she wanted to be alone, I knew that was an impulsive response. If I’d really walked in the door, she would want me there. I had complete faith.
And I was right.
My fingers lightly played with her hair as we lay together under the sheets, the sound of traffic, honking horns, and loud ambulances passing in the street below. It was hard for me to sleep in her apartment when I could hear everything because I was used to the insulated silence of my penthouse. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Okay.”
“I just want to go to sleep…and leave this day behind.” She pulled the sheets higher over her shoulder and came closer to me, no longer wanting her own space on the bed like she used to. She completely wrapped around me like we were one person.
“It’ll get better, sweetheart. I know it’s hard to believe, but it will.”
The alarm went off the next morning, intrusively pulling us from our dreams.
She automatically reached across my body to grab my phone and quickly stabbed her fingers into the screen until the alarm shut off. Then she turned back over again, releasing a loud sigh of annoyance.
I watched her rub the sleep from her eyes and run her fingers through her hair, clearly having a rough time waking up.
I moved on top of her and pulled her thong down her legs until she was bare on the bottom. I dropped my boxers to settle between her legs, wanting to wake her up in a much better way than the obnoxious sound of the alarm clock.
Her eyes open slightly, and she released another sigh as I got into position, her hands gliding over my warm skin as her body automatically accepted mine.
I sank between her legs, feeling that slick wetness greeting me with the same enthusiasm as every other time. I pushed until I was deep inside her, our breaths both deep and labored, our minds slowly stirring at the feelings of pleasure.
I gave it to her slow and easy, just grinding against her, my face hovering above hers, watching her slowly become more enthused and feeling her body fully opening to me. Her arms moved under my shoulders, and her nails dug deep into my skin as she held on, gently rocking back with me as we made love first thing in the morning.
My arms were pinned behind her knees, and I barely moved my hips as I ground against her, being slow and gentle because we were both not quite awake enough for something aggressive. I was soaked in her arousal, squeezed by her tightness, and my breathing grew deeper and more ragged because it felt so good. Sex first thing in the morning was much better than a hot cup of coffee.
She came quietly, the only indication of her pleasure the way her nails dug into me, the tightness that increased around my length, and the water in her eyes.
I finished shortly afterward, giving her my entire desire, filling her tightness with my seed. The condoms had been abandoned and it was just the two of us, and goddamn, it felt right.
And the way she finally let me in made everything so much better.
We both groaned together as we finished, wanting to go back to sleep so we could wake up later and do it again.
“That was an improvement over the alarm clock…”
I kissed the corner of her mouth before I got out of bed and pulled on all my clothes.
She turned over like she was about to go back to sleep.
“Sweetheart.”
She groaned loudly. “Ugh. It’s the one time I wish I were a billionaire so I could just not go to work.”
I left the bedroom and walked into the kitchen to have a cup of coffee.
Charlie was already there, standing at the counter with a steaming cup in front of him. He was looking through his phone when I joined him and poured two mugs of coffee.
One for me and one for my woman.
He slid his phone into his jeans then turned to me. “How is she?”
“Right this second? Really well.”
He knew exactly what that meant and rolled his eyes.
I stood beside him and stared at his face, seeing the bags under his eyes, the tightness in his jaw. “She looks better than you do.”
He rubbed his palm across his jawline, which was getting thick with a beard because he’d skipped the shave a couple days in a row. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Did you sleep last night?”
“Not really.”
I brought the mug to my lips and took a drink. “Carson didn’t give me a lot of details, but it sounds like it didn’t go well.”
He shook his head.
“It’ll work out. I know that probably doesn’t make you feel better right now, but it will.”
“I’m not worried about Denise. If Kat doesn’t want to be friends with me anymore, I would understand that. But…I would feel like shit if Carson lost her best friend because of me.”
“Wasn’t that always a risk?” I asked before I took another drink.
“But it didn’t seem likely. Unfortunately, Kat was angrier with Carson than she was with me, which isn’t fair.”
No wonder Carson was in such bad shape.
“I finally got what I want, but at what cost?” He took another drink of his coffee before dumping it out and placing the cup in the sink. “But it’s nice to see the two of you so close. I’m not the one who needs to be there for her. Now it’s you.”
Renee put the various folders on my desk so I could go through them when I had a chance. “Here are all the numbers I pulled. I checked them three times, so they should be right.”
“Thank you.” I grabbed the first one and opened it, going over all the data she’d compiled for me. When I felt her stare on my face, I lifted my chin and looked at her. “Anything else, Renee?”
She beamed brighter than the sun.
“What?”
“You’ve been happy all week. Really happy.”
I closed the folder and tossed it on the desk. “When people look happy, it usually means they are happy.” I wasn’t just happy that I was getting laid, but that Carson had completely opened up to me, had completely given me her trust.
“But you’re consistently happy. Every day, you’ve got that smile on your face, and it never drops. It’s really nice.”
“Well, I’m sure you figured out the reason for my happiness.”
“Yeah.”