“I’m sorry.”
It hurt, I wasn’t going to lie, but Damian was inside me. We were connected in the most intimate way possible. It could hurt a thousand times more than it did and I would happily take it to have him part of me.
It was me who ran my thumb over his lips, his tongue darting out to taste me. “You’re mine now,” I whispered.
He pulled from me then sank in deeper. My legs fell open wider as he slowly moved, turning the pain into pleasure. His dark head lowered and his lips brushed over my nipple before he sucked me into his mouth. I’d heard about this, never thought it could be all that enjoyable. I was wrong. Oh so wrong. It was so incredible I guided my neglected breast to his mouth. Damian was consuming me and still he wasn’t close enough, deep enough. My body went tight as I stood on the precipice of the next orgasm.
“I’m coming, Thea. Come with me.”
And I did, right before he stilled as pure pleasure moved over his face. He stayed where he was, so still, and I feared guilt was pushing out pleasure. Instead he opened his eyes and smiled at me. The first real smile I’d ever seen from him.
“I’ll feed you then you’re back in my bed.”
“I like this plan.”
I had to get home, but I didn’t want to leave him. He was sleeping, his face turned to me, his back exposed and the sheet just brushing the curve of his ass. I sat on a chair with my feet on the bed and sketched him.
“I need to get you home.”
“Just a few more minutes.”
His eyes opened. “What are you doing?”
I placed the sketch on his pillow. He rose to his elbows and studied it.
“You are really talented.”
“It’s easy when you have a beautiful subject.”
Those pale eyes flashed hot then he pulled me onto the bed. “You’re right, we have a few more minutes.”
The whole week that followed I spent in a daze. I was in love with Damian, deep irrevocable love. I stood near the school and waited for him to get the car, he insisted because rain was threatening. I hadn’t been standing there long when the skies opened up and a drenching rain poured down. Damian arrived only minutes later but I was soaked to the skin. I reached for the door, but he was faster, coming around to join me in the rain.
“You’re a bit wet.”
“You are now too.”
“Drowned rat is a good look on you.”
I playfully punched him in the arm. “Funny.”
He moved closer and right there in front of our school, he kissed me senseless. His lips lingered just out of reach of mine. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
He held the door for me and grinned. He didn’t rush around the car to get out of the rain. He strolled around it and folded himself behind the wheel. “My place. I want to see you wet and naked.”
Everything below my waist throbbed.
He touched my chin. “Let me guess. You like this plan.”
“Very much.”
I rested my chin on Damian’s chest, his hand was moving up and down my bare back. We’d snuck away for a few hours. He made me lunch and then he undressed me and took me on his kitchen counter. I would never again see a kitchen counter and not think about him. I was so happy, happier than I had ever been. It had been a month since we first made love and every day I wanted him more, liked him more, but graduation was coming and I worried about what came next for us.
“We haven’t talked about what happens in September.”
“NYU, you mean?”
“And the army.”
“I’ve been thinking and I might hold off on that, maybe find a job closer to you.”
“Why?”
The look he gave me was adorable. “You have to ask that?”
“Is that what you want though, to work at a garage instead of pursuing a career in the military?”
His fingers down my spine were very distracting. “The military isn’t going anywhere, but this…” He rolled and pinned me under him. “I want to see where it goes.”
“I want that too, more than anything, but I don’t want you to have regrets either.”
“Regret being with you, no way.”
He ended the conversation when he kissed me, but deep down I feared that Damian was lying to himself and me.
The Aherns were having a graduation party for Cam, Thea and me. They had even invited Anton. I couldn’t remember the last time a party was thrown for me. The gesture had rocked me and cemented the familial bond that had been forming since that first dinner I had shared with them. I had just left my apartment when my phone rang, and thinking it was Thea with a last minute menu item had me answering it. I wished I hadn’t when I heard my mother’s voice.