His eyes widened in horror. Realizing that most of my pain was from losing him. “I swear to God I will never leave you again. Please tell me you forgive me and I will make it up to you for the rest of my life.”
A lightness in my chest settled in. Something I hadn’t felt in over ten years was taking root again.
Peace.
I knew I wanted Steed in my life. I also knew we had to take things slowly.
“I forgive you, but I’m scared, Steed. I don’t think I could survive it if you broke my heart again.”
The way his eyes searched mine, I could see his pain, but something else was in there. Something dark that was eating at his soul.
His hands were still holding my face. “I love you, Paxton. Tell me what to do to earn back your love.”
My chest tightened. “Oh, Steed. You never lost my love. Never.”
His expression brightened, and I couldn’t help the small grin that moved across my face. With a slow nod, he leaned in closer. His lips inches from mine. “Then tell me how I win your trust back. I’ll do anything.”
I was aching for him to kiss me. Truth be told, I was aching to feel him inside me. But we needed to go slow. Sure, we could jump into my bed and fuck like rabbits all night, but would that really be the right thing to do? Besides, we had Chloe to think about. I couldn’t just suddenly show up in her world.
My hands came up and grabbed onto his arms. “I know how you could start.”
The hope in his eyes was hard to miss. I knew if I told him to make love to me, he would do it in a heartbeat.
He smiled. The tears had stopped flowing for both of us. My emotions felt like they were all over the place. I was happy, relived, horny, scared. Gah! I was all over the place. But I knew we needed to go slow.
I flashed him a flirty grin. “You could take me out on a date.”
Steed stared at me like I was insane. “A date?”
Nodding, I replied, “Yeah. A date.”
He pinched his brows together, and I almost wanted to laugh.
“Um, pumpkin, I was kind of thinking of something else.”
I lifted my brow. “Such as?”
“Well, not to sound like a total dick, because honestly all of that was emotional as fuck, but when I said I wanted to sink my cock into you, I wasn’t lying.”
Lord. Help. Me.
“Um,” I whispered as I chewed on my lip. “I just… I’m not… What if…”
He pulled me closer. The heat from our bodies made me dizzy. We can’t do this. It would be better to go slow.
I inhaled deeply. His musky scent filled my senses and shot right between my legs. Who was I kidding? I wanted him too. More than anything. The way he was looking at me and the slight alcohol buzz I still had going on was starting to lean me towards his idea.
“Please let me hold you, Pax. I want to feel your body against mine. That’s it, I swear.”
That one sweet gesture was the only thing I needed to push me over the edge. I started to stand, and Steed followed my lead. With shaking hands, I reached for his shirt and slowly pulled it over his head. When I had a hard time getting it off, we both laughed. Steed reached for it and gave it a pull before tossing it to the ground.
My eyes lingered on his perfect body. His broad chest had gotten bigger. The boy I fell in love with was now a man. His six pack abs made my fingers itch to touch them…so I did.
When my fingers moved lazily over his skin, Steed drew in a sharp breath. Chewing on my lip, I couldn’t help smiling knowing that I’d made him shudder like that. Lifting my eyes, I noticed his were shut. As if he was trying to take in this moment and remember it forever. His breathing had sped and a slight moan slipped from his soft plump lips.
When I’d had enough of abs and chest, I moved my hands to his pants. It felt like the first time all over again as I held my breath and unbuckled his belt, then his jeans. I smiled when I noticed he had no underwear. Peeking up, I found him watching me, his eyes full of lust and desire.
“No underwear, huh?” I asked with a giggle. He shook his head and kicked off his boots.
My nerves were starting to build as Steed reached behind my back and unzipped my dress. It fell to the floor into a puddle at my feet. His eyes roamed my body with greed. Licking his lips, a low growl came from the back of his throat.
“Fucking hell,” he said. “You are perfection.”
I stood before him in nothing but pale yellow lace boy shorts and a matching push up bra. I started to question if we should remove all of our clothes. Maybe we were moving too fast. Could we both resist the urge to be together?
Steed must have seen my internal struggle. He cupped my face and gently brushed his lips over mine. I longed for his kiss. More than I ever imagined.