Once Upon A Half-Time 1(52)

Why had I denied him for so long? I never should have refused his touch or his kiss or the thrusting, overwhelming force of his thickness inside me.

He pinned me against the beautiful shore, hidden from everyone and everything by miles of wilderness and a beautiful, blossoming willow tree that formed our own private lagoon. A consecrated place.

Just for us.

“God, Elle.” Lachlan held me tight, lying over me, one arm snaking around my hips, the other pressed against my chest. He kissed my neck. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

I shuddered. “About as much as I missed you?”

His breathing broke, and he gasped as he thrust deeper. I clawed at the sun-warmed rock and mewed his name.

He grunted. “Why the fuck did I ever let you go?”

“I’m here now.”

For as long as he wanted me.

His cock couldn’t get any deeper inside me, but his weight pushed me down just right. I spread my legs wider, moaning as his heavy balls slapped hard against my clit.

Was this how it could always be?

Taken and pleasured and desired every minute of every day for the rest of our lives?

“I should have found you after Vegas,” Lachlan whispered. “Should have made you mine.”

I couldn’t hear those words now, not as the tightness in my chest ached with the same intensity of my core.

He was right.

I shouldn’t have left. I should have returned to him.

Even if we hadn’t been married, I’d never felt so connected to any man in my entire life.

Especially when pinned beneath him.

“Say you’ve wanted me…” Lachlan thrust hard inside me. Not cruelly, just teasing, on the cusp of desperation and the very edge of his control. “Tell me you’ve thought about me.”

I couldn’t speak. My words wavered. “I’ve thought about this.”

“Tell me you want me.”

Why lie? “I want it…”

“Tell me you need me.”

His cock hit everywhere perfect and sensitive inside me—that rough patch of pleasure that I didn’t know existed until he had found it with a curled finger and dizzying grin.

“I need it.”

“No. Not it.” His thrusts stopped. “Me, Red. Do you need me? Christ. You have no fucking idea how good we could be together. Let me show you. Let me have you.”

It was too much.

I tightened over him, trying so hard not to imagine a moment in the future where this would be our always.

Always in his arms. Always under him. Always on the very peak of a mind-crippling, heart-stopping, absolutely careless orgasm.

“Yes. I need you, Lachlan.”

He roared and fucked me harder, faster, his own peak mingling with mine. His hands dug into my hips raising my ass to pummel me, to strike that spot that made my words shrill into his moaned name.

I clutched the rock as the river lapped at our legs. In that moment, in our secret cove that was kept safe with the heavy willow branches and soft light, I let myself imagine us. Together. Just me and him.

For better or for worse.

Lachlan’s words roughened. “Tell me you want that third date.”

I wasn’t above begging him. “Finish this one first.”

“Oh, I’m gonna finish…” Lachlan pushed inside me as deeply as he could get. “But I want to hear it. A third date.”

I could hardly breathe, hardly think, and he wanted me to grab my appointment book?

“Yes,” I gasped. “Another date.”

“Know what happens at the end of that one?”

“God, I hope it’s this.”

“You’re gonna admit that you’re in love with me, Red.” He lowered his voice. “That you’ve been in love with me.”

I didn’t answer.

Couldn’t let him see how unbelievably right he was.

I bit my lip and trembled. He only laughed, thrusting again. Once. Twice.

“Come for me, Elle.”

He didn’t have to ask. Didn’t have to tease. Didn’t have to demand anything else from me.

I was already his.

I clenched on his cock and gripped him so tight even his own thrusts went still.

He filled me. Completely buried. So deep, so invasive, so rooted in my core.

I’d longed to feel this fullness for so long that the instant I came, I crippled myself in weeping, relieved tears. He slammed inside me, hard and deep, rewarding my trembling body with jet after jet of his own heat.

I cried out, my voice echoing within our private sanctuary. But I didn’t see stars. My vision didn’t go black. I didn’t let myself think or feel or see anything but the beauty of that exact moment in time.

It was safe.

Intense.

Our own perfect infinity.

I savored everything he gave me—the heat of his seed, the thickness of his cock, the confusing and wonderful feelings that bound me to this man.