"How?" This goes to show just how much I don't know.
"Bring your knees up."
It sounds obscene, but I do it anyway. When Boone's blue eyes turn flame-hot, I know the indecent position is perfect.
No one has ever looked at me like he does. No one has ever treated me like I mattered. No one has ever put me first.
He's it. He's the one.
The knowledge sweeps through me, coinciding with Boone's thumb lubing me up and coating his cock before he fits the head against the hole that was previously a no-go zone.
"You ready, sugar? We'll take it slow. You want to stop, you say the word, and we stop."
"I'm done stopping. I'm done taking it slow. I want this, Boone. I want you."
He leans down to take my mouth in a deep kiss at the same time he presses inside me. I suck in a breath as he keeps his forehead resting against mine.
"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God."
"You okay?"
I nod, even though okay isn't the word for what I'm feeling. Exhilarated and one step from losing my ever-loving mind would be more accurate.
Holy hell, why did I put this off so long?
Boone continues forward until his balls touch my ass. "Sweet fucking Christ. This may not last long. You're so goddamned tight." Strain marks his forehead, and sweat beads on mine. "Gotta move now, sugar."
"Do it. Please."
Boone reaches between us to press his thumb against my clit as he pulls out and then surges back in. My scream takes us both by surprise, and so does my almost-instant orgasm.
"Boone!" His name echoes off the ceiling, and I don't care who hears it. I lose myself to the sensation as he continues to thrust while teasing my clit.
Oh. My. God.
Within minutes, I'm limp, and Boone empties himself inside me with a hoarse shout of my name. My eyelids flutter closed and I'm boneless, floating on a cloud of pleasure I never knew possible. When he finally pulls free of my body and returns with a damp towel to clean us up, I'm still without words.
"Come on. Let's get you in the shower."
Boone lifts me into his arms and carries me into the bathroom, not setting me on my feet until we're in the glass enclosure with the water beating down.
My limbs are unsteady but I have Boone to lean on, and I finally let myself do exactly that.
38
Boone
With Ripley in one of my T-shirts and a pair of boxer shorts, we make our way back to the kitchen.
"I'm starving," she says over the rumble of her stomach.
"Then let's get you fed."
I snag the bucket of chicken from where I left it and offer it to her.
"Oh, hell yes." She tears into a piece and shoves the silver envelope on the counter toward me with her free hand. "I said yes. Well, technically I said I'd say yes after a lawyer gives me the all-clear."
Only Ripley would be so casual about signing a record deal.
"This calls for champagne, sugar." I spin around and yank open the fridge to grab my just-in-case bottle of Dom from beside the ketchup. When I pull it out, Ripley laughs.
"It's such a cliché that you keep bottles of Dom handy in your fridge."
"You never know when you're going to need to celebrate. Plus, Ma loves this stuff, and I keep it on hand for her when she comes."
Ripley shakes her head at me but watches as I produce two glasses, pop the cork, and pour. "It's like you've done this before."
"A time or two. Life's too short not to celebrate every chance you get. And today, this is all about you. I'm really fucking proud of you, sugar. I think you're making the right move. Cheers to you and an amazing future."
She accepts a glass of champagne and lifts it to clink against mine. "Cheers to us. Because I wouldn't be in this position if not for you." She pauses. "But I don't want you to ever think that me falling in love with you has a damn thing to do with this. Because it doesn't."
I freeze with my glass to my lips. "What did you say?"
Her face goes soft, losing that guarded edge she's always had. "I'm falling in love with you, but it doesn't have anything to do with-"
I come around the island and lower my glass to the granite.
"Stop right there so we can get a couple things straight. First, you're not falling in love with me, Ripley. You're already there. You've been there since you charged a bull to get to me. Maybe before, but that's when I knew it for sure. I will never think this has anything to do with it, because you've made it clear in every word and action that you don't expect a damn thing from me. But you know what? That just makes me want to give you even more. Because you won't ask for it. You don't expect it." I pause and meet those stormy gray eyes. "Ripley, if you'll let me, I'll give you everything."