Page 152 of Spicy Ever After
I push forward, driving our joined hands to the mattress and hovering over her.
“Hattie. I am dying to see you. To touch and taste every inch of you. To be inside you.” I swallow because my throat just dried up. “When we’re together, I can’t take my eyes off you you’re so fucking gorgeous. And when I’m not with you, I see you every time I close my eyes.”
She blinks up at me. And I don’t want to say it’s with doubt, but it sure isn’t with unbridled belief.
My jaw sets. “If I haven’t made that clear to you—how goddamn beautiful you are—I’m a fool.” I try not to scowl, but it’s hard. “And that goes double for anyone else in your life who’s made you feel like you’re not take-a-man-out-at-the-knees stunning.”
Her lips disappear between her teeth and color flags her cheeks. “Um… It’s not that… I don’t think so…”
My brows slam together. “Go on.”
Hattie tilts her head to the side. “For the record, I like what I see in the mirror,” she whispers, like she’s confessing a secret. And, holy hell, maybe it is a secret. “I always have.”
My grin is a wild animal. “Hell, yeah. Then what’s?—”
She lifts one robed shoulder in a shrug. “I got used to being the only member of that fan club after hearing things like, You have such a pretty face… You’d be so lovely if you lost a few pounds… The real you is hiding under all that extra weight…”
My jaw locks. “Fucking asshole morons,” I growl.
Hattie giggles and then frees a hand to cup my cheek. Her hazel eyes shine. “Yeah… I used to go to my room after Mom or Grandma Eloise or one of my parents’ stupid friends would say something like that.” Her color deepens, her eyes smiling into half-moons as she whispers. “And I’d lock the door, take off all my clothes, and stand in front of the mirror…”
My hard cock leaps as though it could reach her. “Yeah?”
“And I’d run my hands over all of my curves, cup my breasts, and look over my shoulder at my hips and ass and the backs of my thighs…”
I swallow hard, straight up loving this image, wishing I’d had a front row seat. “Wow…”
“And even though I knew they didn’t look like Mom’s or Margaret’s or most of their friends…” She shakes her head a little, blinking away tears that suddenly fill her eyes. “I couldn’t bring myself to wish them away, you know?”
“Hell, yeah, I know.” I drag my free hand down the swell of one breast to the dip of her waist. When I reach her hip, I slide my hand under her bottom and give it a squeeze. “Hell, yeah.”
Because, Jesus, what under heaven could be better than this?
Hattie blinks wet lashes and smiles up at me. “I just figured I’d always be the only one.”
Another growl rumbles through me, and I can’t help it.
“You’re wrong there,” I say through gritted teeth.
I drop my hips and hike her ass up, bringing us together. Stars explode in my brain. She rasps my name and grinds against me. A scrap of terry cloth is all that separates my cock from her pussy.
I claim her mouth and kiss her till I can’t breathe. “Matter of fact, your term is over. I’m now president of that fan club.”
I feel her smile against my lips. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I rumble. “Want me to take an oath?”
She giggles. It’s raw honey.
Her hand moves between us, and then I feel it when the tie of her robe comes loose. I hiss in a breath, heart pounding.
Hattie tugs at the one hand still in mine and I release her. When she clutches each side of her robe, I sit up on my heels because no way am I going to miss this. I want to remember this for the rest of my life.
Her eyes lock with mine, and I hold them even when I know she’s pulled the garment open. The trust in her eyes sets my heart hammering.
I love you.
It takes everything not to spill the words. And maybe I should say them, but caution tells me to take this journey with her one step at a time.
