Page 133 of End Game

“You good?” HIs voice is rough, thick.

“Never better,” I tell him, leaning up to kiss him. We take our time, tasting each other, exploring each other. He tastes like honey and sweetness and a little bit like the wine we drank at dinner. I’m not drunk but I’m not entirely sober, high on the taste of him.

I break the kiss and pull back. “Actually, that’s a lie,” I say, and he frowns. “I could be better. We could be naked.”

His face clears, and he grins. “We can make that happen.”

Barrett removes himself from my body, and immediately I feel the loss. Slowly he unbuttons his shirt, tossing it aside to reveal the plain white t-shirt he’s wearing underneath.

I nod to him. “Pants, too.”

“Bossy, bossy,” he says, though he looks pleased. He shucks his shirt and then his pants, leaving him in his plain plaid boxer shorts and socks.

Barrett rejoins me on the bed. I lean back against the pillows, my hair fanning out around my head. I could lose myself in the way he’s looking at me right now. Now that I know how he feels about me, I’m not sure how I didn’t know all along. I guess I was hoping so hard, I couldn’t see what was right in front of my face.

His hands map my sides, caressing my ribs and hips. “Roll over,” he says quietly, and I roll onto my side.

Carefully, gently, so gentle, he turns me onto my stomach. He pushes aside my mess of waves and presses a kiss to the back of my neck. Then another, an inch below, over the zipper of my dress. Then another, one more inch below. His thick fingers close around the zipper tab and slowly, s l o w l y, he pulls the tab down, kissing his way down my body. He helps the fabric fall away.

He moves back and then he rolls me onto my back again. Hovering over me, he pulls my arms from the dress and then works the fabric over my hips, tossing it away on the floor. He stares for a moment.

Propping myself up on my elbows gives the appearance my chest is bigger than it is, something I’ve always been a little insecure about.

“Like what you see?”

Barrett meets my eye. “Yeah, I do. It’s even better than I remembered.”

“Have you thought about that night a lot?” Because I have. It’s all I’ve been able to think about.

“All the fucking time,” he says.

“Me, too.”

He kisses me again, his hand cupping my cheek tenderly. I tug him down until his body covers mine again, his delicious bulk pressing into me on all sides. His hands thread through my hair as he devours me, holding me close.

It’s so much better than the first time we did this. Now, there’s no doubting how he feels about me. Now, I’m not trying to use him to take away my own pain. Now, we’re on equal footing, secure in the way we feel about each other. We’re doing this from a place of love and respect, not from pain and distraction. Barrett kisses his way down my neck, showing his devotion, as his hands roam over my skin. This won’t be the last time we do this, but we can’t get our first time back, as perfectly imperfect as it was.

That night, we fucked. Tonight, we’ll make love.

He kisses me, learning my body, kissing my chest and my nipples over my bra, over my tensed stomach, over my panties. I’m wearing the same favorite pair I wore that first night; they’re my lucky panties, and tonight, I’m getting lucky, damn it.

My legs spread, almost like they have a mind of their own. Barrett grins and, with a glance up at me, hooks his fingers in the waistband. I nod. He pulls the panties down, revealing my freshly waxed cunt to him. Even though I tell him pretty much everything, I’ve never seen a reason to disclose my personal grooming habits to him before, and now that he’s getting up close and personal with my business, he’s going to learn my waxing rotation whether he wants to know or not.

He takes a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” I prop myself up onto my elbow again.

“I love you,” he says. “I might like your pussy more.”

I laugh. “Show me, then.”

He spreads my legs, hooking my thighs over his massive shoulders. And then he goes to town.

It’s not hesitant. It’s not gentle. He knows what he wants, and he goes for it, devouring my lower lips the same way he devoured my mouth, wholly and completely. I fall back against the pillows as pleasure courses through my veins, nearly overtaking my body.

And then his fingers get into the game, questing, exploring. Circling around my entrance, he slips a finger inside of me to the first knuckle, and I swallow and spread my legs further to help him.

“Barrett…” Need has me clenching around his finger.