Page 156 of Unbound

It’s heady, my own pulse thrumming as I fit another finger into her, watching her body arch and pushing down on her abdomen lightly as I curl my fingers inside. She goes off again, clenching around me as I lean over her body and coo, talking her through it the way I know she loves.

“You are everything to me, Paloma,” I whisper. “You breathe; I breathe. All I want is to make you feel good—here and everywhere. To keep you here, safe, if you want. I’ll give you anything you want.”

“I love you,” she sobs out, body arching again and this time, I come, too—untouched, in my fucking pants.

Sitting back for a second, I huff out a few breaths.

Paloma stares at me with tears in her eyes before her mouth cracks open to whisper, “Can you untie me, please?”

Scooting up by her head, I carefully unfasten her hands, massaging her wrists as I check them over carefully. But the second I let one go, she leaps toward me, arms encircling my neck, her naked body attaching tightly to my clothed one.

Holding on to me. Whispering still, over and over, “Thank you. Thank you.”

Something in my chest burns, the pieces of my once-shattered heart remade by her love and care of me now.

Chapter 68

NOW

Paloma

“Are you sure you want to wear that?” I ask, cringing at the question. “Are you gonna be comfortable?”

Lily nods, but her eyes scrunch a little in the mirror where she tries to pull up the slightly gaping cups of the corset top she’s borrowed. I’m letting her have her moment, but she’s not leaving in this ridiculous top.

Partially because it covers none of her. But mostly because it’s the most not Lily thing I’ve ever seen her attempt to wear. She looks uncomfortable, messing with it continuously, chewing on her lip with a frustrated divot between her auburn brows. She’s trying, for some reason, to be someone else. And I don’t want that for her.

She’s perfect as she is—and maybe no one has told her that.

Except for a large, usually hovering defenseman.

Biting my lip, I turn back toward her closet to rummage through her messy stacks of clothes, most of which aren’t even hung on the slightly empty rack.

“What about this?” I ask, pulling out a spaghetti strap black dress with a thin scarf of matching material looped over the hanger. It still has the tag on, with a price higher than I’ve ever paid in rent, let alone for clothes.

“Oh,” Lily breathes, fingers tapping over her lips as she settles onto the edge of the bed facing me. Her blue eyes are comically big with the work I did on her makeup, lips shiny and rosy. “I forgot I had that.”

I let out a small, low laugh and pull the dress off the hanger.

“Maybe with your stockings and heels?”

She nods as if in a trance, takes the dress from my outstretched hands, and heads to her bathroom to change. There’s a cacophonous sound of stumbling before she reemerges with the scarf in hand, biting her lip.

“Can you do it?”

I pat the seat at her vanity, deciding to pull her auburn locks up and out of her face into a bouncy ponytail. Then, I carefully wrap the scarf securely around her neck to drape down her pale, slender back.

“You look very pretty, Lily.” My smile is real, bright next to my best friend. “This is going to be fun. Are you ready?”

She nods. “You look really hot,” she says, eyeing my plain black dress. “And we match.”

“Like twins.”

Her smile widens, eyes twinkling. The moment feels vulnerable, like we both want to stay here and prevent the inevitable cracks and breaks we’re both so used to. Lily is a little weirdo, but she’s my little weirdo.

So it doesn’t feel cheesy to tease her with a, “C’mon, bestie. Let’s go,” as we stand and slip arm in arm out the door.

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