Page 54

I told him I couldn’t hope for anything more, but my actions right now are saying otherwise. I’m not sure that’s fair, but my body moves ahead of my brain, sliding my hands up the smooth ridges of his torso.
A groan digs its way from his chest, before dying out into the silence of his room, where we sit here in this space, in this breadth of not-quite-here, not-quite-there, in utter stillness.
Our breaths grow increasingly heavy.
The sharp lines of his features melt into the shadowed contours of his face, his eyes glowing vibrantly in the muted light.
Heated.
Full of questions.
On fire.
And I—
I test the limits and shift myself against him, only now realizing how hard he’s grown beneath me. A strained moan slips from my throat, and his fingers dip into the flesh of my thighs, his own groan vibrating through him, the feeling centering at my core.
“Little D,” he warns, but it feels more like a question, a plea.
“Just this. I promise.” The words slip out, but I don’t know what they mean. Just that one shift of my hips? Just that one blinding rush of euphoria? Or just this—his hard length against my soft warmth. Easy, blissful movements. The rocking of my hips and the press of his fingertips. Just this, until I can feel myself climbing, until he’s moving with me in earnest, guiding me with his hands, setting a rhythm that has him growing harder beneath me.
The thick ridge of him pushes at me painfully, but I grind against him harder. Waves of arousal crash through me, cresting higher, and higher.
“Fuck, Little D,” he growls through gritted teeth. “That feel good?”
A gasping breath and nod are all I can manage.
“Shit.” His inked hands pull at my hips, dragging me farther into him. “I can’t let you go. You understand that, right?” he groans, or growls, or hums—a rough version of all three that slips down my nape and tickles my spine. His fingers grasp my chin and lift my gaze to his. “You hear me?”
I nod, but he lets out a low growl. His features draw together into a scowl, his gray gaze raging behind his stare. “Tell me you understand. Wewillbe in each other’s lives. Say it, Declan.”
“I understand,” I gasp, and it feels like I just swallowed my heart, my emotions caught in my throat. I didn’t realize how much I needed him to fight for my presence—to fight forme.After a lifetime of feeling pushed out, all I’ve ever wanted to feel is pulled in. While Jude has been doing that since the moment I met him, whether he’s intended to or not, I think I needed to hear him say it, too. That hewantsto pull me in.
He grunts out a groan beneath me, dragging me harder along the thick length of him, and a strangled gasp gets caught in my throat, the thoughts long forgotten.
The ridge of his tip rubs against me through his underwear, his hands firm on my body, his breaths rough and broken beneath me, and—
This feels too dreamlike to be real.
His strong hands feel too perfect on me. His hard body feels too right beneath mine.
The chaos in his gray eyes reaches into me, drags me into their stormy depths, and pushes me clear over the edge.
My breaths tighten, and then cease to exist at all, as my insides wring together, tightening, and tightening further.
“Fuck. Yes,” Jude grits through clenched teeth. “Come for me, Little D. Let me watch you fall apart.”
With his low, growling words guiding me, his hands keeping our rhythm steady, I come apart beneath his touch. Crying out, clenching around nothing where I wish it were him.
I dig my nails into his flesh, soft sounds pouring from my mouth, and he covers it with his palm, muffling my noises, and I come that much harder.
He groans, loud, a“Fucking hell, Little D,”falling from his lips, and then I can feel him pulsing beneath me, his thick length jerking against me, liquid heat leaching through his boxer briefs with his grunts.
I watch in rapt fascination as his features contract, his teeth clenched and his brows drawn low as he comes. The wild torrent in his gaze pulls me in further, dragging me into the dark depths of his pleasure and deepening my own.
His hands are unforgiving, digging into the flesh of my thighs as I ride him through his orgasm, stretching out my own as my walls continue to convulse around nothing but my need for him.
Our breaths clash together in the space between us. Moonlight washes over his defined abs, painted in an array of shadows, and a thin sheen of sweat coats his skin.