Page 27 of Bordeaux Bombshell (Sunshine Cellars #3)

Nate

“If you told me to get on my knees and crawl across this room, I would.” The words are out before I stop to think. I swallow hard, then keep going. “I will do anything you ask, Sydney, if you’ll just give me a chance to prove myself to you.”

She’s spent nearly two years avoiding this conversation, and now, on a night when we’ve both made complete asses of ourselves, she finally wants to hash things out? With us both naked, needy, and guarded. Her timing always was shit.

Now she’s standing in my doorway, weighing me with her eyes. As if I’m the one who should be on my knees begging for forgiveness, even though she’s the one who just accused me of hiding a secret baby from everyone. And yet, I’m a heartbeat away from doing exactly that.

My heart and my dick are fighting for control of my mouth, but at least they can agree on this—I would army crawl through broken glass if Sydney was waiting for me at the other end. Hearing her say there’s a chance, even more than her willingness to give me her body, makes my next steps obvious.

Win her back.

Never let her go again.

She sighs and leans against the doorway. “You asked me last time if I was tired of fighting.”

“Are you?”

“I’m tired of being angry. I’m tired of my soul screaming inside my chest that everything is wrong, and I don’t know how to fix it.” For a moment, she closes her eyes as if she’s going to fall asleep on her feet.

Instead of crawling, I cross the room in a few strides, one hand sliding behind her back, the other scooping her up behind the knees. I set her on the bed, then cross over to the other side and lie beside her. “If you’re tired, you should rest.”

She laughs, settling on her side against the pillow beside me. “Not that kind of tired, idiot. Emotionally tired. I realize you may not know—”

I cut her off with a kiss, my tongue swiping across the seam of her lips until she opens for me with a sigh. Slowly, lazily, I explore her mouth. The taste of her lips, the tickle of her breath against my skin. We keep going, hands joining in the exploration.

“I may not know what?” Again, I don’t let her answer, stealing the words with another kiss until she’s smiling and pushing me away.

“The difference.”

Leaning forward, I trace the column of her neck and the back of her ear with my nose before whispering, “I know.”

Then I drag the back of my fingers up her ribs and over her shoulder while dropping light kisses along her jaw.

“Nate—” My name on Sydney’s lips, whispered in supplication instead of derision, sends a warm tingle down my spine.

Tracing along her arm, I take pleasure in the goose bumps that appear beneath my fingers as I continue exploring her.

Despite how intimate we’ve been, her body is still mostly unexplored territory for me.

All the times we’ve hooked up, except for the other night, she’s kept me at a literal distance.

On my knees devouring her pussy, but never with my hands wandering freely.

On her knees, sucking my cock with those pillowy lips, but never closing the chasm between us.

Still using the back of my hand, I sweep my fingers across her collarbones, dipping to the tops of her breasts.

Breaking the kiss, Sydney arches her spine, pressing her chest into my touch.

I lean down to suck at the lace of her bra, her nipple hardening beneath it.

She gasps, and I dive in again, squeezing her waist with my free hand.

The hard tip of her nipple brushes against my lips, the delicate fabric catching briefly on my beard. “Can I?” I ask, sliding my hand to her back and touching the bra clasp.

“If you don’t, I’ll do it myself.” Sydney releases her grip on my torso, but I quickly unsnap the band, beating her to it. She grunts and resumes squeezing my ass.

Rolling her onto her back, I pull said clothing off and toss it to the side. “I didn’t realize that me being respectful was so irritating.” I go back to suckling her breasts, listening to her long sigh when I pull the rosy-pink tip between my teeth.

Sydney stretches out on the bed, her arms above her head, giving me full access. My hands wander down her torso while my mouth continues what I started. My dick aches, desperate for attention, so I grind my hips into the mattress, seeking some relief with the pressure.

“I’m full of complicated feelings right now. But the most important one is that I’ve been wound tighter than a corkscrew since yesterday. I’m ninety-nine percent sure that a man-made orgasm would help me finally be able to think straight again.”

“Any man-made orgasm?”

I pause my exploration of her body to stare up at her. It doesn’t take long before she realizes I’ve stopped. Lifting her head off the pillow, she looks down at me, one eyebrow raised in a silent question.

“Any man? Or me specifically?” I ask again, glaring right back. If I glare hard enough, maybe she won’t hear how desperate I am for her to give a specific answer. Even after all this time, I don’t think she understands exactly how deep a hold she has on me.

Instead of answering me, she pushes up on one elbow. “You really thought I would just move on?”

“I thought you would hate me enough to find someone else. Someone better.” I don’t want to meet her gaze, so I pick up her hand and start exploring each finger with my lips, like I did the other night.

Sydney shudders as I pull her pinky between my teeth. “I wanted to. Hate you, that is. I did. Maybe I still do. But I also missed you so much it felt like my skin was being peeled off. Which made me hate you in a different kind of way.”

“Not enough to find someone new, though?” I cringe at the needy tone of my question, but I want to know her answer anyway. “Kel was always careful not to tell me anything about you when I was gone.”

She laughs, making me lose my grip on her hand, so I grab the back of her thigh and lift it over my hip instead, pulling her close. “That’s not what he told me.”

“Okay, he did tell me once when you started dating some dude named Tom, but I guess my reaction was a little less subtle than I thought.” Cheeks red, I bury my face in her chest, kissing across the swell of her tits instead.

“Hey, Nate?”

I stop my exploration of her areola long enough to meet her eye. Her pupils are dilated, and her lids are heavy. “Yeah?”

“Just a friendly reminder that I don’t want to talk about my brother when we’re naked and your penis is about to do very un-sibling-like things to my vagina.”

It’s my turn to laugh, which Sydney cuts off by pushing my sweats down until my cock springs free, then rolling me onto my back and straddling my hips. “No talking about Kel when naked, got it.”

She grips my cock, both hands wrapping around the length, drawing a hiss from me. “I don’t want to talk much at all, to be honest. Later. After the orgasms, we can hash it out, okay?”

I groan some kind of agreement, my hips bucking as she works her hands up and down. My dick is weeping for her, and she swipes a thumb across the tip before bringing her hand up to suck it clean.

“Do you know how many times I’ve pictured you like this?” My hips are moving of their own accord, and I grip her thighs to hold her in place. Using the hand still wrapped around my cock, she squeezes, and I see stars.

“Probably as many times as I’ve imagined the same.” Easing the pressure of her grasp, she grinds against me. The warmth of her core and the rough texture of her lace panties rub against my balls, sending another wave of euphoria through my body. “Condom?”

“Top drawer,” I pant out, grabbing uselessly at the edge of the bed.

Releasing me, Sydney leans across me to slide open the drawer. Instantly, I miss the warmth of her hand on my dick, but the movement brings her tits delightfully close to my mouth. I reach up to caress the sides of her breasts, gently squeezing them together and burying my face in the center.

Her laugh turns into a moan as I work the delicate skin with my tongue and lips, my thumbs sliding across her sensitive tips. “I should not like that as much as I do,” she breathes out, and I release my grip to take the condom from her.

With one hand, I pull her close for another kiss.

After being denied her lips for so long, I can’t get enough.

They’re pillowy but assertive, there’s softness only in the feel of her, not in her motion.

Ignoring my hands, she licks her tongue against mine, sending streaks of lightning through me at the touch.

Sydney’s tits drag across my chest with her movement, distracting me. But I force myself to focus, kissing her while I slide the rubber on. Guiding her hips with one hand, I line myself up with the other, both of us groaning with relief the instant I slide inside her wet heat.

Neither of us breathes for a second, but then she leans forward to rest her forehead against mine. “Why does it still feel so right when you’re inside me?”

“I don’t know, baby.” I start to move, pushing up against her sweet pussy from below, my hands still holding her hips steady.

She’s right. The moment our bodies come together, it’s as if all the buzzing in my head telling me I can’t fix my mistakes—that I have nothing of value to offer, that I fucked everything up too badly to get it back—goes silent. And the only thing left is her.

“Tell me you feel it too.”

“Every. Damn. Time.”