Page 195 of Falling Offsides

I promised Court I would do this—that I would watch over her when she broke, that I would hold all her broken pieces, and care for them, love them, and when she was ready, I would put her back together.

Now she’s broken, and I have never loved her more than I do in this moment when I gather her up and hold her. I keep holding her through each whole body wrenching sob.

This will never happen again. For as long as I am alive, breathing, my heart beating, she will never hurt like this again. I don’t care what I have to do. If I have to make a deal with the devil or burn the fucking heavens down, this is it.

“I’m ready,” Court nuzzles into the crook of my neck. “Take me home.”

Standing, I wrap her up in my hoodie and take her in my arms again.

This is the part I’ve waited for. Where I get to piece her together with every last drop of my love. Where I get to put my heart in her chest and beat for her. Live in her.

And every second it took to get here was worth the wait.

FORTY

AUGUSTE

The first thingI feel is her breath—warm and shallow, brushing against the dip of my collarbone like a secret only meant for me. The second is her leg draped over mine, bare and soft and tangled in the sheet we somehow managed to cocoon ourselves in overnight.

And the third?

The third ispeace.

It hits slow. Stretches wide.

It’s the first time I’ve woken up with her like this. Boneless. Not because we fucked all night, but because she’s chosen to let go. To choose herself. To love herself.

It’s beautiful and peaceful, and… just Courtney, asleep in my arms, face tucked into my chest where she belongs.

Her hair is a mess of curls across my skin while one of her hands cradles the side of my neck, over my pulse point.

I shift just enough to press a kiss to her temple.

She stirs, mumbling something that sounds a lot likefive more years.

“You planning on hibernating, Princess?”

“Planning on ignoring reality,” she croaks into my chest. “You’re warm. Let me pretend we don’t have to go anywhere.”

“You do that, I might never let you leave.”

She finally cracks an eye open with a lazy gnaw of her lip. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

“Both.”

A slow smile lifts the corner of her mouth. It’s lazy and sleepy… the kind of sexy that’s going to make us late for work. I love it.

I love it even more when she follows me into the bathroom and we spend far too much time lathering each other up.

“Oh fuuuuck, baby, that’s so good,” she moans as I rub the suds from her tits, kneading them in both hands while she hooks one lithe leg over my hip and pulls me into her.

My hard cock finds her needy pussy as her elbows brace on my shoulders and she impales herself on me.

“So freaking big,” Court rasps above the patter of the water. “Hurts so good, baby.”

“Tell me how you want it, Snow,” I groan when she leans back into the wall and her pussy squeezes around me. “How do you want me to fuck this greedy cunt?”

“Hard,” she drawls in reply, her hands locking at my nape while I grip her ass and fuck deeper into her. “Harder. Make it hurt, Auguste. Make me hurt for you.”