Page 41 of In the Long Run

GEN

‘What are you doing?’ Knox asks when he finds me kneeling next to the bath, checking the water temperature.

With Eugene’s shower seat tucked behind the door, afternoon sunshine streaming through the window and the scent of mint and eucalyptus swirling through the air, it’s nice and relaxing in here.

‘I’m drawing you a bath.’

‘Like I’m in a regency novel?’ His mouth hitches to the side, a little smile flirting with his lips.

‘Read a lot of those?’ I volley back, grateful to see sparks of Knox’s personality returning. He was super quiet on the drive home from the hospital.

‘Eug went through a Bridgerton stage.’

‘And?’ I stand and step into his arms when he opens them.

‘They weren’t part of our book club. You planning on getting in with me?’ Knox releases me from our hug and tips my chin towards his face.

I wish, but there isn’t enough room, and this is all about comfort and relaxation.

‘Not this time.’ I press a quick kiss against his lips and twist around so I can dump some more Epsom salts into the water. ‘I’m going to walk Madeleine and Chouquette while you have a good soak.’

‘I can take them out.’ He squeezes the back of his neck.

‘I know you can. But I want to lighten your load. Please let me help with your load.’

A different smile graces his handsome features. It’s almost boyish.

‘Don’t say it.’ I groan and point at the bath. ‘Get in. I’ll be back soon. What do you want for dinner?’

‘I don’t mind.’ Knox pulls his jumper over his head and the shirt underneath it gets dragged up his chest as well. His pecs flex and bunch as he drops the clothes to the ground and kicks them towards a corner. There’s so much golden skin on display right now.

Knox slides his thumbs inside the waistband of his running shorts, his eyes heavy with challenge. I spin around, banging my shoulder on the doorframe. If he gets naked, I’m liable to lose my mind and ask if I can orgasm all his stress away. ‘I’ll be back soon with happy dogs and dinner!’

I’m clipping on the dogs’ leads when Knox calls my name. His deep voice rumbles down the hall, filling the space between us, doing absolutely nothing to help the image I have of him in my mind right now: naked and sinking into the bath.

‘Yeah?’ I am hoarse with a capital H.

‘Can I take care of you later too?’

Making out on the couch is exactly what I wanted for dessert.

Well, maybe not exactly , because that would involve Knox and whipped cream, but I’ve got no complaints.

Knox coasts a hand up my side, under the fleece of my jumper, pushing his hips into mine.

He kisses my neck, my ear, his hand travelling higher, sliding over my breast. Our empty dinner plates sit on the coffee table with what’s left of the open bottle of Sangiovese breathing in between them.

I arch when Knox pushes the lacy cup of my bra down. The scratch of his calloused fingers makes my sensitive skin sizzle.

‘Is this what you had in mind when you said you’d take care of me?’ I gasp when he pulls at my nipple, his eyes heating as he watches his hand move under my clothes.

‘Pretty much.’ He leans forward as he speaks, pressing the words into my skin and trailing them with his teeth, his tongue.

It’s an intoxicating combination, the way he touches me, alternating between hard and soft, how he’s got me pinned beneath him.

It’s another way to learn the shape of him.

His hard cock presses against my hip, and I attempt to shimmy underneath him, get him exactly where I want him.

‘Soon,’ he promises.

I thought he’d be all over me once we started, which, yeah, okay, he kind of is.

But the urgency I was expecting – which would certainly reflect how eager I am to take this next step together – isn’t here.

Instead, Knox moves slowly. His hand switches to my other breast. Rolling, plucking, squeezing, until I’m a puddle underneath him. I huff; he laughs.

‘I want to see you,’ he says, pushing back onto his knees.

‘Here?’

He nods. There’s his Adam’s apple again too. I’m going to lick that when he gets back within reach. See if I can make him lose his mind a little bit. Work my way down his body, chasing the dips and ridges until I can make him come undone with my mouth.

Twisting gracelessly, I manage to get my top off, stretching out in front of him in the only ‘nice’ bra I own, a mint-coloured lace one that’s useless under almost every type of top because it shows through. But that’s because it’s designed to be worn sans shirt, I’m realising now.

‘So pretty,’ Knox says to my tits, dragging his knuckles over the peaked buds.

‘There’s more,’ I say in a voice I don’t recognise as my own. It’s too husky, too heavy with desire. I’ve never been this person before. Or maybe I’ve never been with anyone who’s made me feel so okay with being myself.

He bites his lip, toying with the tiny bow in the middle of my bra. ‘Is there?’

‘Uh-huh.’ And I get it now. The whole lingerie thing. It’s not about dressing up – or down in this case – for your partner. It’s about making yourself feel good.

‘You want to show me, Halliday?’ He pushes back onto his knees, giving me space to move.

I lift my hips, work my pants off until he can see the matching panties that I’d originally baulked at the price of. But now? Such a worthwhile investment.

‘Hmm. I’m going to need you to stand so I can see this from every angle,’ Knox says, helping me up, his hands lingering on my hips until my wobbly legs find their balance.

‘What do I do now?’ I ask.

He stretches his arms out across the back of the couch. ‘Spin around and let me look at you.’

I don’t know where this newfound confidence comes from, but my mouth opens, the words tumbling out. ‘Should I really give you something to look at?’

Who is this?

Am I having an aneurysm?

Knox swallows thickly. ‘I’d like that.’

‘Before we get started, I’m going to need you to take off your shirt.’

He complies immediately. His chest gets more ridiculously delicious every time I see it. He’s so broad and muscular and later, I’m going to ask him to take what he needs. To make sure I’m feeling him for days.

But first, I’m going to give him a taste of his own medicine and go slow. I toy with the straps of my bra, slipping the cups back over my breasts and straightening the crooked fabric.

Knox frowns. ‘What are you doing? I don’t like this game.’

I lower my lashes, duck my chin. ‘I’m balancing things out.’

‘Huh?’ His eyes have gone all glazed.

‘You’re wearing a lot more clothes than I am.’

‘That can be fixed.’ He pushes to his feet, shucking his pants and kicking them off. The coins he always keeps in one pocket spill out, rolling across the floor. Some go under the TV stand, but neither of us care. He sits back on the couch in his boxer briefs. I can see the outline of his cock.

‘Better?’ Knox asks, his voice made of gravel.

I unhook my bra, crossing an arm in front of my breasts to keep them shielded, keep this teasing going for as long as I can.

‘You can wear as many pretty things as you like, Gen, but nothing will ever compare to how fucking gorgeous you are in nothing at all.’

My bra falls to the floor and I bare my breasts. ‘Yeah?’

Knox pushes his boxers down, freeing his cock. He strokes it lazily, bicep popping and oh, mama . He gives himself a rough tug when he catches me watching. ‘Lose the panties, baby. Give me a proper show.’

I pause.

‘Too much?’ he asks. ‘You can say if it is.’

‘No.’ I shake my head, abandoning my plan to go slow. I need more. I need to feel him on me, in me, moving against me, with me. I want it all. And I don’t want to wait anymore. Really, I’ve wanted this ever since I sat down next to him at the Clamshell.

But mostly, I want to make this good for him. I grip the sides of my panties and shimmy them down my legs, kick them away.

‘Get that pretty pussy over here now, please,’ Knox growls. Two seconds later, I’m in his lap.

‘Ready, baby,’ Knox says. ‘Hands on my shoulders. Let’s move this to the bedroom. I want to make it perfect for you.’

We’re halfway down the hall when Knox’s phone rings.

‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,’ he growls.

‘It could be the hospital.’

He presses me against the wall, his cock teasing at my entrance. His chest heaves and he closes his eyes for a second before he checks his watch. ‘It’s work.’

‘Do you need to get it anyway?’ I slide against him, his cock slipping inside me. We both moan.

Please say no.

‘Nope. I don’t need to be doing anything else right now.’ Knox’s hips inch forward and he sinks even further inside me. This is a stretch I’ll never complain about.

‘I thought you were taking me to bed?’ I kiss the underside of his jaw, making good on my earlier promise to lick his Adam’s apple.

‘Is that what you want?’ Knox asks. ‘Soft and sweet? Or do you like this better?’

It’s easy to answer honestly. To ask for what I want. Something that’s never happened before. ‘I want it all. But right now … I want it right here.’

He hitches my legs higher, thrusting into me.

So hard that soon all I can do is babble about how good it is, how good he is, to not stop, to beg for more.

Fire licks around my body and I’m overheating, my senses collapsing as pleasure consumes me.

I squeeze around Knox, trying to draw him towards the edge with me.

‘Jesus, fuck,’ Knox grits out when I pull his hair, my mouth open against his, our breath mixing and merging and skating over skin that feels like it will never, ever cool down.

‘Shit. I didn’t put a condom on. Let me … Gen, baby … stop, I’m going to—’ Knox squeezes his eyes shut and clenches his jaw. ‘Please stop moving.’

I curl my fingers around his chin. Wait until he’s looking at me. ‘I’m on the pill. And I’m clear.’

‘Yeah? Me too.’

I answer him with a kiss, pouring everything I have into it and grab his ass, urging him forward.

His thumb finds my clit – and for a second I marvel at his coordination and strength because he’s basically holding me up against this wall with one arm – and he presses down. I shatter and it’s all over. I’m weightless. Soaring above the Earth, nothing but bright colours and light all around me.

‘You’re so pretty when you come.’

He knows all the right things to say.

‘Only to you,’ Knox says and my eyes snap open.

‘Huh?’ Did I say that out loud?

‘I only know all the right things to say to you, Halliday, because you were made for me.’

With one last snap of his hips and a bruising kiss that sends me soaring again, Knox comes.

We’re still for a full minute. Hands full of each other. Gazes all tangled up together.

Knox breaks the silence. ‘You’re amazing.’

My fingers scratch against the stubble that lines his jaw. ‘You did all the work.’

‘Hardly,’ Knox scoffs. ‘Sorry we didn’t make it to the bed.’

‘I’m not.’

‘No?’ He smiles at me.

‘No. That was better than perfect. That was real.’

Knox presses a kiss against the palm of my hand. ‘Real’s the best.’

And it really is.