Page 34

CHAPTER 34

EMILY

D allas gapes at me as my confession hangs in the frigid air between us. The longer the silence ensues, the more I wish I could take those words and shove them straight back into my big mouth where they belong. Too soon, Emily. Way too fucking soon.

“I’m sorry, I?—”

“Are you serious?” Dallas’s rushed question interjects whatever lame-ass apology I was about to spew.

I snap my mouth shut, clamping my lips between my teeth, and all I can do is nod like a pathetic twit, hoping he doesn’t burst out laughing.

But he doesn’t laugh. In fact, if anything, it almost looks like he’s about to start crying, his eyes gleaming beneath the glow of the street light as his gaze flits between mine. And, without saying anything, his mouth crashes against mine in a kiss so sudden and all-consuming it rips every last shred of doubt from me.

I wrap my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life as he kisses me with everything he has, swallowing every last involuntary moan and whimper. His arms envelop my waist, holding me so close, so tight, as the kiss deepens into something more than just a kiss.

Almost too quickly, Dallas tears away from me, still cupping my cheeks, his gaze imploring as he stares into my eyes, breaths rushed like he’s run a half-marathon.

“I love you,” he says after a silent moment. “I’m so fucking in love with you.”

I process his words as best as I can.

“I’ve never been in love before, but I know without a single shred of damn doubt that I am wholeheartedly head over heels in love with you, Emily,” he says. “I have been since that first night. I didn’t know it then, but I know it now.” He closes his eyes, resting his forehead against mine. “I’m in love with you, and I need you to be mine, baby.” He opens his eyes, staring into mine. “Please say you’re mine.”

Without even a second’s hesitation, I whisper, “I’m yours. Only yours.”

He closes his eyes again, his thumbs gently stroking my cheeks.

“I need you,” Dallas murmurs, pressing a slow kiss to my lips. “I need every single, beautiful part of you. Can you give me that, Goldie?”

I shudder against him, because I know what he’s asking. And, as terrifying and confusing and overwhelming as it is, I’m more than ready to give him every last, broken piece of me. Who knows? Maybe he can be the one who can put me back together again.

“Yes,” I whisper, feeling his body sag with apparent relief, like he was afraid I would say no. “Dallas?” I pull back, gauging him.

“What is it baby?”

I glance over his shoulder, my lips twisting to the side. “I don’t mean to spoil the moment, but your quarter of a million-dollar Lamborghini is literally sitting in the middle of the street with its engine running and the door wide open… ”

He sniffs a laugh, pulling me flush against him and kissing the top of my head.

I don’t even know how we made it upstairs. One second, we were out on the street, and the next second we were coming up in the elevator from the garage. It could have taken minutes or hours for all I know. It’s all a blur. Nothing but frantic kisses, desperate touches, and muttered words of need and want and promise.

Shrugging out of my coat, I pull off my gloves and kick off my heels before Dallas’s big body pins me against the wall, his thick thigh finding my center, hips rolling against me, showing me just how much he wants me.

“I wanna make love to you,” he mutters against my lips, lapping his tongue into my mouth, urging mine to tangle with his. “I’ve never made love to anyone before, but I want to make love to you.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “ With you.”

I moan, grinding needily against his thigh.

Dallas’s lips skate down my neck, his tongue lavishing against my sensitive pulse point, sucking and kissing as his fingers dance up my thighs and under the hem of my dress, all the way up to the waist of my thong. His lips never once leave my skin as he drags my underwear down until I’m forced to kick it off my feet.

With his big hands cupping my ass, he lifts me off the ground so I’m forced to wrap my legs around his waist, wrap my arms around his neck. Our kiss is a messy thrash of lips, teeth, and tongues as Dallas carries me through the apartment and into his bedroom, fingers finding the zip at the back of my dress and dragging it all the way down, the air cool as it hits my back.

Stopping at his bed, Dallas deposits me onto the mattress, crawling over me as he does, his lips finding mine again, tongue demanding as it thrusts into my mouth in another kiss so filthy it makes the ball of need in my belly clench. Pushing up, he straddles my hips, sitting on his knees, and with his eyes imploring my own, his fingers tuck into my dress and tug it down over my shoulders, hesitating a moment.

It's dark in here. No lights on whatsoever. But the city lights gleaming in through the windows cast a soft glow throughout the space. I can see Dallas. And I know he can see me. But before I can stop myself, I nod, giving him my consent and closing my eyes.

Dallas pauses again, and I feel his breath on my cheek. “Please look at me.”

I swallow down my trepidation and open my eyes, meeting his as he gently tugs my dress down, slowly revealing every inch of my body. His eyes haven’t left mine. His gaze set firm as he kneels over me, fingers trailing from my shoulders, down over the swell of my breasts, my ribs, and further down my sides.

“May I?” he asks with a whisper.

I swallow again, nodding once. Biting down on the inside of my cheek, it takes all I have not to squeeze my eyes closed because if I don’t witness him recoil, if I don’t see the way he grimaces, then I can pretend it never happens.

But I don’t close my eyes. And it doesn’t happen. I watch him as he allows his gaze to travel downwards, taking in every part of me, all the parts I’ve kept hidden for so long from everyone, even myself if I’m being honest. I watch the way his chest hitches the moment his eyes settle on my breasts, the way he releases a wavering breath. I watch his lips curl at the corners with the hint of a smile that is totally void of disgust and ridicule, nothing short of complete and utter adoration. I watch as he leans in closer to me, his eyes meeting mine again as he presses soft, tender kisses to my scarred skin, allowing his lips to linger as he murmurs against me, “Mine.”

I can’t even begin to explain it. But it’s as if a blanket, thick and heavy with emotion, has been lifted off me, and for the first time in so long, I feel emancipated, like a part of me that’s been caged is suddenly set free, and an unexpected tear slips out of the corner of my eye.

Dallas crawls up my body again, cupping my breasts and kissing them as he goes. He settles in between my legs, grinding against my center and making me squirm, kissing my tear tracks with such a contradicting tenderness it makes more tears well.

“You’re so beautiful, Emily,” he whispers. “Perfect.” He places a soft kiss against my lips. “Tell me you’re mine again.”

“I’m yours.” My voice wavers with the emotion overwhelming me from the inside.

“You promise?”

I nod.

“I love you, Goldie.” He kisses my lips again, no tongue, just lips and breaths, and it’s beautiful. “I love you so much.”

I reach behind his head, raking my fingers through his hair, holding him to me so I can deepen our kiss. “Make love to me, Dallas,” I murmur against him.

Returning my kiss with fervor, Dallas licks his tongue into my mouth. And as he brings me to the brink with a single kiss, his hand grazes its way back down over my breast, my stomach, stopping between my legs. When his fingers find my center, he hisses against my lips, sinking two fingers inside.

“Chrissake, baby,” Dallas utters. “So wet. So warm. So tight. So… fucking… mine.”

“Ohmygod,” I whimper when he turns his fingers, curling them and putting delicious pressure on the one spot that will forever be his.

His thumb finds my clit, rubbing it in slow, teasing circles as he attaches his lips to my neck, kissing and sucking, biting.

“I’m so close, Dallas.” I moan, my thighs quaking as that coil of pleasure deep inside starts to tighten. “I need you.”

“Fuuuucck,” Dallas groans. “Say that again.”

“I need you,” I plead through a whimper when he hits me just right, throwing my head back against the pillows.

Slowly removing his hand from my center, Dallas stares into my eyes, sucking me off his fingers, lips curled up into a wicked smirk as if he knows exactly what that does to me. Then, pressing one slow, lingering kiss to my lips, slow enough for me to taste myself, he pushes up and moves off the bed.

Removing his hoodie and t-shirt, his eyes blaze through the darkness of the room, boring into mine as he unfastens his belt and releases his zipper. I lift up enough to watch him, resting on my elbows, tracking every single movement as he pushes his jeans and black boxer briefs down his long, muscular legs, and I’m forced to swallow hard.

Standing there, in all his naked glory, his long, thick cock jutting up, Dallas wraps a hand around the base and gives his impressive length a leisurely stroke as his gaze travels over my body, taking me in with the sort of reverence that makes me realize he really does love me. Me, and my scars.

“God, you’re fucking perfect,” Dallas murmurs, stroking himself as his gaze lands between my thighs. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment since our first night together.”

The bed dips as he crawls over to me, beginning at my knees and peppering kisses all over my skin, up my legs, paying attention to the dip in my hip, the hollow of my belly button, my breasts where he kisses each one, dragging his tongue over them and between them, up over my chest, stopping at the hot spot at the base of my neck and flicking his tongue over it the way he would normally lick my sex, and I feel it all the way down in my core.

When I feel his thick erection press up against where I need him the most, my hips buck involuntarily, my back arching off the bed, desperate for him to sink into me. But then my brain catches up, and I gasp out, “We need a condom!”

Dallas pulls back enough to look at me.

“I’m sorry…” My words tremble with humiliation because I wish I’d had this conversation before this moment. This is so not the time to have it. “I-I’m not on birth control. I can’t be on birth control… because of the hormones… I-I don’t even know if I can get pr egnant, but I can’t risk it… I-I...” I want to die. “I’m sorry for ruining the moment,” I finally say on a resigned sigh.

Dallas grins, dimples popping, and I’m a little taken aback because why the hell is he smiling right now? I’m mortified and he’s grinning.

“First of all—” He takes my hand and guides it between our bodies, stopping at his length. “Does it feel like you ruined the moment, Goldie?”

My cheeks flush when I feel just how hard he is. Instinctively, I wrap my fingers around him, stroking him. His eyes flutter closed on a stifled moan.

“Secondly, what have I told you about apologizing?” His eyes fly open, and I catch a hint of warning in his gaze, his forehead wrinkling with what appears to be pain as my grip around him tightens.

I bite down on my bottom lip in an attempt to conceal my own sounds, reveling in the way he looks like he’s about to come undone from my touch alone.

“Baby, if you keep that up, I’m going to come all over your hand,” Dallas mutters, burying his face into my shoulder.

I smile at the thought, but I don’t want him to come in my hand. Not tonight, at least. Tonight, I want him inside of me when he comes. I want to look in his eyes when he comes. I want us to come together, as one. So I release him, and he pulls back, kissing my lips before reaching over into his nightstand.

In a matter of seconds, he’s sheathed and hovering over me, stroking himself again as his hungry eyes rake over my body. With one forearm resting by my head, holding himself up so as not to crush me, his body covers mine, his hips nestling between my thighs. Wrapping my arms around him, I look deep into his eyes as he eases himself inside me inch by glorious inch, stealing all my breath, both of us groaning when he bottoms out, hitting me so deep I see stars.

“Oh, fuck, Goldie,” Dallas rasps. He lifts my left leg, hitching my knee higher, opening me just a touch more so he can sink a little deeper. His fingers gently move my hair from my face so he can see deep into my eyes. “You’re it for me, baby. Fucking endgame.”

When he starts to move, I feel my insides clench. He pulls out slowly, sliding back in at a delicious pace, his thickness gliding against the spot that makes my toes tingle. His pelvis presses against my clit, and I moan at the contact. I can feel every part of him. I’m so full, but it’s also not quite enough. I’m greedy. Only for Dallas.

“Harder,” I plead on a heavy breath. “Faster.”

“Look at me, Goldie,” he hisses. “I want you to look at me while I claim you.”

His hips piston, harder and faster. With every thrust, he pushes me closer and closer to that peak. I hold onto him, my nails digging into his shoulders as he plunders me, fucking me with reckless abandon. It’s hot, hard, fast, and a little rough, yet the look in his eyes is anything but. Dallas is looking at me like I’m his everything, and I can feel it, deep down in my heart.

“You feel so good,” I whisper. “I’m… so… close.”

Dallas’s eyes flare. “I know baby. You’re close, alright. I can feel it in the way your pussy is choking my dick.” Holding me open even wider, he drives up and into me, his hips and ass working me over until I can feel that wave of pressure build deep down in my core, the coil in my belly starting to unravel.

“Oh, my God, Dallas,” I manage through my racing, panting breaths. “I’m coming.”

“Look at me, Goldie,” he demands through gritted teeth. “Be a good girl and look me in my eyes when you come.”

“Ahhh,” I cry out, the wave of pressure obliterating as it tears through me, white hot euphoria consuming me from the inside. “Dallas!”

“Yes, that’s it, baby,” he coos. “Come all over my cock.”

My body spasms violently, the orgasm ripping through me, never-ending as Dallas continues his relentless fucking, prolonging the bliss .

“Shit, Goldie,” he groans, the sound low and animalistic, his movements turning sloppy, body rigid. “I’m coming; fuck, baby!” He grips my leg so tight, I’m sure I’ll bruise, but I don’t care. I want to bruise. I want him to mark me. Permanently mark me as his forever.

Dallas’s body shudders before he stills, balls deep inside of me, his hooded gaze staring into my eyes. I wrap my thighs around him, holding him close to me, claiming his mouth with mine and kissing him with all that I have as my body continues quaking with aftershocks of one of the best orgasms I’ve ever experienced.

And as I lie there, Dallas still buried deep inside of me, a tender look in his eyes as he continues peppering soft kisses to my lips, my cheeks, my jaw, I know this is so much more than I could have ever imagined. This is love. I love this man. With my whole heart. And I’m never letting him go.