Page 32

Micah

T he shower spray hits me, cascading hot water down the length of my torso. My muscles relax, loosening with every second. Inside, though, I’m a coiled mess that the soothing spray can’t touch.

Afternoon delight? Raeann wouldn’t say something like that. The phrasing, the text itself, has Tab written all over it.

So why the forced text?

My instincts had been telling me Raeann was pulling away lately.

Nothing dramatic, but slight instances here and there.

Waiting longer to text me back. She even canceled plans on me.

I thought she was just distracted because of the media storm that followed after she talked about her Wake Up, Nashville experience, but now I’m almost certain it’s something more.

I stay in the shower, waiting for Raeann to let herself in when she gets here. I’m not above bribery, and when she sees my body, she loses her mind. I’ve ingrained it into her. Little by little, I’ve set the building blocks so that when she sees my cock, she expects to feel pleasure.

And this seems like the perfect time for her to be reminded why we are what we are. We’re made for each other.

“Micah?”

Raeann’s sweet Tennessee twang greets my ears. I pretend not to hear her, soaping up my body, my fingers moving over the muscles I’ve worked so hard for.

“Micah? Your back door was open.”

Of course it was. It’s always open for her. She should know by now that she doesn’t need to tiptoe around my house. She can stomp through it with all the elegance of an elephant. Invade my space. My life. My soul. Physically and as much as possible. She’s already done all of that mentally.

The door to the bathroom creaks open, and my dick hardens. It can sense her presence like a houseplant attracted to sunlight.

“There you are.”

Through the steamy glass, her shape emerges. She’s still wearing her Pet Threads apron over a plain black tee and jeans.

Her stare travels down the length of my body, stopping at where the V leads to my cock, now fully erect. She visibly gulps, her eyes trained on my length.

Self-satisfaction thrums through me.

“I’ll, um, wait until you’re done.”

Alarm bells sound in my head. This is more dire than I thought.

She turns to leave, but her name on my lips stops her. “I thought you wanted an afternoon delight?”

“You know I didn’t write that.”

“Which I’d love to hear the story of, but the fact is, you came.” I give my dick a long, exaggerated tug, her gaze stuck on me the entire time, eye-fucking me. If a gaze was a caress, I’d be filling the floor with my cum right now. “You’re killing me,” I groan, stroking myself again.

“What?”

“I thought we were past the part where you were reluctant to claim me.”

Despite my words, she doesn’t move. She keeps staring while I slowly run my hand up and down the length of my cock, using the water and soap washing off my body as lube.

With Raeann, I can’t overwhelm her. I can’t tie her up or lock her in my house forever. It needs to be her move so I don’t trigger the fear that’s always lingering underneath the surface of her skin like a nightmare.

“Don’t lie and say you don’t want me,” I purr at her. “I bet you’re already hot for me. Your pussy weeping juices. You thought about me the entire ride here, didn’t you? Were you squirming in your seat?”

She finally lets out a small moan. Her palms press against her thighs and then tangle in her apron. Slowly, she reaches behind herself and unknots the strings. It drops to the floor.

“There’s my girl.” It’s about walking a tightrope until I can show her why she belongs to me.

“I’m scared,” she admits, unclasping the button on her jeans.

Here we go . I wait for it. The torment I know she’s been holding on to. I need to hear it, so I can hit her with the truth.

Her fingers work in opposition of her words as she unzips her jeans. “What if something happens to us?”

Her lower lip wobbles, and she checks on me, her gaze traveling to my face while she forces her pants to the floor. The patch of skin where the hem of her shirt hits her thighs is so incredibly sexy.

“So, what if it does?” I counter, fisting my cock at the base.

What if something does happen? I’m not normally the type to overanalyze situations that don’t involve football strategy, but my feelings for her have triggered a systematic release of relentless questions that I only have two simple answers for.

One, something happening to us isn’t a path that our destinies will travel. I simply won’t let it happen.

Two, if something happens to her, my mourning will only last as long as it takes to inform Raeann’s family and fire the gun I purchased a couple of weeks ago along with the one bullet that’s waiting in my safe, should the need arise.

The perfect exit strategy to a life that’s no longer worth living if it doesn’t have her in it.

Anything else, and I firmly believe that she and I will be able to get through it.

Her arms tremble as she pulls her shirt over her head, revealing a blue lace bra and panties—one of the sets she purchased with my credit card. “If something happens? Pain,” she answers, and the hurt in her voice might break me. “Unbelievable pain.”

As much as I wish I could tell her that I won’t let anything happen to her, or to me, or to Athena, she understands more than most that no one can promise those things.

We can’t play God. Or be a higher power.

“Pain only happens because of love. If you didn’t love something, you wouldn’t feel it when it’s taken away. ”

“Which is why I should walk right now.”

My throat closes when I swallow. Panic rises, but I force it down before my baser instincts kick in, like somehow trapping her here. “It’s too late,” I tell her. “You already love me. Even if you decided to walk away right now, you’ll feel it.”

“Why did you do that?” she asks, tears clinging to her lashes like beautiful raindrops. “Why did you make me love you?”

“You and I are inevitable, Raeann Gorman. We didn’t have a choice.”

“But if I walk away, at least I’ll be in control,” she says, peering up at me.

“You honestly think that would matter?”

She shrugs, wringing her hands together.

“Let me tell you what would happen if you walked away from me right now. I would be an empty carcass of myself. My soul would dim. The part of it that always looks for you would still be there, beating my heart and making me take in breaths, but every one would be excruciating without you in it. Lost. Desolate.”

She opens the shower door. My beautiful girl. I swear I can see her heart pumping through her chest.

“But I would stay here, with a tiny sliver of hope that you would come back to me.”

She swallows hard, but I keep going.

“Control is a facade. A lie. We’re not in control, Raeann. Our bodies, our hearts, our souls are.”

She reaches out, wrapping her hand around mine, guiding me down my length. The spray ricochets off me and fans against her chest. She guides me slowly, gripping harder. Fuck.

“What would happen to you if you turned around and left right now?” Her grip tightens even more, and I nearly groan with the pleasure coursing through me.

“I’d be…lost.”

“Unfulfilled?”

She nods.

“And probably still scared.”

A whimper emerges from the back of her throat, and she gives in, falling against me. “Micah.”

“What do you want?”

“Make me forget.”

I grip her hips, moving the lace down while at the same time taking a handful of her ass, kneading her briefly before forcing the panties past her thighs and calves. She steps out of them, flinging them to live in the corner of the shower. Her strokes on my dick intensify.

“Whatever you want, name it.”

“I don’t want to feel anything but this.”

I spin her around, pressing her hands to the black tile.

Her perfect ass lifts toward me. The beautiful curve of her spine beckons me forward.

My fingers move between her legs, finding her as wet as I knew she’d be.

She pushes back against me impatiently, so I angle my cock, finding her opening and pushing ever so slightly inside.

Her muscles tense, but the cry from her lips is an invitation. I ease myself forward, loving the way her pussy grips every inch of me. She shifts, and I groan. “Baby, I’m going to go faster. I need to.”

“Please,” she sighs.

I take her hip with one hand and place my other on her back while I start pumping inside her. My hips connect with her ass, slapping forcefully into her until there’s no room for any other thoughts.

Raeann’s knees buckle slightly, so I hold her in place. “Mine,” I grunt. “I won’t let you leave me.”

“Yours,” she says breathlessly.

God damn . “Say it again.”

“Yours.”

Fuck me . I lose control. We become a working mechanism of our obsession with each other.

I try to possess her with every stroke. I pump inside her through orgasm number one, my thrusts relentless, and her cries matching my intensity.

For orgasm number two, I work my hands around to grip her breasts, and she claws at the wall in front of her.

Her body is practically putty in my hands when she asks for “More.”

I have to pull out before I fill her too early. Moving my hand from her hip to between the front of her legs, I rub her clit until she’s shaking, her ass pushing back into me again, searching.

“Please, Micah. I want you.”

I take a deep breath, guiding my cock between her folds again. She lets out a perfect cry. Her hips work in tandem with mine, working against me as much as I push forward.

“Micah!” She spasms around me, and I piston my hips until I come, too.

Then I fuck her nice and slow while my cum fills her before staying fully seated, my cock the perfect plug to keep me inside her, like her tissues and cells will absorb me.

She tries to pull away, but I hold her there, wrapping my arms around her middle when her legs start to shake. I press a kiss to her back. “Mine.”

“Yours.”