Page 30 of Tangled Hearts (Mended Hearts #4)

Eli

I wake to warmth. But not just bed warmth or sun streaming in the windows warmth, but Nic warmth. We’re both naked, chest to chest, our legs tangled together, and his soft breath ruffling my hair.

My stomach does a nervous little flip. What does this mean? Did I push too far last night? Does he regret it? Is he going to pull away again?

It doesn’t seem like he’s going to do that. He said he wouldn’t, but what if he does… What if this doesn’t mean anything to him? I guess I wouldn’t blame him. He barely knows me, and really, what the fuck do I even have to offer him?

He had a fiancé. He loved someone enough that he wanted to actually marry them. Meanwhile, I’m a fucking twenty-year-old virgin who has, like, nothing going for me. Ugh. I try to pull away, but his arm tightens.

“Where are you going?”

I freeze. “Nowhere. Just… ”

He yawns loudly, all dramatic and overdone, and it makes me smile. “Nowhere is right. I can practically hear your brain. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I say quickly. Probably too damn quick because he pulls back and looks down at me. He has no right looking this good so early in the morning.

He narrows his eyes. “Not nothing. Tell me.”

I sigh. “Overthinking.”

“Oh? Overthinking what, doll?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

I huff out a breath and look away from him, choosing to stare at the ceiling. “This.”

There’s silence. And it makes my heart pound. I’m scared to even look at him. He swallows hard enough that I can hear it. “Did I do something you didn’t like? Are you having regrets?”

I sit up in a rush, turning to look at him.

“ What? You’re worried I’m having regrets?

No.” I shake my head. “I’m worried you are.

” He opens his mouth to speak, but I ramble on, cutting him off.

“It’s like. You had a whole fiancé. An entire life.

I’m just a fucking twenty-year-old virgin.

I’m not good enough for you at all.” I suck in a breath, and Nic’s eyes widen.

“I’m barely even a functioning adult, and you’re all…

” I wave my hand in front of him like that’s going to get my point across somehow.

“All what?” Nic asks softly.

“I don’t know.” I scrub a hand down my face, trying not to cry. Jesus. I really am acting like a kid right now. “All adult and together and shit.”

He laughs. Actually laughs. “Eli, I was living in a hotel until you invited me here. And my fiancé cheated on me. With my best friend.”

I growl. “Don’t remind me. ”

He lets out another chuckle, then his face turns serious. “Last night was everything to me, Eli. The last couple of weeks in general have been. You said you aren’t good enough for me, but God, you’re so fucking wrong.”

“How can you say that?” I ask.

“Because it’s the truth. What happened to ruthless Eli going after what he wants?”

I laugh. I forgot I said that. “I was mostly meaning like… spa days. Not people. I usually just try to be really good and hope they don’t leave.” I try to say the words with humor, but they don’t come out that way. They come out all serious and kind of sad.

Nic sits up and cups my face in his hands. “You’re so fucking good. You don’t even have to try.” A shiver runs down my spine. He drops a kiss to my lips. “My good boy.”

I inhale a deep breath, my cock hardening. God, what is wrong with me that I like those words so much? He glances down, then chuckles. “So eager.”

“Shut up,” I murmur, my face getting hot. “I can’t help it. You just say stuff, and it makes me all… ugh.”

“Hmm. What stuff?” He kisses my lips again, then tilts my head to the side and drags his nose down my neck.

“My good boy,” I whisper, cheeks still burning. “It’s so embarrassing.”

He chuckles against my throat. “Liking it? Or wanting to be it?”

He bites down on my shoulder, then soothes the sting with his tongue. “Both.”

He kisses my throat, moving slowly up toward my jaw, then he nips at my skin there, making me gasp. “That might be the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

My face heats again. “Don’t make fun of me. ”

“Trust me, baby. I’m not making fun at all.” The way he’s kissing me is making me dizzy. “I’m soaking it all in. That I get to have you this way. That you’re warm and naked and pliant and hard because of me. Fucking heaven.”

“You’re hard too,” I say, but I have no idea why, because it’s not like it really matters. It’s not the checkmate I think it is.

He proves that by laughing. “And who could blame me with you sitting in front of me looking like this, smelling like sex.”

“I smell like sex?” I whisper, slightly scandalized.

“You smell like mine,” Nic whispers, hauling me into his lap. I gasp when his dick grazes mine.

“Still can’t believe you have your dick pierced.”

He laughs, low and raspy. “Want me to make you feel it?”

I whimper. I can’t fucking help it. I nod.

“Words, doll,” he reminds me gently.

“Yes, please.”

He wraps his hand around our dicks, and I moan, heat and electricity racing up my spine. “Oh, God. Oh holy shit.”

He chuckles. “You’re so sensitive. So perfect.”

My dick throbs against his. He thrusts into his fist, and the metal of his piercing catches on the head of my cock. I shiver. My hips jerk when he does it again. “Why does it feel so good?”

“Because it’s us, my little doll.” I think that’s probably bullshit and definitely feels like a cheesy line, but then he moves his hand, pumping up and down as he rolls his hips, and a loud moan rips from my throat.

“That’s it, good boy. Let me hear you. God, you’re leaking already.

So fucking hot.” I groan, as much from his words as the way his dick feels against mine. “Fuck, I want to taste you.”

I whimper. “Okay.” I offer him my mouth without thinking, leaning toward him for a kiss .

He lets out a choked laugh, filled with affection. “No, baby, that’s not what I meant.”

He doesn’t want to kiss me? I stick my lower lip out. “Oh.”

“But,” he whispers, dropping a kiss to my lips and then another. “That’s adorable. And so hot. I’ll definitely take you up on it.”

“What did you mean, then?” I ask between kisses.

Nic kisses me again, slow and deep, like he’s savoring me. His tongue brushes mine, and I almost come undone, shaking hard as I fight to not come. “I want to suck your cock, Eli. Taste you.”

Oh God. My brain short-circuits, I’m pretty sure. Just blanks out. “Please.”

“Yeah?” he asks, grinning against my mouth. “Lie back, then.”

I scramble to do as I’m told, and when I’m on my back, Nic settles himself over me and kisses his way down my chest. I wouldn’t be surprised if I looked down and I was on fire.

Nic’s mouth trails lower. Down, down, down, and my heart almost pounds its way out of my chest when he licks a puddle of pre-cum off my lower stomach.

He moans, then he looks up at me. “Mmm. Sweet, baby. You gonna let me have the rest?”

My cock jerks, hitting him in the chin, and he chuckles. I close my eyes, cheeks burning hot. “You like that, huh? Me talking to you that way?”

“Oh my God. Shut up,” I whisper.

He laughs again, and then I’m burning from the inside out as the heat of his mouth engulfs my cock. My fingers dig into the bed below me, and I’m pretty sure I’m dead. I’ve died, and I’m in heaven now. Or hell, maybe. Nic bobs his head, moaning around my cock, and I almost come apart.

He moans, and the vibration on my cock makes me buck into his mouth. “S-sorry,” I gasp out when he makes a little choking noise. He pushes my leg back and runs his fingers up and down the inside of my thigh. “God.”

How does this feel so good? How do people get literally anything done when they could be doing this instead?

He slowly drags his mouth off of my cock. “Look at me, Eli.” I do, my eyes finding his immediately. “You don’t have to say sorry. You’re fine. Take what you want. I’m good.”

I’m not really sure what that means, but when he sinks his mouth over my cock again, my hips thrust up.

He makes a noise of approval low in his throat.

Oh. I grab his hair, needing to hold on to something.

Needing something to ground me. There’s another pleased noise from him.

I thrust up, and my eyes nearly roll back.

He moans again, like he’s enjoying this too. Like I really am good for him. My thighs start to shake, and my body starts to tingle. He pulls off me and slowly strokes my dick. “You’re so hot like this, Eli. So fucking sexy.”

My body jolts, pre-cum dripping down my shaft and over his hand. “I’m going to—I… I think I—”

Nic pulls his hand away, and the second his tongue touches the head of my dick, I’m coming. He closes his lips around me and hollows his cheeks. I cry out, my whole body shaking as I spill into his mouth. My back arches, every nerve lighting up. Nic moans around me, swallowing over and over.

When the orgasm is done, Nic keeps sucking, and my legs start to twitch.

It feels so good it almost hurts, and after a second, I can’t take it anymore.

I choke out his name as I try to tell him I can’t take any more.

He pulls off me, pressing a kiss to the inside of my thigh and then my hip bone before crawling up and resting on his side next to me. “You good, doll?”

He looks entirely too smug. “Yeah. I’m good. ”

“You sure fucking are.” He smirks, then leans in to kiss my cheek. “Let’s get up and get ready, doll. I want boba.”

Oh fuck yes. Orgasms and boba. What a way to start the day. “But what about you?” I ask, gesturing to his still-hard cock.

“I’m good, Eli. Not everything is about me. I like taking care of you,” he says, warm sincerity in his tone.

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

He nods. “I do. It’s fun to watch you experience new things. I’ve had a lot of orgasms in my life. I’m good.”

“I don’t like that. Don’t talk to me about your orgasms.” It comes out sharper than I mean for it to, and I want to take the words back. Goddammit, I’m always so snappy with him.

To my surprise, he laughs. “Are you jealous, doll?”

“No,” I snap, and he raises an eyebrow. “Okay. Maybe a little bit.”

“That’s adorable.” He flashes me a bright smile. “You have nothing to be jealous about.”

I look away from him and stare at the ceiling. I sigh. “I just don’t want to be… I don’t know— another to you.”

He hums thoughtfully. “I’m pretty sure you could be everything to me, Eli. How does everything sound?”

My heart stops, then rapidly restarts, beating furiously. “That wouldn’t be so bad, I guess. Ugh. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be a brat.”

“You’re not at all. I think your feelings are valid, but I’m not going to let you feel bad about yourself. Now c’mon.” He tickles my side, making me burst into laughter. “Let’s go pretend to be roommates in public for a few minutes so I can get you back home and snuggle the shit out of you.”

My stomach sinks. “I hate that.”

“Yeah,” he sighs. “Me too, doll. But it’s just for a little while. ”

I roll to my side and prop myself up to look at him. “How are we going to tell them?”

Fear flashes in his eyes. “I don’t actually know. How do you think they’ll take it?”

I grimace. “I don’t know either.”

We both fall silent. I feel like the silence says it all.