Page 32

Chapter 31

Lily

M organ and I stayed at the beach for three full days, and we left this morning. While I love spending time with her, I couldn’t wait to get back to Tampa, to get back to Tyler. All I’ve done is replay every second of those kisses and what they might mean. I know it changes things, but as for how much, I’m not sure.

Those kisses . . . they also left me wanting more. So much more.

Tyler was at work when I got home. Morgan stayed for maybe an hour, and then she was ready to get on the road. Considering the traffic, it’s a nine-to-ten-hour drive to Nashville, and as it was, she would be hitting Atlanta during the afternoon rush hour.

That left me with hours of waiting for him to get home.

I took a shower, I unpacked my suitcase, I went to the grocery store, I made us a chicken stir-fry for dinner, and I waited.

Waited and got nervous.

Clearly, he wanted that kiss as bad as I did, but I don’t have any idea what he’s thinking now. Maybe since he’s had a few days, he’s changed his mind. God, I hope he hasn’t because that one taste wasn’t enough. I want to feel his mouth on mine, his hands in my hair, his warm skin against mine, and well, I want to feel him everywhere.

Am I obsessed with him? Yes. I have been for what feels like my whole life. But if he just wanted to remain friends, I could do that too. I hope he doesn’t. I hope he’s feeling as wound up as I am, and I hope together we’ll unravel.

Just thinking about the things this man could do to me, my stomach tightens. I’d let him to. I’d let him do all the things.

To kill time, I’m on my laptop on the couch when I hear his truck pull in. He’s earlier than usual, and my insides smile. Trying to remain calm, I sit there and listen to him close the truck door, then open and close the garage door, kick off his shoes, and make his way into the kitchen.

Could he be any more handsome? With his chiseled jaw, expressive eyes, and his confident, sure walk, my breath catches at just the sight of him. He’s wearing his standard attire of a Tarpons T-shirt and athletic shorts, but it’s his hands that twitch by his side that my gaze falls to.

“You know that’s my spot on the couch, right?”

His words break me from my perusal of him.

“Is it really?”

He raises one brow at me, and I look around the living room. There’s the couch, the coffee table in front of it, two chairs—one on each side of the couch, and a console table with the television across from me. Oh no. Of course this is his spot, and I don’t know why I didn’t realize it sooner. I’ve been sitting here for months.

“Why didn’t you say anything? I would have moved,” I tell him as I scoot to the end of the couch so he can sit down, too.

He shrugs one shoulder, then sits down in the middle instead of on the other end. Every single part of me lights up with awareness as he angles to face me a little. His arm stretches across the back of the couch, where his fingers dip into my hair.

My head instantly tingles, and every part of me says, “Yeeees.”

“You’re home earlier than usual today.”

I’m fishing. He probably knows I’m fishing, but I need him to give me something. Put me out of my misery about how this is going to go.

“All I’ve done for the past four days is think about you. Hell, all I’ve done since I found you in my house is think about you. Knowing you were here and I wasn’t? Well, I’m here now.”

“You’ve thought about me?” Butterflies stand up and celebrate. All I’ve done, for what feels like forever, is think about him.

His gaze scans over my face and pauses on my lips. “I don’t know what it is either. I don’t know if it’s because you’re Lance’s sister, so you instantly have this layer of trust with me that others don’t get, or if it’s just because you’re you.”

“That’s funny because I’ve had those same thoughts. Is it because you’re my brother’s best friend, therefore cliché and expected, or is it because you’re you? But I can tell you, after being with you these past few months, it’s unequivocally because you’re you.”

His eyes flare. He likes my words. Suddenly, I’m wondering if he’s a words guy. Is words of affirmation one of his love languages? I’ll need to test all five to see if I can figure it out. I want him to feel loved. I want him to have all his tanks full and feel like he’s someone important. Because he is.

I lean into him just a little, and he matches my movement, lifts his other hand, and tucks some loose hair behind my ear.

“Your hair drives me wild,” he says. “I’m low-key obsessed with it and think you are so beautiful.”

I want to make a joke here and say, “I bet you say that to all the girls,” but after knowing Tyler these past couple of months, really knowing him, I know for certain this is not something he says very often.

“So are you,” I tell him, sweeping back some of his hair that’s fallen onto his forehead.

It’s so strange to be touching him. In many ways, for all these years, Tyler has been this mythical, magical creature, untouchable, but now he is in front of me, and I’m certain he wants nothing more than for me to touch him all over.

“Lily,” he all but whispers, his hand on the back of the couch moving to clasp the back of my neck. “If you don’t want this to happen, now would be a good time to tell me.”

“Oh, I want this to happen. I’ve dreamed of this for years.” My hand reaches out and brushes over his rib cage. The muscles underneath quiver, and his gaze darkens.

He chuckles, and tiny wrinkles form at the edge of his eyes. “Well, no need to make you wait any longer.”

With that, he closes the distance between us and seals his lips to mine.

I swear my insides felt like a two-liter soda that had been shaken and was just waiting to pop. But the moment he parted my lips with his and I exhaled, all that pressure released. I needed this. I needed him.

Tyler shifts, wraps his large arms around me, and pulls so I slide over and straddle his lap. He’s so solid and warm, and I feel like I’m living in a dream come true.

“I want to touch every inch of you,” he mumbles against my mouth. “You’ve been killing me walking around my house for weeks in these tiny shorts, showing off your perfect ass and gorgeous legs,” he says as he runs his hands down my back to my butt where he palms both cheeks and rocks me against him.

With that movement, not only do I feel how much he wants me, but I also swallow his groan.

“The feeling is mutual. I mean, have you seen you? Everything about you is perfect.” I run my hands up over his arms and shoulders to his head, where I cradle his face.

“I’m far from perfect,” he says, his dark eyes finding mine.

“To me, you are. You are perfect in every way, and I don’t mean just your body. You are kind”— kiss —“thoughtful”— kiss— “funny”— kiss— “and you have a huge heart for those you care about.” Kiss. “You are perfect to me.”

I sink into another kiss as his hands continue to roam over my body and find their way under my shirt on my back. He tastes like toothpaste, smells fresh and clean like he’s recently showered mixed with laundry detergent, and feels so solid underneath me I want to fuse into him so he has to carry me with him everywhere.

“You know I have to take all your clothes off you now,” he mumbles, sucking on my bottom lip.

I giggle. “Only if I get to do the same.”

He groans.

In one fluid movement, Tyler has us off the couch. My legs are wrapped around his waist, and my ankles are hooked together as he makes his way to the stairs.

I’m finally going to see his room. Better yet, I’m about to find myself in his bed.

He reaches behind his head and pulls his shirt off in one fluid movement. Of course I’ve seen Tyler without a shirt on, but whereas before I wasn’t allowed to stare at him, now I am. I’m also allowed to touch him. He has a light dusting of hair across his chest, the muscles of his pecs and stomach are stacked one on top of the other, and a thin line of hair leads straight into his waistband.

“I thought I got to do that?” I tease, running my fingers over his collarbone.

“You were taking too long.”

With that, he pulls my shirt up and over as well. He groans again once he realizes I’m not wearing a bra.

“So fucking beautiful.” His hands wrap around both sides of my torso, covering almost all of me, and his thumbs rub the undersides of each breast. My heart rate picks up, and my toes curl in anticipation of what’s to come.

Eventually, we make it to the second level and his room, but instead of looking around, I’m fixated on the man in front of me.

Reaching the bed, he leans over so my back hits the mattress. I let go of him, and he stands tall as he takes me in. I do the same, and my core clenches as it catches sight of the very large tent in front of his shorts.

“I’m thinking you want me,” I tease, flipping my eyes between his and his dick, which is almost eye level with me.

“Oh, there’s no thinking needed. I want you. More than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.”

How long have I wanted to hear words like this from him? To finally be here, at this moment, nothing short of wolves could drag me away.

Leaning forward, he runs his palm down the center of my body, from my neck to my belly button. It’s warm, a little rough, and so erotic with his swollen lips and half-lidded eyes. Every part of me aches to have him touch me, give me more, and then he does. He gently slips his fingers under my waistband and pulls my shorts off. They land on the floor, and the moment forces a pause as he breathes in slowly, looking me over from head to toe.

“Damn.”

Leaning down again, he starts at my belly button and slides his fingers down between my legs. I gasp, and my back arches at the same time his fingers part me.

“Next time, I’m going to run my mouth over every square inch of you, but right now, I just need to be inside you.”

Is there anything hotter than that? This man is so desperate for me that’s all he can think about.

“IUD,” I tell him, and one corner of his mouth tips up.

“Perfect,” he says, dropping his shorts.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” I tell him as he strokes his hand up and down himself.

“You can say that again.”

Scooting back on the bed, Tyler climbs on and prowls over me. He stops halfway up and bends down to take one breast in his mouth while his hand wraps around the other. The sensation of his wet, warm mouth shoots electricity straight through the center of me.

“Tyler,” I whisper, and he needs no more encouragement to climb up the rest of the way.

Encircling one of my legs around his hip, he positions himself at my entrance, and with his eyes on mine, he slowly sinks in. The stretch is out of this world, and the fullness feels so right, I have to fight off the burning in my eyes.

“Tell me if it’s too much,” he says, his mouth ghosting across my lips.

“Never,” I whisper as he pulls back and then pushes in again at the same time his tongue dips into my mouth and wraps around mine.

I have died and gone to heaven.

There is no other way to describe this feeling of being with him.

“You feel so good,” I tell him, my hands reaching for his lower back.

“You feel even better,” he says, tucking his hands underneath me to tilt my hips.

Time has stopped.

Over and over, Tyler’s hips snap against mine. Nothing has prepared me for how it would feel to be possessed and consumed by this man. Because that is what’s happening. I have zero control for how this is going to go, and I am 100 percent on board for the ride. His mouth has moved from my lips to my neck, to both of my breasts. His hands, which have run all over me and under me, are now tangled in my hair as he’s braced himself on his forearms. And as he widens his thighs and pushes my legs farther apart, I reach the point of no going back. All of it is sensory overload, and I give in to the wave of sheer pleasure by calling out his name. He takes that as his cue, settles his hips deep into mine, and lets go.

His weight settles on top of me, his warm body cradles around me, and his breaths come out long and deep against my ear—I want this. I want this every day until I die. I want him.

I know they say sex can elicit some really deep emotions, but if I’m being honest with myself, I didn’t need to do it to know that I love him. Sex with Tyler just allowed me to set it free in my mind without fear. Am I ready to tell him? No. But soon enough, I will be.