Page 80 of What He Doesn't Know

Something between a laugh and a cry bubbled out of her as I took her in my arms, lifting her completely. She wrapped her legs around my waist and fused her lips with mine. Her hands shifting grip from my shoulders, to my hair, to my arms, and back again. It was as if she’d been dying from pain for years, and I was her morphine.

She needed me like she needed air in her lungs, like she needed books in her hands, like she needed to feel whole again.

I was her escape.

And I’d gladly take her anywhere.

I slammed her back against the wall harder than I meant to, but she didn’t seem to mind. Charlie sucked my bottom lip between her teeth and let it go with a pop, kissing me again in the instant that lip was free from her grasp. Something about that kiss, about that bite, about her hands in my hair set me on fire — and not one that started with a spark or a flash or a slow, flickering flame. No, every ounce of control I’d ever possessed when it came to Charlie went up in a loud and blazing inferno in an instant, leaving us searching for oxygen in its wake only to find it in each other.

Pinning her hips against the wall with my own, I shrugged my jacket off, tossing it to the side as Charlie ripped at my sweater next. She tugged at the back collar, pulling it over my head, and I crossed my arms to catch the bottom of it and strip the rest away. Once my head was free again, she crushed her mouth on mine, and I palmed her breasts, hard and needy.

She cried out, letting her head drop to the wall behind her, and I took advantage of the new access to her neck. She wore the same mustard yellow blouse she’d worn at school all day, and my deft fingers fumbled with the petite buttons. I’d only made it to the bottom of her bra when Charlie slid her hands between the two sections of fabric and ripped.

Buttons scattered on my hardwood floor, and I let out a hungry growl, sucking the exposed swell of her breast. She raked her nails down my bare back, awakening a beast I’d tamed for far too long, one I wasn’t sure I could restrain for much longer.

Once I’d made quick work of her bra, I dropped her feet to the ground long enough for us to both strip out of our shoes and pants. I beat her to it, which granted me the remarkable view of watching her hook her thumbs into the sides of her nude, lace panties before she slid them slowly down over her thighs, her knees, letting them fall from her calves to the floor.

Charlie Reid was completely naked, standing less than three inches away from me.

And no, I didn’t give a fuck that I’d used the wrong last name.

Her breath caught when she glanced down at my shaft, hard as marble and angling toward her with a desire that had existed before either of us even dared to admit it. She hopped into my arms again, and this time when she wrapped her legs around my backside, I slid against the wetness of her core, and we both moaned in unison.

“Oh God, I need you. Now, Reese,” she cried, digging her heels into my backside.

My crown slipped between her lips only to dive out again, and I gripped her ass hard in my hands, biting the tendon of her shoulder with a satisfying gasp leaving her dainty mouth. I couldn’t think of anything else as I reached between us, positioning myself at her entrance, and in one smooth, hard thrust, I was inside her.

We both saw stars.

Not the soft, sweet, majestic kind that sparkle in the distance on a dark night. No, we saw the black holes — webecamethem — two blazing suns burning up in each other’s atmosphere. That feeling, that moment when I was finally inside her after years of both of us wanting it, there was nothing comparable to that pleasure — to that pure, unabashed bliss.

That wedding ring on her finger didn’t mean a goddamn thing.

She wasmine.

I pumped my hips once, filling her to the brim as my fingers sank into the soft skin of her hips. I swore she tore through the flesh of my back with her nails when I pumped again, but she only criedmore,and I was all to eager to deliver.

“Fuck,” I groaned into her ear, sucking the lobe between my teeth as I flexed again. It was all too much — the feel of her, the years of waiting, the forbidden warnings hanging around us like electric wires cut loose from our storm. They sparked and buzzed just inches from our skin, ready to sting if only we gave them the chance, but we carefully maneuvered them like we were in a perfectly orchestrated dance.

And that’s when my self control came back in a whoosh.

I’d waited for so long to have her, and the truth was — I didn’t know how long she’d be mine. She was here now, she was in my arms, she was kissing my lips, but I didn’t have any promise that I’d get to keep her.

If this was all I got, if tonight was my only chance, I sure as hell wasn’t going to waste it.

I slowed my thrusts, pressing my forehead to hers until I slipped all the way out. We both visibly ached at the loss, and she pulled at my hair, the heels of her feet digging into my backside with fervor.

“Don’t stop,” she moaned. “Please. More. I need this. I need you.”

“Fuck,” I repeated, dragging the word out as I tried to remember why I’d stopped at all. “Just… wait.”

But I forced a breath, running the pad of my thumb over her lip before I kissed it gently. I waited until her rich coffee eyes connected with mine, needing to know she heard the next words I said.

“I’ve waited so long to touch you, Charlie,” I breathed, nose flaring. “Toolong. And I want to take my time. I don’t want to miss a single inch of your body or a single second of whatever time I get to have you for my own.”

Her eyes searched mine, her tongue darting out to wet her lips.

“I don’t know if this is the only night I get to see you like this, to touch you, to have my hands on your body. But if it is,” I said, forcing a swallow as my fingers brushed the sensitive peak of her nipple. “Then I’m going to spend all night long worshiping it.”