Page 72 of Heavy Crown

“Alex,” she breathes out, drawing me out of my head and back into the moment.

Her bra and panties are white lace, and I skim her peaked nipples with my thumbs. Then we’re kissing again. Her exploratory hands weave invisible threads of desire into my skin. Once I have her under me, getting over her will be impossible.

I grip her ass and draw her tight against me, and she sighs into my mouth. Our kiss deepens, and I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want her. Nothing could convince me to let her go now.

She leads me toward the bed, her lips never leaving mine. I unsnap her bra, and she lets it slide down her arms to drop on the floor. When I lift her to set her on the bed, I seek the closest nipple, scraping my teeth against it.

With a gasp, her fingers dig into my hair, and she arches her back to meet the contact. “Yes,” she murmurs. “Yes.”

She slides her hand inside my boxer briefs, and her warm fingers on my erection elicit a hiss. I’m so hard it’s painful, and having her tentative touch is almost too much.

“Too rough?” she murmurs, and her other hand skims along my cheek.

“No.” My voice is tight with desire. “No. I just want you so fucking badly.”

She grips my shaft, and her hand moves with perfect pressure. I close my eyes at the pleasure and the realization she’s the one providing it after weeks of my wild, private thoughts.

“Look at me,” she murmurs.

Our foreheads are close, and I gaze down at her, lost in a haze of sensations.

“I want you to,” she whispers. “Just you, Alex. Only you.”

Warmth spreads across my chest at the sincerity in her gaze. Instead of making my own declaration, one I’ll end up regretting later, I kiss her. She slides my boxer briefs over my ass, and I kick them to the floor.

Then I settle between her legs and rock against her. Her soaked panties are the only barrier between us. She meets my motion and clamps her legs around my back, keeping the friction consistent. We kiss and grind, kiss and grind.

When I grip her hip and adjust the angle, she moans. “Please, Alex. Please. I want you. I want you inside me.”

There’s nothing I crave more than to be buried in her to the hilt, but there’s a not-so-small snag in that plan. I press my forehead to her shoulder. “I didn’t bring anything,” I rasp.

The last thing I expected when I came here was this, but I am not sorry it’s happening.

“I’m on the pill,” she says, and she’s shimmying out of her underwear.

“I’ve never…” I meet her gaze and shake my head. “I’ve never trusted anyone enough.” Protection is a must for me.

She brushes her knuckles against my cheeks, and she feathers kisses along my jawline. “I’d never trick you, Alex. I’m clean, and we’re protected. I promise.”

This isn’t a gamble I’d take with anyone else, but I trust her. In the past, if I didn’t have a condom, that barrier, I walked away. Too risky. But there isn’t a conniving bone in Rory’s body.

I slide my hand under her ass, and I’m poised at her entrance. “Are you sure?” The question isn’t about what she just told me, it’s about so much more than that. After this, I don’t understand how I pretend she isn’t the most important person in any room, how I go back to lying to myself about the depth of my caring. Nothing will ever be the same in me, between us. Tonight cements a change, even if I can’t allow my feelings to harden into concrete.

“Yes,” she says, and she draws me into a kiss at the same time as I slide into her.

The intensity of our bare skin so intimately connected is matched only by the incredible emotional ache spreading across my chest. She’s perfect. She’s so fucking perfect.

“Rory,” I murmur. “Oh, Rory.”

She tightens her grip on me, and in my ear, she whispers, “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”

I move inside her, and we make eye contact. Sex has always been bodies brushing together seeking pleasure, but what’s happening between us is so far beyond what I’ve experienced in the past. We’re physically connected, but it’s more profound than that. As though everything inside of me is yearning to be closer to her, to be one with her. How can sex, something I’ve done so many times before, be so new and unknown?

I bury my face in her neck, and I try to wrangle these feelings into submission. We get this moment together—nothing more. Once, and never again.

“Yes,” she says. “Oh, Alex. Yes. Don’t stop.”

I thread my fingers through her hair and kiss her, maintaining the rhythm that seems to be driving us both closer to the edge.