A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(113)

Devastation swamped me. My throat felt dry, but when I tried to clear it, I had to blink repeatedly to keep my eyes from growing wet. “I wish I could’ve been there, too,” I said in a rusty voice. “I would’ve taken one look at your face and known that wasn’t what you really wanted to do. I would’ve told all those *s pressuring you into it to go f*ck themselves.”

Caroline took my hand and then rested her cheek on my shoulder. “I know you would have. But what bothered me the most was listening to you do that for Zoey and thinking, why hadn’t I just done that for myself? Why didn’t I stand up to everyone and say no?”

“Because you were scared, and intimidated, and alone, just like you said,” I reminded her. I started to rock her back and forth, relieved when she settled deeper into me, relaxing against my chest. “Plus you were young, vulnerable, destitute, and heartbroken from the prick who’d just left you. You didn’t feel as if you had a lot of other options left.”

She sniffed but didn’t answer, just listened to me as I stroked her hair. With a kiss to her forehead, I said, “When I saw you in that doorway of the doctor’s office, looking at me the way you did, I thought that was it. You were done with me because I...because of what I said. But I swear to God, I wasn’t even thinking about what happened to you when I blurted it out. I just...Blondie was getting upset, and she clearly didn’t want—”

“I know,” Caroline said simply. She set her hand on my arm, comforting me, and I shuddered with relief. “I knew it the second I heard it. I just...I needed...”

“To get away?” I guessed. “To go to your place?”

She glanced around her bedroom and gave a small smile. “Yeah. I guess I did.”

I drew in a breath, relieved her tears had stopped. Her face was still red and splotchy and eyes totally bloodshot, but she no longer looked like she was on the precipice of a total breakdown. Cuddling deeper into her, I rested my cheek against hers and asked, “How can I help you through this? What can I do to ease your pain, because I swear to God, I’ll do anything.”

Absolutely anything.

She set her hand on my heart and looked up at me, her eyes filled with so much emotion, I swear, some of it overflowed, spilling into me. “Just love me,” she whispered.

“I do,” I promised. Pressing my forehead to hers, I shifted her around until I had her lying on her back diagonally across her bed. “I love you so damn much it scares the f*ck out of me.” Hovering above her, I set my lips against hers and gave her a kiss that would’ve sent a weaker person into a diabetic coma; it was that damn sweet.

But then our mouths opened and our tongues brushed softly. I groaned and buried my fingers in her hair as I settled my weight down on top of hers.

“I had no idea it could be like this,” she whispered, only breaking her mouth away from mine long enough to look at me with a measure of awe. “I had no idea I could share so much with one person and feel so...full. Like, I don’t know...without you in my life, I’m not sure I’d know how to be me anymore. You’ve become a part of who I am.”

I smiled, understanding her completely. “Yeah, well, you make me want to grow up and straighten my shit out so I can take care of you and be a man good enough to deserve you.”

“I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you,” she countered.

I rubbed my nose against hers and smiled. “Do too.”

She grinned back. “Have we gotten serious and emotional enough for one conversation? Because I’m really wet right now and—”

“I’m on it,” I told her as I slid my hands down to her body and right inside the back of her jeans until I was cupping two cheek-fulls of ass, one in each hand.

Grinding my hips between her legs so she could feel how hard I was, I groaned when she wound her thighs around me and tugged me even closer to her *.

“Damn, I could never get enough of you. Not in a thousand years.”

I ripped at her shirt, kissing her and panting when she turned just as savage, tearing a bit in the neckline of my T-shirt when she yanked it over my head.

“I want to look into your eyes and face you while you take me,” she commanded.

I had no issue with that, so I nodded and kicked off my jeans as she rushed to remove hers. She took me into her hand, making me shudder with desire as I watched her slim little fingers wrap around my cock. When I pulsed into her palm, she drew in a breath and looked up at me.

“I want to feel this inside me...right now.”

Without breaking eye contact, I laid her back onto the bed and came over her. Then I thrust hard.

She arched her neck and started to cry out, but I slapped my hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened and then darted around her room before she seemed to realize where she was. Then she ripped my fingers from her face, whispering, “Oh my God, Oren. We’re in my bedroom.”

I just grinned and impaled her again. “No shit, Sherlock.”

She gnashed her teeth and panted, beginning to lose herself to the pleasure. “But...what if...did you even lock the door?”

“Can’t remember,” I admitted. I’d been preoccupied with other issues. My balls twinged when my nut sack tightened around them, but even the dulled pain of getting racked recently didn’t stop me. I was too preoccupied with matters that were way more important.