Baking Me Crazy (Donner Bakery, #1)(65)

He worked his hand between my legs, and my body started trembling after only a few touches from his finger. I clapped a hand over my mouth as I felt a terrifying, mounting pressure climb. He pulled my hand down and whispered against mouth. "Don't hide those sounds. Give them to me, give all of them to me."

His fingers pressed down again, and I cried out as my body separated in a blinding, overwhelming pulse of light that split my skin wide open.

It was bigger, bigger, so much bigger than anything I'd felt alone.

"Holy shit," I breathed as I sagged back onto the bed. He kissed me, moving between my legs and leaning up so he could grab a foil wrapper from his nightstand. I couldn't stop kissing his shoulders, his chest, his chin, his lips. He laughed under his breath while he tried to focus on his task.

"Joss," he groaned when he was finally done. He clutched my hands and pressed them down on the bed. My frantic movements still had him smiling when I couldn't stop myself from trying to catch his mouth again. "It might hurt, just a little."

"I trust you," I whispered against his mouth.

He lined himself up against me, and I whimpered at just that one meeting point of him and me, a fraction of what waited.

His eyes snagged mine as I breathed through the delicious aftershocks. I pulled in a breath and slid my hands away from his and down his back. Levi pushed his hips forward, inch by inch, his forehead pinched tight with concentration, and I held my breath through the sharp pop of pain. He felt it, and I saw his shoulders start to shake as he held himself still.

"I'm fine," I breathed. "Please, Levi, it's good. It's so good."

We kissed softly as he pushed the rest of the way forward. When he was fully inside me, I wrapped my arms around his neck and wound my fingers through his hair.

"You feel," he whispered, pulling back and pushing forward again, "you feel incredible, Joss. You're so perfect."

His hips picked up speed, then the pace would lessen, and beads of sweat coated my forehead at the slow, slow build of pressure in my core. We stayed wrapped tight like that, his arms clutching me tight as his back curved up over me with each movement. I never wanted to leave. Never wanted it to end.

His muscles bunched under my hands as I moved them greedily over his damp skin.

As he moved faster, my body tensed tight at the surprising build of another explosion that simmered dangerously under the surface, waiting, waiting, waiting for something to release it.

With three words, he pulled the pin.

"I love you," he breathed against my mouth.

Boom.

It was sharp and hot and excruciating and perfect.

I cried out again, and he thrust forward with a loud groan, sinking slowly against me as he tried to catch his breath.

Tightly, so tightly, I held him to me, two tears rolling down my temples into my hair.

He loved me. I was loved by him.

Maybe it hadn't been according to his plan, but it was perfect.





Chapter 23





Levi





"Did you want more corn?" I asked Joss.

That was what came out of my mouth, at least. Across the table on my parents' deck, my eyes were saying something completely different. I might have been holding out the plate of bright yellow corn on the cob, but she smirked because she could read between the lines just fine.

"Not at the moment, thank you," she answered politely. Her eyes bugged out in warning.

I sighed quietly, and my mom cleared her throat.

My dad winked at me, giving me a nod because I guess I wasn't very good at being subtle. But after four days of being able to do whatever I wanted with Joss—and we'd done that whatever every single day—I was feeling a touch out of control.

Any moment of privacy was urgent, almost frantic, especially after our first time. Joss unleashed was my new favorite kind of Joss. A close second was the way she laid her head on my chest and stroked her fingers idly over my chest and stomach when we lay in bed, talking about our days in the same way we used to.

"Joss, I'm going to need to pick your brain," my mom said.

"What about?"

"Well, I signed up to bring a dessert to the Fourth of July party at the community center, and I feel like I bring the same tired thing every year."

"Lemon ice cream cake," Joss and I said in unison, then grinned at each other when my mom rolled her eyes.

"See? I need something new."

"What's wrong with it?" Joss asked. "Everyone loves it. Remember last year, you caught Jackson James trying to take four pieces."

"I like your cake, honey," my dad said, patting his stomach.

My mom eyed it. "I know you do. I'm going to stop making so many sweets at home if you keep needing me to let out your pants."

He mumbled something into a glass of water. I couldn't hear him, but Joss covered her mouth and laughed. My dad winked at her.

Contentment spread warm and sweet in my veins. Everything was the same, but it wasn't. It was better.

As I stared at Joss across the table, the light growing dusky and blue around us as we talked and laughed through the meal, I knew I'd marry her tomorrow if she'd say yes. Only a handful of days earlier, I told my mom that I'd been stuck.

But that was the wrong word, I could see now.