Mid Life Love: At Last (Mid Life Love #2)(41)

I moved my hands to her br**sts and squeezed them, harshly twisting her ni**les as I pounded into her again and again.

She screamed louder and started to slump forward—nearly collapsing, so I drew back and flipped her over.

I slid into her again and gazed into her eyes. “I love you...” I felt her tightening around me as she reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Say it back.” I slowly thrust in and out of her, watching as she started to lose control. “Say it back, Claire.”

“I...I love...I love you too...” She cried out and held onto me as we came at the same time.

Her chest was heaving fast and she was breathing heavily.

I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers, muffling most of her murmurs. I kissed every inch of her face and placed a long, warm kiss against her neck.

When her breathing finally slowed down, I slid out of her and pulled her into my lap.

“Are you okay?” I brushed her damp hair away from her forehead.

She nodded.

“You should’ve told me you were taking classes. I wouldn’t have been upset about you coming home late because of that.”

“I...I wanted to surprise you...Did you like it?”

“I loved it...” I kissed her lips again and positioned her in my lap. “And I’m going to love f**king you in every position you mentioned for the rest of the night.”

I woke up alone and rolled over in bed, reaching for Claire, but she’d disappeared. Just as I was about to get up and look for her, she walked into the room holding a breakfast tray.

“Are you ever going to tell me how breakfast is always magically fixed and waiting for us every morning?” She set the tray on the nightstand.

“No.”

“You have a contract with a caterer don’t you?” She picked up a piece of toast. “That’s why you never cook breakfast—only lunch and dinner...”

“Was that supposed to be a question?”

“Do you plan on answering it?”

I pulled her back into the bed and kissed her lips. “I’ll tell you one day.”

She tried to get up, but I pinned her down and kissed my way to her neck.

“Wait...We need to talk...” she murmured.

“About what?” I continued kissing her.

“I’m getting my tubes untied next week. I want to try and have another baby—your baby.”

“Excuse me?” I sat up and narrowed my eyes at her. “What did you just say?”

She burst into laughter. “I wanted to make sure you were paying attention. It was a joke.”

“Please don’t tell another one.”

She propped her head on a pillow. “I don’t want to have sex again until after we’re married. I was thinking about it the other day and...”

My mind hadn’t processed anything beyond that first sentence.

I saw her lips moving, caught a few more of her words—“intimate” “special” “genuine”—but that first sentence had blown my mind.

“What do you think?” was the next thing I heard her say.

“What do I think about what?”

“About being abstinent until we get married.”

“It’s not happening.”

“Why not?”

“Because it doesn’t make any damn sense. Because I didn’t ask you to be my wife so I could not f**k you. It’s. Not. Happening.”

She sighed. “I want our first time as a married couple to be special...”

“It will be special.” I ran my hand across her thigh. “Very special.”

“I want it to be like our first time...”

“I f**ked you in a kitchen our first time. What are you saying, Claire?”

“You know exactly what I’m saying.” She sat up and kissed me. Then she spoke very slowly. “I don’t want to have sex again until we’re actually married. I think it’ll be good for us—it’ll test our commitment to one another.”

I was silent. Shocked.

After the amazing night we’d had, I couldn’t believe she was saying these words to me, that she was even asking me to do something like this.

I shook my head. “I can’t...”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

“Both.”

“Jonathan...”

I pulled her into my arms, close enough that we were lip to lip and our eyes were perfectly aligned. “I’m addicted to you, Claire,” I whispered against her mouth. “Fucking addicted. Not one second goes by that you’re not on my mind. Not. One. Second. When deals are coming across my desk, I’m wondering how your day is going at your shop, wondering if you’ll laugh or smile at the note I sent with your flowers. You have no idea how hard it is for me to stay in my office when you text me about going on your lunch break, no idea how much I have to restrain myself when you’re not home by six and hosting another late night meeting.”

She sucked in a breath and I ran my fingers through her hair, whispering again. “I go through withdrawal every time we go our separate ways because being without you for one second is damn near unbearable. So, if I’m being completely f**king honest about what you’re asking me to do—I can’t.”