Into the Night(81)

“Bad dream?” Bowen rasped.

“I was on his table again. But this time, I remembered something he’d said to me.” God. “He said he was going to take my eyes.”

“Macey...”

“I didn’t tell the cops that part.” There’d been so much else to tell them. “My eyes... God, when I was a kid, I hated that they were different. That I was so different. I wore contacts when I was a teenager, just like Gale Collins did, because I wanted to fit in with everyone else.”

“I think your eyes are beautiful.”

Her gaze jerked toward him, but she couldn’t see him clearly, not in the dark.

“To be honest, though, I’ve always thought everything about you was beautiful.”

Her heart warmed. “You never said anything. You made me come to you—”

“Because I knew you weren’t ready, and I would have rather been your friend, your partner, than fucking nothing at all.”

She could feel tears stinging her eyes. “Why? Why, Bowen? Why me?”

“Because you’re strong and you’re smart and when you got dealt one of the worst hands life can give you...Macey, you went out and tried to help other people. You didn’t run. You didn’t hide. You didn’t let the need for vengeance destroy you. You just—you got even stronger. Fuck, but I admired that.”

She hadn’t felt strong. She’d felt like a ghost, just trying to be alive again.

But Bowen had reminded her of all the things that were waiting in life. There wasn’t just pain out there.

Pleasure.

Hope.

Second chances.

Love?

She found her hands rising, curling around his jaw and she put her lips against his. She’d gone to his room not for sex, just for...for his touch. For his comfort. But right then, things were different.

And still...

It’s not about sex. We’re not just having sex.

She’d told him once that it was just fucking, and now Macey realized what a liar she’d been. It had never been that, had it?

Not for her...

Not for him?

Her tongue slid into his mouth. She kissed him slowly, and she savored him. His hands settled along her hips and he pulled her against him. He was still sitting up, and she straddled his legs. She could feel his cock growing against her as they kissed. The kiss became harder, stronger, and his hands rose up to stroke her breasts.

“Make love to me.” She’d whispered those words and she wouldn’t take them back. Love, not fucking. Love, not sex.

“Always, Mace,” he promised her, the nickname sounded like an endearment rolling from his tongue, and she had to blink away the tears that wanted to fill her eyes. The eyes he’d called beautiful.

His hands caressed her breasts, and her nipples were tight and aching for his touch. He kissed his way down her throat, stopping in those spots that he knew she liked. Down, down...and her breath panted out. Her nails dug into his shoulders as she held on tight.

Her panties were getting wet. His cock—it was rock hard. She arched her hips and slid her sex over him, loving the friction but wanting so much more. Wanting him in her.

Wanting everything.

Wanting him.

His right hand trailed down her body. He slid his fingers beneath the hem of her panties and then he was thrusting them inside of her. Macey lifted up onto her knees, sucking in a sharp breath, as his fingers slid in and out of her. Her eyes squeezed shut. “I want you. All of you.”

His fingers slid out. She bit her bottom lip. Her body was bow tight, already on the edge and they’d just begun. But then...

She heard a rip in the darkness. He’d torn her panties and Macey almost wanted to laugh. But she couldn’t. The desire she felt was too intense. The need too raw.

She pushed his sweats out of the way and his cock surged toward her. Her fist closed around him, and Macey stroked his erect length. Once, twice, again and again, she pumped him.

“You’re driving me...out of my...mind...”

Good. That was how she wanted him. How she wanted to be.

“Need to get...protection,” Bowen growled.

“I’m clean. And there’s...no risk of pregnancy.” She couldn’t believe she was even saying those words. Couldn’t believe she was suggesting that they— “Macey.”

“This one time, I want you.” She needed this connection. Needed him.

“I’m clean,” he told her, his voice nearly guttural. “There is no risk with me.”

No, there wasn’t.

She eased higher onto her knees. His cock pushed against her, and then Macey arched down, taking him in deep. He filled her completely, and she moaned because he felt so good.

She wanted to savor him. To drive him wild.

Then she wanted the pleasure to rip through them both, destroying what had been. Leaving something new.

His hands were tight and hard on her waist as he lifted her up, then surged deep into her core. Again and again, he plunged into her, and the angle of his thrusts had his cock sliding right over her clit. Macey wanted to go slow. She wanted that savoring— But the pleasure wasn’t stopping. She couldn’t hold back the maelstrom of release. She came around him, her whole body shaking as her sex spasmed. She cried out his name and her body shuddered.

Then she felt him come inside of her, a hot splash that just made her own pleasure so much more intense.