London Falling (Falling #2)(57)
He was right. Collier Stone ruined me for other men. At this point, I could only hope I’d done the same for him. He said I had, but I wasn’t sure I believed him.
Men had a habit of saying whatever shit comes to their minds during sex. I’d heard a great deal of that in my promiscuous past. With Collier, things felt different. I actually wanted to trust him, believe the words he’d said. Now I just needed him to prove it.
Could he put up with me and my history with men? Aside from the fact that I was so damaged by the love I’d lost that I wasn’t even sure it was possible to fall again.
Collier’s words broke through my thoughts. “Fancy that shag, eh?” Collier grinned salaciously.
“I don’t even know what to say.” I shook my head and smiled, knowing a rosy hue crept over my heated cheeks and neck.
“I bonked you mute, did I? Well, Bob’s your uncle.” He fist pumped the air and I laughed. “In truth, what we did tonight--“ He looked nervous and uncertain. “--Did I hurt you? I was a bit out of sorts.”
Taking his hand, I curled it to my bare chest and kissed his knuckles. “That was by far, an experience I’ll never forget. Never. I’ll take it with me to the afterlife.” I looked down, not able to meet his brown-sugar eyes. He tipped my chin with one long digit, forcing my gaze to his.
“Hey, for me too.” He searched my eyes. I saw truth and honesty there. He didn’t try to hide anything from me. I liked that…too much, if I was honest with myself. “I wasn’t kidding when I said you ruined me for other women, London. Now that I’ve had you, the love we made tonight, I’ll do anything to keep you in my life.”
I closed my eyes and let his words wash a blissful serenity over me. He splayed his feelings open and I received them, letting them coat my heart with kindness and grace.
“Collier, the only thing I can commit to you is now. This moment.” My voice trembled. “Maybe with the hope for more.”
“For now, it’s enough.”
***
As I entered the bedroom, towel low around my waist, I caught site of my smiling puss in the mirror over the dresser. Pure, unfiltered happiness stared at me. It was a look I hadn’t seen on my face in a really long time, probably since I first opened Stone, Walker & Associates with Nathaniel five long years ago.
The sound of London humming as she soaped up for the second time lulled me into a sleepy haze, grinning like a loon. We definitely needed sleep. Between the movie theater and our need to immediately copulate the moment we got home and then again against the shower cube’s wall a minute ago, had us both spent.
Tonight we’d had a breakthrough of sorts. She agreed to letting me hope for more. I meant what I said when I told her it was enough for now. The fact that she was here with me, made love with me all night, proved something to her as much as to me. It proved that this thing wasn’t one-sided. It was real and over time, I’d get her to understand I wasn’t asking for more than I was willing to give.
That moment when I had her pinned to the bed, her legs over my shoulders, my lips surrounding her flesh as I surged into her…epic. It was unlike any other love-making experience. Even with Claire, our mating had been a little humdrum and luke-warm. The fires burned scalding hot without hope of ever being extinguished with London. I craved her body, her taste and her scent almost like I was genetically predisposed to fall for her.
And of course I would fall for a woman afraid of love, hurt by it so badly she couldn’t see what was before us on this plane. We were both very much alive and meant to share this human world together. I just needed to convince her of that.
I don’t begrudge her the grief she feels. Quite the opposite. I want her to let her dead husband go, yet cherish his memory and their time together. It’s part of her past. I want her to make room for me in her world, her future. I needed her to consider the possibility that she may love again. I may be the one to make that reality possible. Queen mother, I was bloody tired. After a night like this, sleep never sounded so good.
Thoughts of snuggling up to her were interrupted by a vibrating noise. London’s phone lit and rattled against the wooden side table where she’d dropped her purse in our haste to be filled with each other.
I grabbed the phone and saw Tripp’s annoyingly handsome mug on the screen. In the image his arms wrapped around London in what I would consider a more than friendly embrace. Smarmy cocksucker. The phone continued to ring as I glanced at the nightstand clock. Fucking two-thirty in the morning. And he’s calling her? Probably drunk dialing her. Imbecile.
Without a second thought, I answered the phone. Before I could say hello, Tripp started speaking.
“Bridge, baby, I need you.” His voice sounded guttural, inhuman. Fear and anger split through my thoughts. My hands shook with the energy it took for me to not rip into him.
“It’s Collier. What can I help you with, Tripp? It’s two-thirty in the f*cking morning mate. This better be good!” Apparently my ability to stay calm went out the window, along with my sanity. He had no right to call her at this hour, knowing she was in my arms for Christ’s sake. Friend or not, I will not have him interrupting our time together for his loser shite.
“I need her. Now. Please?“ His voice trailed. I could hear a muffled sob through the line.
“Who is it?” London’s blue eyes looked worried. I was glad she wasn’t pissed that I answered her phone. Even though I thought of us as an official couple, she might not agree, even after the monumental thing we discovered this evening.