This Is Love, Baby (War & Peace #2)(29)

Right now.

But she didn’t say not ever.

My heart soars and I stroke my fingertips up and down her spine causing her to shiver. “It’s okay. Let me hold you while you sleep.”

She tenses in my arms but I don’t let it affect me. I peel myself from her and motion toward the bed. Then, I walk over to the bag and retrieve a picture for her, as well as her mother’s sweater. When she sees them, her cries turn louder as she releases the grief she’s been holding on to. I help her into the sweater before she crawls under the covers, clutching the picture. It only takes me a few minutes to turn off the lights and then join her beneath the sheets. She lets me pull her back against my front.

I want to roll her onto her back and push into her tight body. But I don’t. I refrain and settle with simply holding her. My fingers stroke her skin everywhere in an attempt to calm her. When her hiccups eventually turn into soft breathing, I know she’s fallen asleep.

We lay there for hours, her sleeping and me awake holding her. When she rolls onto her back, I stare down at her pretty face, the moonlight from the window casting an ethereal glow on her pale flesh. Her lips are parted open as she takes even breaths. Dark lashes flutter as she dreams. Leaning forward, I press a kiss to her pouty lips. So soft and perfect like I remember.

My dick thickens against the side of her thigh and I am f*cking desperate to make love to her. She may no longer be a virgin but I am, and she’s the one I want to lose mine to. The way it was always supposed to be. For the both of us. I’m about to come simply from the idea of it. I drag my fingers over her stomach gently and then up to her breasts. With one finger, I tease the hardened peaks of her nipples through her gown. Then, I slide my finger up her throat, over her chin, and stop at her lips.

Pushing my finger into her mouth, I revel in the heat that she breathes over my flesh. I run the pad of my fingertip over her pink tongue and over the grooves of her teeth. Once my finger is damp, I pull it from her mouth. Rolling to my back as well, I push down my boxers enough to allow my stiff and eager cock to spring free. With my wet finger, I circle the tip of my cock. Knowing her juices are on me is enough to almost have me come right there.

I groan when a bead of pre-cum rolls down the head of my soft tip.

I want her to taste it.

Heat warms my body as I jerk my hand from my dick and bring it back to her lips. I push my finger back into her mouth and drag my smear of semen along her tongue. A soft moan escapes her and it makes me ravenous for her.

Removing my finger once again, I then drag the bottom of her gown up to her belly button, revealing her * to me.

God, what I wouldn’t give to devour her right now.

But she’s not ready for me.

I should roll back over and go to sleep.

Yet, I know I can’t. I need to touch her and make her feel better again. Even if I am only able to reach her subconscious.

Grabbing onto the back of her thigh, I pull her knee toward me until it touches the bottom of my thick shaft. I slightly buck my hips against her thigh and groan at how perfect her smooth leg feels against it.

My fingers slide over her cunt and I probe at her opening with my longest finger. She’s slightly wet. I drag my finger over it several times. The craving to taste her is intense. I pull my finger to my mouth and suck on it.

God, she tastes f*cking amazing.

And now she’s all mine.

I need to f*ck up Gabe once and for all. Get her away from all of this.

Just her and me.

Once my finger is good and wet, I slide it back over her slit. I find her opening and slowly push into her. She whimpers and my cock lurches with desire.

“Mmm,” she purrs in her sleep.

It spurs me on and I f*ck her with my finger, lazily. I revel in the way her body grips it. She may have f*cked those two men, but she’s still tight. To further prove that fact, I push another finger into her. And then another. Her body accepts me and grows increasingly wet. My cock will stretch her further. Her cunt will take it—every thick inch of me.

With my free hand, I jerk at my dick in unison with each plunge of my fingers into her heat. One day soon, we’ll f*ck. Once I’m finally able to break down her walls, I can make love to her sweet body at all hours of the day. She’ll remember our love and find her way back to me.

Another small whimper fills the night air and it’s all it takes before I’m overtaken by my climax. Hot semen spurts all over my belly and I hiss out in pleasure. I’m beginning to relax from my high when she speaks. It’s murmured and in her sleep, but I still catch it.

“War.”

A whispered plea. A reverent evocation. A f*cking slap in the face spoken in a way in which I have never once heard my name come from her lips.

The name splashes over me, arctic and icy. I jerk my hand out from inside her. Fury surges through me to the point I’m physically shaking. Tiny threads of what was left of my control and sanity pluck one by one as the anger sweeps through me like a rampant tornado decimating everything in its path. I can actually feel the snap inside me—the shredding of the gentle boy I was before as the reborn man rips from within and bursts free. The man I’ve become flexes and snarls because he knows this means war. I can’t lose her to Gabe, only to lose her to this other guy, too. She belongs to me. It’s always been that way and now I have to fight for her. The old me couldn’t handle it but the new me is pumped up and ready to demolish anything in my path. Fuck that * for stealing her body from me and f*ck that other prick for stealing her heart. I’m going to do everything in my power to keep her away from that motherf*cker in the other room. And soon.