“Do you want to go to school in North Carolina?”

I shook my head. “I want to be here.”

“Then I do, too. Burn the letter.”

I still couldn’t grasp that he was really in Colorado. “How long have you been here?”

“A few weeks—just long enough to buy the house. You said you needed to tackle that stuff on your own, and I wasn’t going to take that away from you.”

“You’ve been waiting for me? In the same city? For weeks? It must have been hell.” There was no way I could have been that close to him and not have called, reached out, touched him. God, standing here without stripping him down was taking every ounce of restraint I had.

“I would wait forever for you.”

We both snapped, reaching for each other in a fury of open mouths and searching hands. My jacket hit the floor, followed shortly by his. We made our first official mess as we ripped clothes off in a haphazard trail up the stairs.

Something told me it wouldn’t be the last time I left my bra in the upstairs hallway.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sam

His hands were everywhere, stroking my breasts, rolling my nipples, gripping my waist. He pushed me back against the wall, and I barely registered him hitting his knees until he held my folds apart and put his mouth on me.

I screamed his name.

It had been so long, and my body was starved for him. His touch ignited an instant fire that consumed every nerve ending and left me frantic.

His fingers dipped inside me, and as I whimpered, he caressed my inner walls until he found my G-spot and then relentlessly rubbed it, curling his fingers inward as he drew my clit into his mouth and sucked.

My knees shook, and then my whole body trembled as I fell apart. He caught me before I fell to the ground.

“Condom,” I whispered, aching and desperate to have him inside me.

“We’re done with the no sex?” he half teased. Once I ran my hand over his length and pumped twice, he wasn’t teasing anymore. “Condom,” he agreed, finding a package somewhere near his pants and rolling it over his erection.

He gripped behind my upper thighs and lifted me in one small motion.

“That’s so fucking sexy,” I said against his jawline as I wrapped my legs around his hips, lining us up perfectly. He carried me toward the bed. “I always wondered if you could hold me upright while we did this.”

He stopped and arched an eyebrow. “Lock your ankles.”

Those words alone had me throbbing again, my muscles clenching with stark need. He kissed me with sweeping strokes of his tongue, and I gasped at the taste of us mingled together. Capturing me with a fierce gaze, our open mouths barely an inch apart, he lowered me until, inch by inch, he slid inside me.

Thank you, God. I couldn’t hold back the moan that ripped free as he finally thrust home. I buried my face in his neck and felt the fine tremor that rolled through him as my body adjusted to him.

“Fuck, I missed you, Sam.” He said as he began to move slowly. “Every part of you. Every inch of your skin, every sarcastic comment from your mouth, every touch of your fingers. All. Of. You.” He punctuated each of the last words with a thrust.

“I love you.” My brain lost its ability to think, but I knew I wanted more. “Harder,” I ordered.

He tried to laugh. “I’m doing my best to go soft here.”

“Soft later. Hard now.” He could make love to me all night long. He’d better. But now, I needed everything he had without holding back.

“I love you,” he echoed. “Now hold on.” He started a deep, pounding rhythm that demanded I do just that. My arms looped around his neck and held tight as he drove into me over and over again, the muscles in his arms bulging as he lifted me up and slammed me back down.

He shifted his hands to my ass, and tension spiraled in me again, tighter with every thrust. The man was a machine. Our eyes locked, our breaths mingled, and it was hotter than him sliding in and out of me. I was pretty sure Grayson could bring me to orgasm with a look if he tried hard enough.

He backed up until he hit the edge of the bed and then sat, grasping each of my ankles and bringing my knees flush along his hips. “I can fuck you like that all day long, but I think this might be better for you.”

I let loose a wicked grin, rose up and slid back down, watching the change in his eyes. I felt powerful, desirable, and his.

Grayson’s fingers slipped between us to massage my clit as I rode him, and any of my previous thoughts fled. There were only our bodies, and the rhythm that drove us higher, brought us closer together.

“Grayson,” I cried as my muscles locked.

“I’ve got you,” he growled, pressing on those nerves just right, and I flew. My orgasm set his off, and we clung together as we came back down.

His lips were soft as he kissed me.

“Whoa,” I said, raking my nails gently over his scalp.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly,” he commented, and rolled us so we lay side by side.

I couldn’t stop looking at him, or running my fingers along the back of his neck. “I missed you so much.”

“You don’t have to miss me anymore.” His slight smile would have collapsed my knees if I’d been standing.

“And you’re sure that you’re okay here?” I had to ask. He’d given up so much for me. For us.

He smiled, and my heart faltered. “It was selfish of me to ask you to give up what you worked your ass off for. I’m here. I’m not leaving you until the army says we have to move, and then I’m kind of hoping you’ll come with me. We should have at least a couple years here, long enough to finish your degree. But I promise we’ll keep this house. Our kids will mark their heights on that door.”