She wished she could stand there and kiss every inch of him, love every last bit of hurt out of his soul.
But it was late, and they were both yawning. She helped him dry off, wrapped a towel around her own hair, and got him tucked into her bed. She placed a kiss on his forehead. “Go to sleep, sweetie.”
“Is Ellis here yet?” Brad’s voice sounded hoarse, no doubt an effect of all the screaming.
“Not yet. I’m going to wait up for him, don’t worry.”
“Okay.” His eyes dropped closed and it sounded like he was falling asleep. Pers jumped up onto the bed and snuggled next to him.
“Don’t wake him up,” she whispered to the dog.
She grabbed her bathrobe and slippers and put them on. Closing the bedroom door behind her, she set herself up on the sofa with an extra pillow and sheet from the closet. She turned the TV on and tried to stay awake, but her eyes opened with a start when she heard a car door shut just below the apartment window.
She had dozed off. It was now 4:19, according to the time on the cable box.
She went downstairs to find Ellis coming through the door, laden down with garbage bags full of clothes. She grabbed a bag from him. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, I brought as much as I could.” He stopped and looked at her, their eyes meeting. He dropped everything and grabbed her, pulling her to him and crushing his lips against hers, stealing her breath and her heart.
“Thank you,” he said when he ended the kiss. His voice sounded ragged and full of emotion. “You have no idea how grateful I am to you and how much I love you right now. Thank you for not giving up on us. I don’t care how you figured it out. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you did it.”
She managed a smile despite wanting to break her self-imposed waiting period. “I love you, too. Let’s get you upstairs.”
“How is he?”
“Asleep. I gave him a shower and put him to bed. And that’s what you need to do, too. You won’t have long to sleep.”
She helped him ferry everything up to the apartment that could go up there. He’d brought one suit still neatly on a hanger to wear to work, and she volunteered to take the two garbage bags full of suits he’d pulled from his closet to the cleaners for him in the morning.
“I figured I’d better wash all my stuff, too,” he said. “I don’t want to risk him getting sick from them or spreading it to his clothes.”
“The washer’s down here, in the back room. Help yourself.”
Once they got the other bags of clothes stowed in the back room, she set another set of towels out for him in the bathroom. “I’m guessing you don’t have a problem sharing a bed with him? It’s a king-sized bed.”
He frowned. “Where are you sleeping?”
She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “On the couch.”
“But—”
She silenced him with a kiss on the lips. “We have all the time in the world now to figure things out. But I need sleep, and you definitely need sleep. He can sleep all day if he needs to.”
“I’ll sleep on the couch.”
She smiled. “The couch is too short for you. I’ll be fine. I’ve spent plenty of nights on it before. Go on and get your shower.”
Once again she didn’t know if she’d fall asleep, but when she opened her eyes again, it was daylight and she smelled coffee. Wearing nothing but a pair of briefs and a smile, Ellis walked over from the kitchen and dropped to his knees next to the sofa.
“Good morning,” he softly said. She suspected his smile would be just as deadly to her reserve as Brad’s, now that they’d finally managed their personal hurdle.
“Good morning. Is he awake yet?”
“No. If he’s not up by noon, please make sure to wake him up to take his meds.” He leaned in and kissed her. She found her hand cupping the back of his head, her fingers twining in his hair as she closed her eyes and savored it.
He laid one hand over her belly, his fingers working on the knot on her bathrobe before he pulled it open to expose her. She didn’t bother pushing his hand away. She wanted to find out what he had in store.
He broke their kiss to move down her body, his kisses blazing a scorching trail down her chest, along the valley between her breasts, down past her navel until he gently pushed her legs apart with his hands.
She started to offer up token protest, but his fingers unerringly found their way between her legs. Then he spread her labia and bent his head to her pussy.
She kept one hand in his hair, all the while praying he didn’t stop and thinking maybe this wasn’t the best idea right now. The other hand she clapped over her mouth to stifle the loud moan she let out when his lips nibbled at her clit.
He looked up her body, his blue eyes dark and smoky. “I owe you this. I interrupted you two the other day. You deserve this and more.” Before she could respond, he’d lowered his mouth to her clit again.
She couldn’t take her eyes off him, off the way he eagerly worshipped her body with his mouth, his tongue doing deliciously evil things to her aching clit. He shifted position, turning her and draping her legs over his shoulders as he set to work in earnest.
It felt like she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Her world ended outside the heat of his body as he flicked his tongue up and down her clit. Then he worked a finger between her folds, stroking it up and down, coating it in her juices before gently sliding it inside her pussy.
She arched her back, giving him better access as he finger-fucked her wet cunt. Mesmerized by his eyes, she couldn’t look away, didn’t want this moment to ever end.
Her body, however, begged for release, for the feel of an orgasm she didn’t have to give herself for the first time in too damn long.
She was vaguely aware of him doing something with his other hand, but she felt scorching tingles flaring out from her clit, followed by an avalanche of pleasure as her orgasm hit. For a few timeless moments that bliss became the focus of her world.
His eyes dropped closed as he let out a soft groan of his own, which vibrated out his mouth and through her pussy and triggered another orgasm for her. It was only after her senses slowly began returning and she caught her breath that she could begin to think about it.
Or think about anything.
He rested his cheek, scratchy with morning stubble, against her inner thigh. When he finally opened his eyes again, he wore a playful smile.
“Are you okay?” she managed.
He kissed the insides of her thighs before carefully untangling himself from her. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, but I couldn’t help myself.” She looked over the edge of the couch and saw that at some point he’d pulled his briefs down to expose his cock, which was quickly growing limp. His other hand was covered with his own cum.
Her cheeks heated a little. “I would have taken care of that for you,” she softly said, unable to take her eyes off his softening member, practically licking her lips over it.
He leaned in and kissed her. She tasted herself on his lips. “I figured you would have. But you did say you wanted to wait. I’m happy to wait as long as I know I can keep you satisfied.” His eyes searched her face. “I’ll wait as long as I need to. As long as you need me to. I know I screwed up the other night and I can’t believe how lucky I am that you’ve given me another chance. I know you’re probably the only woman in the world who can tolerate me putting him ahead of you in my life, because I know you’ll also put him ahead of me. And I love you even more because if it. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect woman.”
She was left trying to figure out how to respond to that when he leaned in and kissed her again. “And now I have to get a shower, shave, and get ready. I have clients coming in at eight and it’s almost seven.” He smiled. “Since I don’t have to take him to Tampa, I can’t play hooky from work.”