Page 42 of After Hours
When Romily slowly found her way back down to earth again, he was holding her in his arms and kissing her softly. All over her face and then down her body, pausing at her breasts to inspect her nipples. She knew he was making sure that the clamps hadn’t stayed on too long.
And when he was satisfied, he also made sure to try his teeth on them. Because of course he knew that they were sensitive.
She nuzzled up against him, the way she liked to do when they woke up together in the predawn hours. Before he went down to open his gym for the diehard 5 AM crew. He was always hard when he woke up and she was always happy to assist, and the first fuck of the day was always wild and hard and breathtaking.
And afterward, it was like this. She wouldn’t use the wordcuddlyout loud, only because she was certain her stern, beautiful Viking would take against it.
But she loved it. She loved every part of this. She loved how he pushed her. She loved the way he made her face herself. She loved that he demanded her trust, and never betrayed it, or her.
Her therapist had expressed some hesitation about Romily embarking on a relationship like this, that pushed so many boundaries that must certainly bring up things she’d prefer to forget. That seemed a little too close to things that had happened to her that didn’t end quite so orgasmically.
But to Romily, there was no comparison.
Joseph had been a monster. There was no other way to put it.
Being with Zachary was like an exorcism. Somehow, she’d never felt more like herself. She didn’t wear masks. He didn’t pretend to be something he wasn’t. He was the most forthright person she’d ever met.
And he was so beautiful he made her heart hurt inside her chest.
She lifted her face to his and she smoothed her hand over the harsh planes of his face. She let his beard gently abrade her palms.
“I hope this is okay to say,” she said quietly. Softly. “But Zachary. I’m so in love with you.”
She watched, not sure if she was holding her breath or merely frozen still, as his blue eyes blazed.
And then that mouth of his, so stern when he wanted it to be and so wicked when he used it against her in so many delectable ways, curved.
“That’s the best news I’ve heard in years,” he told her, his hand a fist in her hair. “And not a moment too soon, baby. I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with you since the day we met.”
He didn’t go off into a flowery speech, because he didn’t need to dress things up. He didn’t promise her the sun and the moon and the stars because he preferred to deliver them in bed, and often. He didn’t just mirror back the things she said to him, so it seemed like they were in tune—she wouldn’t fall for that again.
She’d never known Zachary to say anything unless he meant it.
Which meant that if he said he loved her, he really did.
Romily felt as if he’d made her brand-new. Shiny and bright andhappy.
Then he leaned in and kissed her in his typically filthy, addictive way.
“I think we should celebrate,” he told her then. “And I know how. I think it’s time we go get your shit.”
Chapter Eleven
He carried her into the bathroom and set her down on one of the benches in the shower. He got the water to her preferred temperature and the steam billowing, then spent a good bit of time inspecting Romily’s lovely body the way he always did, to make sure the games they played left only the marks he wished her to wear.
She sat back and watched him, her gaze still soft and warm. “I love you,” she told him, as he knelt there before her. “I had no idea it was possible to love this much without it being dangerous.”
He smiled, and nipped the inside of her wrist as he held her hand. “Little bird, it’s always dangerous. What it’s never going to be isdamaging. Never.”
And the gold in her eyes was so bright it made the sunshine pouring in the windows seem pale in comparison.
This was what he’d wanted, Zachary thought. This was what he’d been certain they could have. What he hadn’t expected was how it felt like peace inside him.
Like after all this time, from his earliest memories through prison to the life he’d led since, he was finally home.
As safe with this woman as she was with him.
It felt like a fucking sacrament.
