“Touch yourself,” I commanded, knowing I wouldn’t last much longer. “I want you to come around my cock.”
Beth’s hand slid between our bodies, her fingers findingher clit. The sight of her pleasuring herself while I drove into her was almost my undoing.
“I’m close,” she warned, her movements growing frantic.
“Come for me, baby,” I encouraged, my thrusts becoming erratic as my own orgasm approached. “Let go. I’ve got you.”
Her body tensed beneath me, her back arching as she came with a cry of my name. The rhythmic clenching of her inner walls around my cock pushed me over the edge. I buried myself deep inside her as my release tore through me, groaning her name as pleasure exploded behind my eyelids.
For several moments, we remained locked together, our bodies trembling with aftershocks. Eventually, I carefully withdrew, disposing of the condom before collapsing beside her on the narrow bed.
In the aftermath, we lay tangled in each other’s arms, our pulses gradually returning to normal.
I pulled her close, her head on my chest, my arms wrapped securely around her. It felt... foundational. Right.
She lifted her head, her eyes shining in the dim light. “I missed you,” she murmured, her voice thick with sleep and emotion.
My thumb brushed her cheek as I gazed at her. “I missed you too. But we’re with each other now.”
She smiled, her eyes glowing. “We are.”
Beth traced lazy patterns on my chest. “Are you really going to stay in New York for a while?”
“Yeah,” I said, playing with a lock of her fiery hair. “Danny’s on it. He’s reworking my schedule. I’ll have to fly out for some prior commitments, but I can base myself here for the next couple of months. We’ll make it work.”
“Good,” she murmured, snuggling closer.
As Beth’s breathing evened out in sleep, I stared up at theceiling, my mind surprisingly calm. Of course, there were still complications, uncertainties ahead. But right now, with Beth warm and safe in my arms, none of it seemed to matter. The connection between us was undeniable, a powerful force that felt less like a choice and more like an inevitability. I might have come to New York telling myself it was about making things right, about ensuring she was okay. And it was. But lying here now, I knew it had always been about this. About finding my way back to her.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BETH
I wokeup tangled in my sheets, the scent of Sean still lingering on my pillow. My body felt boneless, thoroughly satisfied in a way that went far beyond just the physical. I turned to find the bedside empty. Sean must have snuck out while I was sleeping.That bloody bastard!I chuckled, remembering I’d done the exact same thing to him.
A handwritten note was on the pillow.“Magical night. Call you later. xo”.
Dangerous thoughts bloomed in the quiet of the morning: This is what it feels like to be happy,and in love.I immediately tried to crush them. Happiness was a liability. And love? Love was an absolutely insane thought. The last thing I needed on top of my mountain of other problems was a broken heart.
This thing with Sean… it was moving too fast. That night in his hotel room back home had been a perfect, passionate storm, an “out-of-this-world” brilliant one-night-stand.
What we had here, was a whole different game entirely. Part of me was absolutely terrified of the wreckage it could leave behind. I was here to focus. To prove myself at Hillsdale. Sean was a wonderful, terrifying complication, but my career, my one shot at proving to my parents and myself that I wasn’t a complete fuck-up, had to be the priority.
Despite my worry, the warm afterglow of my night with Sean lingered until the second I sat down at my desk at the Hillsdale Foundation. A fresh mountain of envelopes sat waiting for me, a monument to my continued purgatory. I’d been here just over a week, and this was still my reality.
I sighed, picking up an envelope and staring at it with contempt. My fingers were already getting sore. The “meaningful work” Garrett kept promising felt more distant than ever.
“Almost done?” Abigail asked as she passed my desk.
“Nearly there,” I replied, forcing a smile.
I glanced at my watch. Two-thirty. Only half an hour until my meeting with Garrett. He’d promised again yesterday to get me involved with the gala planning committee, saying he was “working on it” with Ms. Henderson. But here I sat.
The clock ticked by at a snail’s pace while I mechanically folded letters. My thoughts, despite my best efforts, wandered back to Sean. To last night. My cheeks flushed, remembering how his hands had felt on my body, his lips…
“Focus, Beth,” I muttered to myself. I needed to concentrate on proving myself here.
Garrett had seemed so confident when we first met. “Just need to handle it delicately with Ms. Henderson,” he’d said. But his “handling it” so far consisted of cornering me in the break room and then meeting me at a bar.
