The look in his eyes told me how serious he was. I would be lying if I said I’d never thought about what a life with Derek at my side would look like. From the moment he told me he wanted to see where things between us went, I had small blips of visions of what we could be together. And maybe it was silly to be feeling this emotional over that admission when we were officially dating, but there was something about hearing him admit it. I didn’t know if it was the way his eyes locked with mine with so much intention behind them, or how loudly my heart was pounding in my ears, but something shifted inside me.
“I’m in love with you.” I blurted.
What the fuck, Colton?
My hand flew to my mouth immediately, almost as if Ineeded to keep anything else from tumbling out. The look of pure shock on Derek’s face surely matched my own as we sat there, the silence hanging in the air.Fuck, fuck, fuck.This was not how I wanted this to go. I had a plan for crying out loud! But, now that it was out there, I couldn’t take it back—not that I wanted to. I knew that my love for Derek was real in a soul-crushing, life altering kind of way.
“Do you mean it?” Derek asked cautiously after a moment.
I swallowed heavily, tampering down the fear that coiled deep in my belly. “I do,” I croaked after taking a fortifying breath, nodding my head in case the words were too garbled from emotion.
We sat there, locked in a stare that felt like an eternity until a slow smile spread over Derek’s face before it bloomed into something radiant. Something hopeful and real. Emotion burst in my chest as I watched the way the corners of his eyes crinkled with intense joy, a half stunned chuckle coming from him. And without any words shared between us, I knew he felt the same.
CHAPTER 23
Derek
Yet again,Colton Shaffer was knocking me off my feet in the best way possible. Nothing about our relationship had mirrored any of the ones I’d been in before and while this was not the first time someone had professed their love to me, they paled in comparison to the pure elation that coursed through me now.
Colton Shaffer was fuckingin lovewith me.
“I love you, too.” The words tumbled from me when I realized I’d never said them back. Rounding the table quickly, I cupped his face to press several kisses against his lips. The corners of his mouth turned up as he kissed me back, every one full of so much tenderness and affection. When he pulled away, those green eyes that had captured me from the first moment I saw them now shone with such longing and devotion it took my breath away.
“Really?” He asked tentatively, pulling me onto his lap.
“Yeah, I love you.” I said, going in to capture his lips again. I’d intended for it to be a quick peck, but the moment we came into contact with each other, Colton’s hands ran up my back, pulling me against his chest as he tilted his head to deepen it.
His tongue licked along the seam of my lips, a soft groan escaping me as I opened for him instantly, the sound quickly devoured by the building need between us. While I knew it had only been a few days, somehow it felt like a millennia since my hands were last on Colton’s skin. A throaty moan escaped from him as I sucked eagerly on his tongue, my own desperation ratcheting higher with the sound.
“Bedroom,” I panted when he began trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses down my jaw and behind my ear.
My balls tingled at the rough chuckle he let out, the tone alone telling me his switch had flipped. But that hungry look in his eyes as he urged me off his lap confirmed it.
We were both barely standing before strong arms hauled me back in for another blistering kiss, my mind going blank at the domineering way Colton maneuvered us toward our room.
Our clothes were casualties, littered along the way like a trail of breadcrumbs to the scene of a debaucherous crime. By the time my body fell backward onto the mattress, Colton’s warm skin was completely on display, my fingers itching to run over every smooth plain of muscle. My eyes greedily took in the way his chest rose and fell in short pants, the clean lines of his strong arms, the taut skin over his stomach, and the tantalizing V of his hips.
Fuck, he was so sexy. I watched in rapt fascination as he gave a few deliberately hard tugs on his already leaking erection. But when my eyes found his again, there was a look of vulnerability there that had me pausing.
“What is it?” I asked, sitting up slightly to rest on my forearms.
Colton’s tongue slipped out, wetting his lower lip, his breathing still coming out in quick puffs, before he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, determination shone clear within them. “I had this whole plan for tonight. I was going to wine and dine you, show you how much I love you beforebeing a little more tactful in telling you,” he winced a bit but continued on.
“And since it’s been going to hell in a hand basket, I want you to know we don’t have to do the rest of what I planned,” he paused to lick his lips again, leaving them wet and shiny, my lust-drunk mind loving the sight. “But, I was thinking you could fuck me tonight.”
Heat pulsed from my chest, coursing its way through my veins till every part of me felt enveloped. I couldn’t deny that the thought of being inside of Colton turned me on fiercely.
“Is that what you want?”
Green eyes locked onto mine as he nodded. “I told you I’m verse, and it’s something I’d like to share with you. But, if you’re not into the idea, we don’t have to.”
I sucked in a deep breath, shaking my head. “I want to. I really want to.”
For a moment, the dark gaze Colton swept over me felt predatory, my pulse beating rapidly as he stalked over to the bed and crawled over me. But something inside me flipped when he rolled us so I was on top. Looking down on the man I loved, some animalistic instinct took over as my own heated stare traced over his features. I wanted to claim, be claimed, have marks covering us both so the world knew we belonged to each other. Our erections slotted together, the feeling causing me to automatically buck against him and a satisfied moan slipping from me at the sight.
Dragging my fingers up Colton’s sides, my mouth slamming down onto his with such desperation that our teeth clacked together. The throaty sound of appreciation he let out as I flicked my thumbs over his piercings was heady and I drank it down.
Dropping feather-light kisses along his jaw and neck, I made my way down to his nipples before slotting my mouth over one. Cool metal quickly heated as my tongue laved over the raised bud, circling it and flicking in equal measure. I couldfeel Colton’s fingers running up into my hair, his back arching into me as he gasped in pleasure. “Fuck, Derek.”
