“How much I love you. How far down the rabbit hole I fell when I slid inside you and accepted what you’d been saving for me. I’d never made love without a condom before, and you being the first was—”
“Meant to be,” I whispered, running my thumb down his cheek.
“Yes,” he agreed, nodding with disbelief. “It was like you washed me clean, baby. In that moment, I was your first and you were mine. I was lost.” He lowered his forehead to my belly and took a shuddering breath. “The emotions are overpowering, Honey. To know how right this feels, and to know how much time I wasted to avoid it, is killing me.”
He lifted his head, and there was so much pain in his eyes. Some of that pain fell from them and down his cheeks. I wiped the tears away with loving hands. “Don’t cry, Mattie. It wasn’t your fault. It was just the universe giving us time to make sure that when we came together, we’d know it was right and worth fighting for.”
He lifted my hand and brushed a kiss across it. “I just want you to know how I feel. I never want to leave anything unsaid again. I never want you to feel like you aren’t the most important person in my life. You are, baby, you are.”
I smiled a shaky smile. “Same.”
He hooked his arms under my thighs and rested them on his shoulders. His chin dug into the softness of my mound, and he raised his eyebrows. “I’m going to show you how much.”
“Mattie?” I held his gaze until his head dipped. His tongue took a swipe across my still swollen bud, and I gasped out his name. “Mattie!”
He laughed, and the vibration that rippled through me made me moan with frustration and pleasure. I was a hot mess of sensations, and each time he made love to me, the feeling only heightened. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to take much more. He buried his nose between my folds and dipped his tongue inside me, teasing me with every thrust, every exhale of his breath over my skin, and every moan my matching thrusts dragged from his throat. The skill of his tongue was too much for me. I couldn’t fight the wave that set me up on top of it and carried me across the water. I was riding that wave when I felt him on top of me, his voice demanding that I open my eyes.
I was shuddering when my eyes came open, and he hung above me, his body filling mine, and his hips thrusting against my muscles as they contracted. “Honey,” he hissed, his eyes all pupil, “you’re mine, do you understand me?” His words were a question, but his thrusts were the answer.
His lips came down on mine, and I tasted myself there, which only drove me higher in my desire to please him. He was all mine. I was all his. There was no going back to an hour ago, much less last night.
“Open your eyes,” he growled, his hips thrusting faster, and his body twitching with the need to release inside me. To join me where I already was and to fly together again.
“Mattie,” I moaned, barely forcing them open to thin slits. “I can’t stop coming. Please,” I begged. He grasped my chin in his fingers and thrust hard, his demand for me to watch him no longer a chore. I had to see him fall over, even if it meant my pleasure ended when his began.
He lowered himself and rested his lips next to my ear as he thrust slower now, drawing every last bit of pleasure from both of us. “I’m so close, baby. I’ve never come so many times in one night before. What does that tell you? What does that tell you?” he asked again, his words breathless as his hips twitched, his restraint nearly killing him.
“We’re made for each other.” I pushed my hips upward and took him in another half inch.
It was all he could take. I hung there; his body fit with mine in perfect harmony. I squeezed, forcing him to remain still and give himself over to me. He was panting as a moan tore from his lips. “Honey!” he begged with his lips at my ear. “God, please.”
“Please, what?” I asked, turning my head and capturing his lips so he couldn’t answer. With his tongue in my mouth, I pulled my hips away and thrust upward again, taking him to my core and coming around him until there was no way he could hold back. He collapsed against me, his hips still thrusting, and his moans filling the room as we loved each other completely and without hesitation.
♥
The patio was chilly on this overcast day, and I spread the paperwork out, trying to make sense of all the numbers and letters listed on the papers. Whatever Milas had been involved in, I didn’t know, but it looked to me like it wasn’t the least bit legal. If it were, he wouldn’t have worked so hard to hide what he was doing, right? Mathias had promised me steak and potatoes tonight if I could help him make heads or tails of this paperwork, but I could see I wouldn’t be eating steak tonight, not at this rate.
I blew out a breath and rubbed my eyes. I was tired, but that was to be expected considering the number of times we’d made love last night. We’d both been wearing goofy grins on our faces all day, and we couldn’t wipe them off. The lack of sleep last night wasn’t helping my concentration today, but I wasn’t going to complain. I wanted to do it all over again tonight. I wanted to do it every night for the rest of my life. When he melted before my eyes from the always confident Mathias into the soft, gentle, loving Mattie, it was gratifying and heart-rending at the same time. I’d wanted his love for so long, and now that I had it, I would never take it for granted. I’d wondered if flipping the switch from best friends to lovers would be awkward, and I half expected it to be, but it wasn’t. It so wasn’t. It was as natural as breathing, and the way I felt this morning, I understood how much I would need his love to breathe for the rest of my life. It was fair to say Mattie felt the same way. He didn’t want to get out of bed this morning, and when we did, he insisted we shower together, where he washed me lovingly before holding me under the warm spray in his arms until the water ran cold.
I shook my head to get it back in the game of business. After googling the first name I found on one of the documents, I realized quickly there were too many guys named Mateo to know where to start without a last name.
“Okay, let’s just search this number,” I said to the air. “Maybe it’s a phone number or something.” I typed in the number and the letter and waited for my computer to pull it up. When it did, I cocked my head. “What? Montana?” I paused, and the piece I was missing fell into place. “These are coordinates!”
I quickly typed in the next number and put it with the other coordinate. The numbers pinpointed the town of Plentiful. “Wow, what’s going on?” I asked myself, ready to decode all the numbers, when I heard the Dutch door close behind me.
“Honey,” Mattie said, and I spun around.
“Hey, you’re never going to believe this—” I stopped short at the look on his face. “What’s wrong?”
He pulled up a chair and sat, took my hands, and held them in his lap. “Nothing is wrong, but I have to tell you something. I don’t want you to get upset.”
I cocked my head to the left in confusion. “What did you do?” I asked jokingly.
He shook his head, and I could see in his eyes he wasn’t in a joking mood.
“Mattie, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
He tried to smile, but it was shaky at best. “Far just called. Mor had her surgery today.”
