Page 87 of It Destroys Me

She looked at me like she expected me to say something.

I stared back and waited for a question.

But she didn’t ask it.

All I wanted was to shower and throw her on the bed.

But she seemed in a different headspace. “You—you were sleeping with someone.” She didn’t phrase it as a question but as a concrete accusation.

“There was no one else, Astrid.”

She blinked a couple times. “Bolton said you were seeing someone named Laura?—”

“And you believed him?” I asked incredulously. “He wanted you to think that so you’d forget about me. There was no one else, sweetheart. I slept alone every night. The only woman I thought of was you.”

Her chin dropped again as her eyes remained full of sadness, as if I hadn’t just corrected her horrible assumption. “I should have known what he was doing. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” I wasn’t offended she’d accepted his lies as fact. Not when he was out of our lives forever. Not when we finally had the fresh start we deserved.

She looked at me again before she stood up. But she didn’t crawl into my chest like she had on the plane. She just looked at me instead. “Now that he’s gone, I can claim his assets and get my own place. I should throw away all of his money, but after the shit he put me through, I feel entitled to it. Can I stay here for a couple days while I figure that out?”

It was such a stupid question that I didn’t know what to say. I just stared at her.

When she grew uncomfortable from my stare, she looked away.

“I told you I love you.”

Her eyes lifted to look at mine.

“Which means everything I already told you. I’m possessive. Jealous. Borderline psychotic. And you think I’m gonna let you leave? You think I’m going to let you live anywhere else but here with me?”

Her uneasiness slowly faded as a light entered her eyes, like those words meant the world to her. Like she’d only offered to move because she thought that was what I wanted. “I didn’t want to be presumptuous?—”

“I love you, so be fucking presumptuous.”

Her eyes started to water again.

“This is your home.” I walked up to her and cupped her face with my hands. “I’m your home.” Two tears fell, and I swiped them away with my thumbs, looking at the first woman who’d made me feel something in years.

Her hands gripped my forearms before she looked at me. “I love you.”

Without an ounce of hesitation in my heart, I said it back. “I love you too.” There’d been several times I’d felt it but didn’t say it. Kept it bottled up inside until it dissipated. But now, I let it out. And it felt right.

I expected her to want to take it slow for a while since she’d spent the last few weeks trapped with Bolton, but once we were out of the shower, she wanted me—and she wanted me bad.

“I want you…” She whispered it in the sexiest way, moving to her back on the bed, her head on my pillow, asking me to conquer her body with mine.

I moved on top of her, kissing her hips and moving up her stomach before I sucked each of those nipples into my mouth. I kissed her chest and neck, fisted her hair before I kissed her on the mouth and felt her moan against my lips.

I’d felt the desire of every woman I’d ever had, but Astrid’s desperation was different. Her longing was deep and full of ache. When she grabbed me, she held on like she didn’t want to let me go.

Her thighs squeezed my hips, and her ankles locked at the top of my ass as her hands explored my back. She kissed me like she needed me more than she ever had. And she continued to whisper the sexiest words I’d ever heard. “I want you.”

My desire had disappeared when she’d left. It was ironic to be accused of fucking other women when I had no libido at all. My dick hadn’t been hard once, not even when I woke up in the morning. But now that I could feel her soft flesh against mine, feel how wet her sex was, I was so fucking hard I thought I might die.

I pushed inside her, and she moaned the whole way through. There was no wince or clench of her body. She just wanted my dick, all of it, missed the hurt as much as the pleasure. “Fuck, I missed this pussy.” My memory was shit because I couldn’t remember it feeling like this, like a jar of warm honey that coated me down to the balls.

“Yes…” Her heels tugged on my ass, wanting more than she could take because it was her job to handle all of me. Every night for the rest of her life. In every hole on her body. With the same enthusiasm she showed me now.