Breathless In Love

He’d never felt so wild with a woman as when he hauled her up, clamped his hands on her hips, and pulled her to his mouth. Jesus, she was sweet. Wet. He held her to him, drinking her in. He circled, spiraling down slowly until he touched the center of her pleasure.

Above him, she grabbed the headboard, her hips undulating, her body directing him, telling him how to move, where to kiss. He kneaded her hips in his hands, increasing the friction, the pleasure. Her sounds filled the room, gasps, sighs, little cries. He was voracious, consuming her as she shuddered, trembled.

And came completely apart for him.

But it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t let her go. Not yet. He had only enough thought left to grab a condom from the drawer before he came down between her legs. “Look at me.”

She opened her eyes, fuzzy with sated pleasure. “I don’t know who’s crazier anymore.”

“We’re crazy together.” Then he thrust home.

Closing his eyes, he held still, absorbed the feel of her around him. “So good,” he whispered. “So perfect.”

There was sex. And then there was this. One was merely physical. This was body and soul.

He pulled her leg to his waist and moved, slowly at first. She shuddered, circled his shoulders with her arms, and as she brought her other leg up, she looked into his eyes and whispered, “It’s too good.”

“It could never be too good.”

He held her hips, falling into her, retreating, then moving in deep again. Every muscle bunched, his blood pounded. And he could feel her around him, taking him, holding him tight. He could stay here forever.

Then she moaned. Her breath hitched. And he knew she was climbing again. He had to go with her this time, needed to jump off right along with her. Pumping faster, harder, going deeper, he steeped himself in her, “Harper. God. Yes. So good,” falling from his lips.

Her heart thudded hard with his. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and smelled their salty-sweet scent, tasted her on his tongue. The heat of her skin became his heat. Her body was indistinguishable from his. And when she convulsed around him, she dragged him over the edge with her.

He heard her name on his lips. He heard her cry out his.

Then his voice saying, “I love you.”

* * *

I love you.

Harper’s body, her head—but especially her heart—were all spinning as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. And what he’d just said.

“Harper?” He eased to his side, taking some of his weight from her, even as his arm tightened around her. “I love you.”

He’d put his hand on her cheek and turned her face to his as if he’d known she wouldn’t quite be able to process those three little words the first time he said them. And it was so tempting to say them back, her own I love you, too, right there on the tip of her tongue.

But the words wouldn’t come, almost as if they were locked up tight inside her, and she couldn’t find the key.

She could tell him about her fears—that he’d tire of her and Jeremy, that surely he couldn’t want to take both of them on when all the other men she’d come across had been horrified at the thought. But she already knew what he’d say—I’m not like them. And he wasn’t, because she knew how kind and generous he was.

Unfortunately, that fact didn’t change the others—his money, his lifestyle, or his ability to take whatever he wanted.

Harper knew her own self-worth, and yet, with the penthouse apartment, the limo, and the glittering jewels of all the people fawning over Will tonight... honestly, she couldn’t help but feel out of her depth. It had been like being tossed straight into the deep end when she was only just learning to swim.

More than anything, she wanted to love with her full heart and soul. All the way, nothing held back. Wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. And she knew he’d talk her out of every single doubt.

But how could she tell him she loved him unless she was able to talk herself out of those doubts?

When she looked back up at him, he was frowning. Her throat felt tight, her chest ached, and she wished she could tell him what he wanted to hear. Wished she was ready, that she was already there. “Will—”

Before she could try to figure out what else to say, he surprised her yet again by saying, “You’re smart not to say it back to me, Harper.”

Wait...he didn’t want her to say she loved him? Why would she be smart to hold a part of herself back from him?

But before she could voice any of those questions, he said, “You should know I’m not a nice guy. That’s why I haven’t told you how I felt about you. Because I’m not good enough for you. And yet I can’t make myself stay away even though I should.”

Not good enough for her? Will Franconi thought he was the one who wasn’t good enough?

All of this made her head whirl. It was happening so fast and was all so unexpected. Not just how sweet he’d been from the first day she and Jeremy had met him, but also how much he’d done for them since. And how much she wanted to let herself love him, all the way, with nothing held back. This was just supposed to be a thrill ride. But somehow, it had turned into so much more. And now that everything she’d been telling herself was true had spun on its ear, she didn’t know what to think. Or how to feel.

She knew only one thing. “No one has ever been nicer to me,” she told him. “Or to Jeremy.”

“That’s now. But back then—” He broke off and his chest rose with a deep breath as if he was trying to force himself to do something painful. “Remember when I said some kids were bullying Matt the day I met him?”