Julia
The early morning sun filtered into my bedroom, stirring me from a restful sleep, something I hadn’t enjoyed in nearly a week. Not since Agent Curran’s visit.
It was remarkable how different the world seemed now that I finally took a leap of faith. Finally allowed love into my heart.
Finally allowed my heart to love in return.
An arm snaked around my torso, pulling me close.
“I can hear you thinking,” Lachlan mused in a raspy voice.
I laughed slightly.
I’d lost count of the number of times we had this same conversation first thing in the morning. Such an insignificant, mundane part of our day.
But one of the many things that helped chip away at the wall around my heart.
“You can hear me thinking?”
“I can.” He peppered soft kisses along my shoulder blade, the gesture comforting, addicting.
“Then pray tell, Mr. Hale…” I shifted in the bed to face him.
When I threaded my fingers through his hair, he closed his eyes, basking in my touch. I inched my lips toward his, remaining a breath away.
“What am I thinking?”
“It doesn’t work that way.” His deep voice was laden with desire. “I can’t hear what you’re thinking. Just that you are.”
“Well then…” Pressing a hand to his chest, I forced him onto his back and crawled on top of him, straddling his waist. I circled my hips, my lips brushing his. “Let me show you what I was thinking.”
Lifting myself up slightly, I wrapped my hand around his erection, guiding him inside me, his arousal filling me inch by glorious inch.
“I really like what you were thinking,” he groaned, pulling me toward him, digging his fingers into my hair.
“I thought you might,” I mused just before he sealed his mouth over mine, tongues tangling as I moved against him, a dizzying current rushing through me.
“I bloody love what you were thinking. Love the way you move.” He cupped my face in his hands, not allowing me to look away. “I love you, Julia.”
My heart swelled in response to those three little words. But they weren’t just three words said out of duty or obligation, as I sensed was the case most of my life. But I physically felt the love this man had for me radiating through every inch of him. There was nothing fake or forced about it. It was real.
Probably the most real thing I’d ever experienced.
Bringing my lips back to his, I murmured, “And I love you, Lachlan.”
He sighed, touching his mouth to mine as I pulsed against him, chasing that sensation of bliss he’d spoiled me with multiple times last night. But with Lachlan, I always needed more. More of him. More of this euphoria. More of his love.
“I will never get tired of hearing you say that, beautiful.” He moved his hands to my hips and guided my motions, his own thrusts turning intense and demanding. “And I will never get tired of showing you how much I love you.” He brought a hand back to my head, pulling my mouth toward his. “How much you mean to me, love.”
“Oh god,” I moaned as his lips brushed mine, the combination of his words and the way he moved inside me pushing me higher and higher until I couldn’t fight it any longer, fireworks erupting in my core.
He pulled me close, swallowing my cries as he drove into me a few more times before he stiffened, succumbing to his own desires, our heavy breathing puncturing an otherwise peaceful morning.
I collapsed on top of him, basking in the warmth of his arms around me, comforting me. Reassuring me. Protecting me.
Loving me.
“Come to California with me today,” he murmured as he kissed the top of my head, his hands caressing my sweat-dotted back.