Only You (Sweet Torment 2)

My chest lightened. “Really?”

He nodded and ran his fingers along my jaw. “From the second we met I had hoped for more.” He smiled. “Started when I walked in to find you on your hands and knees picking up chocolates and I hoped so hard you would reach just a little farther under the desk so I could see—”

I lightly smacked his chest and he chuckled. Catching my hand, he held it against his heart and I felt the strong beat soothe me.

“Then I hoped to see you again. But you left, and I hoped I’d never see you again.” There was a hint of anger in his voice and that time it was directed at me. But his face softened.

“And now?”

“Now I just hope you’ll never stop looking at me the way you are right now.”

“What way is that?” I whispered.

“Like you need me. It’s that look”—he traced his thumb along my lower lip—“you gave the first night I met you. And I haven’t been right since.”

I gasped. Everything I felt crashed into me. “I do need you, Leo. So much it scares me.”

Pulling my face the few remaining inches to meet his, he kissed me. It was sweet and sincere, as if giving me a silent promise that I was more than temporary. I’d taken a risk today, several actually. I’d said things I shouldn’t have. Like I loved Leo. Like I needed him. Despite the fact that he hadn’t technically said it back, it didn’t matter in the moment. I felt him. Felt his intensity. And I held on to that hope that he loved me.

The most dangerous hope I’d ever had.

He laid me back on the bed and slowly kissed down my throat, peeling off my top as he traced every newly exposed inch of skin with his tongue. I wove my fingers into his thick hair and kept him close.

“I need you too, angel”—he kissed the swell of my breast—“and I’ve been beyond scared for a while now.”

His admission made my whole body beg for him. To be a part of him. Of his life. Of his body. Of his family. Leo was something greater, something beyond my wildest dreams, and I wanted him so desperately it ate at me like a savage ache.

It didn’t take long for him to get both of us naked. He didn’t pull back the sheets. There, atop the mattress and exposed in every way, I lay beneath Leo. The only warmth and shield I had was him.

“Leo . . .” I whispered his name as he trailed his lips to my belly button.

“I’m here, angel.” Laving at my stomach, he reached up and cupped my breasts. Grazing his thumbs over my nipples made shivers break over my skin and my blood hotter. It was an amazing, confusing feeling. Every area Leo touched burned up, while every inch of skin the air hit was chilled. Hot. Cold. Need.

Grabbing his wrist, I tugged slightly so that his hand came to my mouth. Needing to taste him, any way I could, I sucked on his fingers.

He groaned and nipped my hipbone. He pushed himself up, and I reluctantly let my hold on him go as he grabbed a condom quickly from the bedside table and put it on.

He settled between my thighs, and I wrapped my legs around him as he nudged my entrance. Threading his arms under my shoulders, he held me tightly and barely pushed an inch inside, then stilled.

“Paige?” He leaned back enough to look me in the eyes. “You look sad.”

I realized then that my thoughts were, in fact, sad.

“I was just thinking.”

“About what?” he whispered.

The truth came out before I could stop it. “About how this is my last week working for you. Then we’re done. And I’ll be gone.”

His brow sliced down hard and, honestly, I felt the same slice to my chest. Gone. The word packed so much hurt that I could barely swallow.

“No,” he said and slipped another inch inside of me. “Not gone. Stay here. With me.” Another inch. “Like this.”

I wanted to scream yes. To tell him I’d stay with him forever if he’d let me. “I’ll stay.” I smiled and lifted my hips, coaxing him to fill the last part of me. He did. I gasped. With our bodies connected and my heart in his hands, I knew temporary was off the table.

He wanted me to stay.

However or whatever that meant, we’d figure out later. For now, I was his, in his arms. I was clinging to the one man who made me a part of his world. And I wasn’t letting go.