“I can handle it,” Miranda said. “Besides, I’ve been doing it by myself for so long, I don’t think I’d know how to allow someone else in.”
“With the right person, co-parenting is a great give-and-take. My ex-wife and I used to have it right until things unraveled.” He’d like to say it was Tyler’s death that had unraveled their partnership, but the truth was, he and his ex-wife had been falling further and further apart for years. He’d used work to patch the holes punched in his marriage, which had only served to make things worse. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, right? “I wish I could be that man for you,” he said.
His quiet admission caught her breath and her eyes welled. “I wish I could let you.”
He smiled and knuckled her cheek softly. “We’re a pair to draw to, aren’t we?”
She nodded and he dipped down to capture her mouth with his. He knew it was wrong. The right thing to do was to help dry her tears, suggest a few days off to collect herself and then get back to his day. That was how her supervisor would handle the situation. But what about the man who craved the touch of her skin beneath his fingertips, the sound of her breathy moans in his ear or the simple pleasure of holding her quietly as they drifted off to sleep? Everything was blurred in his head but it didn’t seem to matter because his heart was in control at the moment. Their tongues danced and slid along each other in a sweet tango that nearly broke his heart at the sadness he tasted in her tears. He wanted to shelter her, protect her and chase her pain away, but how could he possibly do that when he’d likely end up causing more pain in the end?
He couldn’t offer her what she needed. So why wasn’t he letting her go?
Simple—she made him feel alive again.
And he wanted more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THEY WALKED SLOWLY to his bedroom and tumbled to the bed. Their kisses became urgent as need eclipsed good sense. Miranda knew it was a bad idea to keep falling into bed with Jeremiah, but she desperately needed to feel something aside from this gaping hole of sadness and loss anchored in her chest. Logic and reason had nothing to do with her decision to sleep with Jeremiah again after staunchly telling herself it would never happen again, and she wasn’t going to pretend that there was a future in what she was doing.
They both knew where they stood.
And they didn’t care at the moment.
Jeremiah pressed urgent kisses down the center of her quivering belly, pausing to plunge his hot tongue into the bowl of her navel, teasing the sensitive spot in a simulation of what he wanted to do to her. She closed her eyes and threaded her fingers through his thick hair as he dipped lower to nuzzle the apex of her thighs, teasing the sensitive area without actually descending to that hot, aching spot that pulsed with need. When Jeremiah’s tongue finally delved between her damp folds, she was nearly breathless and shaking. She thrilled at the feeling of his strong, firm hands gripping her hips and holding her to him, nursing and teasing her secret pleasure nub as he slipped a finger inside her while his tongue worked dark magic on her clitoris. Within minutes Miranda was writhing, losing herself to the explosive pleasure that radiated pure happiness throughout her body as waves upon waves of sensation zoomed down her nerve endings, leaving her weak and gasping.
Jeremiah kissed her inner thigh and then climbed her body to stare into her eyes. “I can never seem to get enough of you.” She didn’t need to answer; he already knew she felt the same.
Miranda rose up and framed his face with her hands, pulling him to her. She tasted her own musk on his lips and it thrilled her to have something so primal between them. He responded by eagerly slipping his tongue between her teeth and coaxing her to dance with him again. She didn’t need much persuading and they rolled until he was on his back and she straddled his straining member. The heat of her core teased him into delirium and his grip on her hips became urgent. She didn’t tease him long and slid onto his hard penis, groaning as he stretched her with his thick length. She shuddered as she moved sensually, riding him slowly as to milk every last moment with him until its inevitable conclusion. “Jeremiah,” she moaned, loving the sound of his name on her lips. He tensed beneath her as he thrust against her heat, and as she reached her second climax, Jeremiah quickly followed. She collapsed against him, both of them breathing hard as they recovered, until she could climb off and roll to her back beside him. As the sweat dried on their bodies, awareness of their situation returned.