An hour ago, she’d felt like utter spiraling shit, and somehow he’d managed to make her laugh, bring her comfort and understanding, and help her escape all the mess. Making it so that all she felt now was euphoria. Sheer and complete.
“Aw, fuckin’ hell, Daniela,” Sean groaned, the deep rumble of it licking up her spine. God, she liked knowing that she wrecked him, too.
“You gonna come inside me, Sean?” she said, peering over her shoulder.
As soon as their gazes met, Sean fell forward on top of her, his strong arms shifting her up the bed so that she was lying flat on her stomach and he was covering her from face to toes. “Fuck, Dani, take everything I got,” he said, face to face with her. Eye to eye. Sensation tightened between her legs. But her reaction was even greater than that, because something in his words had her stomach fluttering, too. Like, maybe, he didn’t just mean his orgasm. Like he meant something more.
“Did you just ask me if I wanted you to come in, or if I wanted you, also?”
He wanted her.
He wants me.
The fundamental truth of that cracked her right open.
She moaned as the orgasm rolled through her, and then lost her breath to his thoroughly claiming kiss. She didn’t mind though because just then he groaned out her name and gripped her tight. She felt the jerk of his orgasm and the clench of his muscles everywhere. They shared panting breaths, lurid, drawn-out kisses, and lingering stares. Dani didn’t think she was imagining the raw emotion in Sean’s eyes.
The desire. The invitation. The hope.
And it was the hope that reached inside Dani’s own chest and lit a spark that had been dark for years, that she thought would never bloom into embers or flames again. Could never even get ignited again.
Yet, as they lay there panting, his massive body still holding her down and making it hard to breathe, she couldn’t find it in herself to smother that little flicker of light. Or to feel bad…for the first time in forever.
“Shit, sorry,” he said, sliding to the side of her but not so far that they weren’t still touching.
She shook her head against the sheets. “Don’t apologize. Felt good.”
A smile played around his lips and lit up those dark eyes. God, it took so little to please him, which made her realize how much he fed off of the smallest bits of praise. It made something squeeze in her chest, and maybe that was why she suggested it. “Should we continue the movie marathon?”
Sean’s expression morphed from lazy masculine satisfaction to boyish delight in about two seconds. “Seriously? Hell, yes.” He slid off the bed and stood in all his naked glory, one hand cupping at the condom and the other scratching at his bruised chest. “We’re up to the second Thor movie.”
Dani grinned and scooted to the edge of the bed. “Ooh, Thor.”
He smirked and made for the bathroom, and she took full advantage of watching that ass in motion. Jesus. “Do you only like these movies for Captain America’s ass and Thor’s…hammer?” he asked from the bathroom doorway.
She retrieved her thong from the floor and made a show of sliding it back up her legs before she put her skirt to rights again. “I mean, that doesn’t hurt. But, really, why would I need them when I have you right here in person?”
He stalked toward her, his expression so damn satisfied. “Is that right?” His hands settled possessively on her hips, and an arrogant smirk painted his lips—one that before might’ve irked her as much as it attracted her. Now she knew it was just a part of their give-and-take and that there was a whole lot more beneath the mask of arrogance that Sean Riddick sometimes wore.
“Of course,” she said, feeling too soft and satisfied and uninhibited to hold anything back. “These movies are awesome, Sean. But you’re the real thing.”
Chapter Fourteen
A week ago, Sean had been body slammed by a truck and his world had been turned upside down. But standing there with Dani’s praise hanging in the air between them, Sean felt like he’d been body slammed again.
In a good way. But one that still turned his world upside down.
Because he wasn’t used to people thinking the best of him. Sure, he knew people liked him. And why not? He was a smart-ass motherfucker who knew how to have a good time and make people laugh. But that wasn’t the same as being thought of as a fundamentally good person.
As being the real thing.
Especially after what he’d done.
Sean swallowed as he tried to think of a comeback. But Dani might as well have coldcocked him for how tongue-tied he was.
“Gotta use the bathroom. Meet you downstairs?” she asked, totally casual-like, but his gut told him she was also giving him a graceful out from this moment.