Bossy Grump

This isn’t like the last few times we fucked.

Each thrust gets a languid kiss back.

Her legs fuse to me, but it’s not frantic, even when she goes off in screaming fireworks of clutched limbs and wordless pleas.

She’s just taking me deeper—closer.

Shit, does she feel it too?

The absolute shot of insanity when we’re joined?

The one that pinches my ear and whispers a jealous commandment. Keep her, you fool.

That harsh voice owns me tonight as surely as I own her.

And it’s too much for my sizzling blood.

My hips ram hers like a war piston, and we go careening over the hottest finish of my life together.

“Paige, fuck!” I groan, the only warning before I press deep, grinding her clit, snarling as my spine electrifies.

I’ve never come like this.

Muscles I didn’t know I had flex, intent on spilling every drop of my seed into her like rutting season just started.

We’re fucking mated, and I’m basking in her warmth and her heat and the sharp oblivion of her tight silk robbing my balls.

Yeah, it’s a damn good thing she’s covered with birth control. Because if she wasn’t, there’s no doubt I’d have her knocked up with quadruplets before this ninety days ends.

“Oh, Ward,” she moans, her voice so shrill, so beaten by our pleasure.

I stay balls deep, lingering inside her for the longest time.

“You’re the only man I’ve ever let—umm, finish inside of me, you know,” she whispers. “I always thought I’d save it for the man I’d marry.”

Shredded. She’s determined to leave me in smithereens tonight, isn’t she?

“Close enough,” I growl, before sealing her lips with another fuck-hot kiss.

Ten minutes later, she’s in my arms again and I’m teasing her lips with the same intensity as before.

She breaks away, taking rough breaths, and lays her head on my chest.

“Paige, do you really need the guest suite?”

She raises her head, her green eyes flickering with delight.

“Uh-oh. Is that an invitation to spend every night with you?”

I smile. “This room’s obviously big enough for two, and there’s no use in being lonely.”

Smiling, she bites her lip.

“Oh, Ward.” She kisses me with a new blistering intensity.

And just like that, I’m a dead man.

Rest In Paige.

I meant to ruin her tonight, but it’s the Ward Brandt I used to be who’s fading like a ghost.

She can’t hide anything.

She feels everything I do.

We’re sailing into shark-infested waters now.

The engagement was fake, but this—whatever this is—sure as hell isn’t.

It’s real, it’s lunacy, and it’s not going to stop.

21

Still A Brandt (Paige)

When I open my eyes, the first thing I see is I’m being watched by a bear.

Ward. A million happy bubbles want to burst out of me. It’s been so long since I woke up beside anyone, and I’ve never started my day beside a beast this perfect.

He greets me with a smoldering kiss. “There you are. I wondered if you’d ever wake up. I need to go into the office, but—”

“You waited for me,” I whisper, totally in awe.

This time when he kisses me, his tongue traces the inside of my mouth. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

I laugh. “I won’t.”

“I kept you up last night. You can take the morning off if you’re tired—”

“Ward, you can’t treat me differently. People will talk.”

“Anyone who uses your name with shitty intent is done,” he grinds out like a threat. “And that’s not what I meant. I need you at a conference today. No point in having you go to the office, then across town.”

“Ward?”

He plays with my hair. “Yeah?”

“I’m glad I agreed to this craziness.” It’s not what I want to say, but it has to suffice.

I won’t risk saying the dreaded L-word first and nuking my heart.

“Me too, sweetheart,” he says, then he takes my lips.

Eventually, we’re able to peel ourselves off each other to get ready for work. I throw on sweats and head to the kitchen to start coffee.

There, I sit at the aged blackwood table, responding to emails when Ward crosses the room. It’s insane how he looks almost as hot in a suit as he does wearing nothing.

“I made you coffee. It’s on the counter,” I say.

He smiles.

“Thank you, but I’ve got a better pick-me-up.” He moves next to the chair I’m sitting in.

You’d think I’d be used to his presence by now, but some things don’t change. He steals every iota of my breath as he kneels in front of my chair, cups my face with his hand, and brings his mouth to mine.

My arms fall around him.

I have no idea how long we’re marooned in our kiss, only that I’m dizzy when it’s done.

“I’ll see you tonight?”

I laugh.

“Well, I do live here now.”

“And how the hell did I live here before you did?” He stands, stamps another fierce kiss on the top of my head, and leaves.

Yep, I’m slayed.

Somehow, I return to my emails and marking up documents. I like being home in my pj’s but with the way things are moving at the office lately, I’m not falling a whole day behind.