“I like how you think, woman.” He lifts me into his arms and then slides off the bed, headed toward the bathroom.
After Dean turns the knobs and adjusts the temperature of the water, I throw a few scented beads into the tub. The room fills with a sweet scent that smells good enough to eat. I climb in after Dean, the warm soapy water feeling so damn good on my skin. Dean hooks his arms around me, holding me against his chest.
I rest my head back on his shoulder. “This is perfect.”
“You’re perfect,” he says against the shell of my ear. “I don’t want to go home, not after the best night of my life.”
“The Draft should have been the best night of your life,” I counter.
“It was the second best.”
My heart swells from his confession.
“With you at my side, I can do anything, Kitten. It’s gonna take a lot more than a plane ride to keep me away from you.”
“I can visit you on the weekends.”
“And I’ll try to coordinate my schedule around yours. This will only be temporary. Eventually, we’ll figure a way around all of this long-distance shit.”
“I’d have to give up my job and move to Philly for that to happen.”
“I don’t want you to do that,” he says. “You would never ask me to give up hockey for you, and I would never ask you to do that for me.”
“I know. I’m glad you’re not the type to ask me to give up my dreams to follow yours. That’s what my dad did to my mom. She was a lawyer before she met him, and a damn good one.”
“If there’s a will, there’s a way,” he says with a sigh. “My mom always says that.”
“Before she died, I asked my mom why she followed my dad, and she said, ‘Because I couldn’t breathe without him.’ That always scared me. What if I loved someone so much that I couldn’t breathe without them? Her words have always haunted me.”
“You’ve never told me that. Is that how you feel about me?”
“I don’t know,” I say in a hushed tone. “You’re still here with me. But after last night, I wonder if I’ll feel like my heart is cracked open when you’re gone.”
He hugs me tighter, and his chin digs into my shoulder as he kisses my cheek. “No matter where I am in the world, I will always be with you, Kitten. Remember, I’m one phone call away. You’ll
never feel like you can’t breathe without me because you will always have me.”
As his best friend, I have loved Dean for years. But as his girlfriend, I know one thing is certain. I’m falling in love with him, slow and steady, one day at a time. And it scares the hell out of me. Because that gives him the power to hurt me.
“Dean, I’m scared.”
“Why?”
“I’ve avoided this kind of pain for years because I didn’t think my heart could handle it. I’m still not sure it can. My feelings have only grown for you since the first time we kissed.”
“Same,” he says. “And for the record, I’m scared, too. If I lose you, it’s not just a relationship, it’s our friendship. The thought of not having you in my life freaks me the fuck out. You’ve been in it for so long I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
Sliding out from between his legs, I turn around to face him, my knees on the bottom of the tub and hands rested on the ledge. Dean looks at my breasts and licks his lips. When his eyes meet mine, it feels like the world has stopped around me. Nothing matters when he’s with me. The world could end right now, and I would die the luckiest and happiest woman alive.
Because of Dean. My best friend. And now, he’s so much more than my friend.
When he shifts his weight, his cock pokes through the bubbles. I take this as my cue to finish what we started in the bedroom, fisting him in my hand. Dean grips my hips and lifts me onto his lap, lowering me onto his hard length. There’s a quick pinch that I’m still getting used to, and then he rocks his hips. Inch by inch, he fills me up, our bodies working in rhythm with the other.
I let out a moan and fall forward, my palms pressed to his chest. The pressure building inside me is so intense that I swear I can’t take it anymore. But when Dean kisses my neck, I forget all about the pain. I arch my hips as he kisses me, my hand gliding down his wet, muscular back. Dean takes his time, careful not to hurt me. He thinks he will break me, treating me like a fine piece of china.
A groan escapes my lips, and the sheer force of my raging orgasm forces my eyes to slam shut. We get lost in each other, riding the waves of pleasure that make us forget about the fact this won’t last. In a few short days, Dean is going back to Florida. We’ll live separate lives apart from the other, and nothing will ever be the same. At least not like this. Not the way it’s supposed to be.
After we both come down from our high, neither of us can move, too breathless to speak. I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heart pound, wishing we had more time together.