Worth the Risk (Carolina Rebels 5)

Against my better judgment, I close my eyes. The second I do, his lips press to mine, gentle, soft, and perfect. Our tongues slide against one another as the kiss deepens. Elias pulls my body on top of his while rolling onto his back. There’s nothing fast or frantic about this. But the sensuality and need in the kiss has my arms moving up to rest on either side of his head and my fingers curling into his hair.

Elias’s hands slip underneath my shirt. They glide up and up and up until he reaches my bra. Then, suddenly, he rolls us over so he can hover above me. It takes me a second to realize he’s stopped kissing me.

“Good?”

I nod.

And just like that, his mouth is on mine again. My skin flushes. My body comes alive with every kiss, every stroke of his hand down my side, and every push of his hips against mine. My nails scratch him as I grab his shirt, wanting to take it off.

“Raelynn?” Elias pulls back. His breath hits my mouth and I don’t want him to talk. I don’t want to think about what we’re doing. I don’t want to second-guess myself here. “Do you want to go upstairs?”

I nod before I can say no.

He knocks the blankets down so we can stand instead of crawling out. He pulls me up after he stands and I follow him up the stairs, my heart thudding and echoing with every step. Holy shit. This is happening. I’m about to sleep with my boss. My deep breath is loud enough that Elias glances at me as he closes the door to his room.

“Changing your mind?” He doesn’t look mad with his question. Mostly curious and maybe on the verge of being slightly let down.

“What if this messes things up?”

“I don’t think it will, but if it does, we’ll fix it. You want to stay and I don’t want you to go anywhere. That’s why we’ll fix it.”

I nod, reassured by his words. Elias walks further into his room and I follow him. “What happens afterward?” Do things go back to normal? Do we sometimes sleep with one another? What?

Elias sits on his bed, reaches out, and pulls me to stand between his knees. “What would you like to happen? For this to be a one-time thing? For it to happen again? For me to take you out on a date instead of that prick, Collin?”

A giggle escapes before I can help myself. Elias smiles. “Collin’s a prick now?”

He nods. “I only sent you on a date with someone because I was hoping it’d make me stop thinking about you. It backfired big time.” He slowly pushes my shirt up, my muscles tensing in anticipation as his fingers graze my skin. “Do you want to take the risk with me, Raelynn?”

“Yep.”

His grin leaves me breathless. It’s the first of many times tonight he takes my breath away. Being with Elias is not as scary as I thought it would be, considering he’s the first person I’ve been with since Henry, since having Jackson. It’s seamless and feels like one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time.

Waking up with Raelynn makes the morning a little brighter than usual. I kept waiting for her to say no last night, but she never did. It almost seems surreal. Are we sure last night happened? That she’s here in my bed right now? I close my eyes and open them again.

Yep, she’s still here.

I set my alarm before we went to bed and it went off a second ago. I kiss Raelynn and she hums.

“Time to wake up.”

“No,” she grumbles. “It’s not fair that your bed is this comfortable.”

“Yours isn’t?” I’ve never slept in that room, obviously.

“Not this comfortable.” She sighs and opens her eyes. “I should get up, though. The longer I stay, the worse it’ll be, right?”

My lips dip in a frown. “What do you mean?”

“You know. It’s better to suck it up, face the cold air, and rush to the bathroom for a shower than to stay here and think about it while being underneath the blankets.”

Oh. For a second, I thought she was somehow talking about us. Raelynn rolls away from me and gets out of bed, snatching a T-shirt to pull over her head. She pauses after she picks up the rest of her clothes.

“Whatever we’re doing, let’s not do in front of Jackson, okay? For now, at least.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Thanks.” She scurries out of my room with that covered.