I licked my lips. “You just took a shower.”
“That was a quick one,” he admitted. “Now we’re going to take a really slow one.”
My insides heated.
“Are you up for that?” I asked, not wanting him to say no, but needing to ask anyway.
His eyes changed from lazy to amused. “Yes. I am.”
With that he twisted away from me, whistled for Lion, and headed for the back of the house.
I chose to follow directions for once in my life and headed for the bedroom, then further to his shower.
I’d just cranked the hot water on when I heard him enter the bedroom.
Or, more importantly, I heard Lion enter the bedroom.
I’d just stripped my shirt off and looked over my shoulder when I saw him leaning against the doorjamb watching me.
“What?” I asked curiously.
He shook his head. “Nothing. Just watching.”
“Well how about you get naked since this shower was your idea,” I suggested saucily as I shimmied my shorts down my hips, kicking them out of the way.
The bra and panties were the next to go, and seconds later I was stepping into the shower while waiting for him to follow.
Only, he didn’t.
He continued to stare at me, his lips slightly parted, and a suspicious looking bulge in his pants that was growing by the second.
“I’m going to be done if you don’t hurry,” I insisted as I turned my back on him and reached for his man shampoo. “And if I’m going to continue to do this, you’re going to have to get girly shampoo. I don’t mind smelling like you, but my hair is needy. It needs the good stuff or it doesn’t act right.”
He chuckled from directly behind me, and I felt my entire body break out in shivers.
Then I felt the prod of his erection in my backside as he entered the shower.
He ignored it, so I did, too.
Mostly.
As much as anyone could ignore something that large pressing against them.
“How about you just move in?” he rumbled, brushing his lips against my throat.
I froze. Then whirled in his arms.
I would’ve gone down completely had he not caught me up around the waist.
“What?” I asked, gasping in deep breaths.
“I suggested you just move in,” he said. “Or, don’t. I don’t care. Just know that we’re going to be spending a lot of time together from now on. And I want you here with me, in my bed, every night. We’re both really busy people, and that means that we have to get the time where we can.”
He had a point but…
“We’ve only been dating for less than a week,” I said.
“We’ve known each other for years,” he countered. “And the reason we’ve only been dating for less than a week is because I’m a moron. I’m sorry.”
I wilted slightly at his words.
“It’s okay,” I admitted. “I could’ve probably tried harder on my end, too.”
“So, is that a yes to moving in?” he asked hopefully.
I tilted my head back so I could stare deeply into his eyes.
“Ask me again when we’ve been dating a month, and I’ll say yes,” I promised as I stepped out of the shower.
His eyes sparkled with amusement as he followed me out, turned off the water, and then snatched his towel that just so happened to be behind me. He leaned in and kissed me.
When he pulled back it was to say, “So if it’s too early to ask you to move in with me, is it too early to say I love you?”
My knees literally went weak.
“Croft,” I whispered.
He grinned and left the room, leaving me to follow him.
He caught me around the waist in the middle of the bedroom, both of us still slightly damp from our shower.
“Because I do.” He spoke, his hands smoothing my hair until it was slicked backward. “I’ve loved you since I started coming to that gym. I may not have admitted my feelings for you, but I’ve definitely felt them.”
I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his sternum, then hastily did the world’s fastest scrub down.
He followed shortly after, much slower than me, and sloppily dried himself off before coming at me.
“I love you, too, you know,” I admitted. “I’ve loved you since you walked past me and flippantly critiqued my snatch.”
He burst out laughing and pulled me in closer, rocking his hips against me suggestively.
“Hey, what about my hair?” I teased. “I need to dry it. And I’m all clean…”
The last teasing statement had his eyes lighting up with an inner fire. “It’s okay,” he drawled. “I have a really good shower and plenty of soap for when I make you dirty again.”
And he did.
Thoroughly.
He started with touching every single part of my body with his rough hands. Hands that were definitely not going to win any beauty awards. There were calluses upon calluses, and there were the end stages of a blister in the middle of his right palm.
He obviously chewed his fingernails, too, though I’d never seen him do it.
But when they ran up the length of my spine, and down the curve of my ass, they felt beautiful to me.
“I want to go without condoms,” he said in my ear as he walked me toward the bedroom. “Next chance you get, reach out to your doctor and get on that.”
I licked my lips nervously.
“I’ve never done that before,” I admitted, falling backwards into the bed at his small nudge.
His eyes were serious when his hips wiggled between my splayed thighs. “You want to know a secret?”
“I want to know all of your secrets,” I answered automatically.
His eyes twinkled as he leaned down and spoke directly in my ear. “I’ve never done it either. You’ll be my first.”
I threaded my fingers into his hair.
“You want to know one of my secrets?” I teased lightly against his ear.
“Tell me?” he breathed, running his mouth along the line of my jaw.
“I’ve been ready for you since this morning when I woke up and you weren’t here,” I declared.
His eyes were hot when he moved backward to catch my gaze.
“Can’t leave you hanging, now can I?” he murmured, reaching over my body to the nightstand.
He pulled out a small foil package and ripped into it with his teeth.
Blowing the small piece away that’d torn off the package, he hastily went up onto his knees between my thighs and smoothed the condom down over his shaft.
Seconds later he was kicking my legs even wider before slowly easing his cock inside of me.
And, like always, it was a stretch.
The burn felt just right as he slowly filled me to bursting.
And only when he knew I was okay did he start to move.
Slow, steady strokes that made my heart rate accelerate and things inside of me start to respond.
Though, it honestly didn’t take all that much for my body to respond to his.
All he had to do was look at me and I was ready for him.
Now, having him inside of me, was just the ultimate moment of euphoria.
“Look at me,” Croft urged.
I hadn’t even realized I’d closed my eyes.
Blinking them open, I stared at his beautiful eyes, taking in every single thing about the tantalizing orbs.