“I…don’t know,” he admits. “I was just horrified. And I wanted you to be separated from that and me and anything that could potentially keep you in my shadow as fast as possible. And I probably wouldn’t have realized what an idiot I was being if I hadn’t talked to someone. And then read your book right after.”
“Who did you talk to?”
“My dad,” he smiles softly. “I know that when you asked about him, I was abrupt, and I’m not ready to talk about that on so little sleep, but I promise I will tell you.”
“Speaking of sleep,” I say. “We should get you some of that.”
“Not yet. Not until I have an answer.”
I raise my eyebrows. “To what?”
Malik’s voice is rough. “To being with me. To forgiving me for fucking up so badly and hurting you. To figuring out where to go for both our careers together because I’m so in love with you that I can’t breathe.”
Now I’m the one who can’t breathe. “You’re in love with me?”
“I am.”
“Malik, that’s not possible. It’s too fast.”
He takes my hands in his and meets my eyes. “My father met my mother in a restaurant one day. She was the waitress. He knew within an hour of meeting her that she was the one. I wish I could say that I knew in an hour, Erin, but I know.”
Time seems to stand still for a few minutes as his words click into place. Malik Ellis loves me. Malik Ellis wants to be with me. This is absolutely impossible. But that feeling of certainty that he’s projecting hooks into me, and I feel it.
I’m in love with him too. That’s why that phone call was so painful. My body and soul knew already, but my brain hadn’t fully caught up yet. It’s caught up now.
Suddenly I can’t be as far apart from him as I am, and I climb into his lap, kissing him. It’s like every pain and sadness that’s been clinging to me just falls away. Our hands are everywhere. His are running down my back and sneaking up under my shirt, exploring. We’re both hungry for each other like we’re starved.
“I’m in love with you, too,” I say, breathing it between kisses because I can’t possibly stop. “And I can’t wait to read the book.”
“I can’t wait for you to read it,” he says. “I wouldn’t have been able to write it if it weren’t for you.”
I break away so I can tear my shirt over my head. Since it’s still before dawn and he woke me out of a dead sleep, I’m not wearing a bra. Malik groans as his mouth falls to my skin, hands gathering my breasts together so he can taste them. God, I’m wet. I didn’t bother to put on panties after my shower last night, so there’s every chance that I’m going to soak through my sleep shorts.
“I need you,” I tell him. “Right now.”
In seconds we’re up off the couch and he’s carrying me through to my bedroom. It’s a small enough apartment that he doesn’t even have to ask where it is.
We tumble onto the bed together, Malik dragging himself down my skin until his mouth meets the waistband of my shorts. “It feels like it’s been longer than it actually has,” he says. “Because God, I missed this.”
My shorts disappear as he slides them down my legs and tosses them across the room. There’s not time to think about it. Malik is pressing my thighs apart and his mouth is hot and hard on my clit, sucking it deep and making my hips arch off the bed and into his mouth.
I know exactly what he means when he says that it’s been too long because I nearly come from that very first touch of his tongue. Going from fucking every night for hours to nothing is like driving from a rainforest into a desert with no warning.
“Oh my God.” The words are more moan than anything. I’m getting wetter under his tongue, fucking his mouth just as much as his mouth is fucking me.
His hand on my stomach pins me to the bed so he can do whatever the hell he wants, and I’m more than happy to let him. I feel my orgasm building in my core, gathering strength, drawing out and up like a tide until it suddenly breaks free and spills out. There’s no holding back right now. It’s been way too fucking long.
Pleasure bursts through me in waves, my eyes closing. Malik doesn’t let up, though. He keeps sucking my clit, drawing it in between his lips, adding his fingers to the mix. They slide through my wetness, touching me everywhere, opening me up to let in more of his tongue. He’s relentless, and I’m loving it.
Closing my eyes, I surrender myself to the feelings he’s giving me. They’re like I’m flying, soaring, weightless. I’m not worried about anything else besides the next orgasm. Because they’re coming. Literally. Coming over and over again. It feels like brand new waves with every lap of his tongue and the rare scrape of his teeth.
Still, he doesn’t let up, keeping me right on the edge of another orgasm while his mouth moves down further, kissing my inner lips, his fingers teasing my entrance.
I’m not sure how long it goes on for. Each orgasm is more the last, and the next just as intense. When I’m so delirious I’m not sure that I remember my own name, Malik is crawling back up my body and pressing himself into me. I don’t remember him getting his clothes off, but his skin is bare on mine. I’m so ready.
His mouth finds mine and he kisses me deep, pushing into me slightly. I’m more than ready for him—need him inside me like I need to fucking breathe.
His cock plunges deep, making me cry out into the kiss. I don’t think I’ll ever be totally used to how big he is. Each time is a new sensation of fullness. I’m so stuffed that I can’t breathe, and like this, I feel whole. Complete.
Malik slides in all the way to the hilt, his tongue never leaving mine. I can feel his pulse in his cock, feel the pleasure rippling through him to me and back. Perfect friction making me shake with every movement of his hips.
My hands are on his back, holding him to me, and Malik pulls back long enough to shake his head. “I’m not going to last long enough to tie you to this bed. This time. So we’ll have to improvise. Hands above your head.”
Fuck. My pussy clenches down on his cock, the words spreading heat like a wildfire across my skin. I release him and raise my hands, stretching them up.
“Hold the headboard.”
It’s wrought iron bars, and I curl my fingers around the cold metal, gripping it.
“Don’t let go,” he says. “Your wrists are tied to that headboard. Got it?”
I breathe the word. “Yes.”
He sets a fast pace. Pounding into me, his cock hitting me in all the right places. My fingers flex on the headboard. I’m not going to last much longer, either. The orgasm building inside me is going to be explosive. I’ve never been fucked like this before. Not even close. Even with all the stuff that we’ve done together, this is more. Because it means everything to both of us.
“Malik,” I say, my voice shaking. “I’m going to come.”
“Not yet,” he says. I recognize the command in his voice, and I am helpless to fight against it.
He pulls out of me before ramming back in, hard enough to push the air out of my lungs. He does it again, and my pussy is tight around him. It feels like I’m trying to keep all this incredible pleasure in.