The feeling receded enough to allow him to move. Fractional movements as he ground deep against her. Minimal withdrawal and a hard thrust, right up on her clit where she loved it. He didn’t even have to use his hands as long as he gave her the pressure she needed.
He slid his hands beneath the cheeks of her arse. Holding her right where he wanted her as he rolled his hips.
“Harder,” Cerys begged.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he grunted.
“You won’t.”
He studied her eyes, filled with need, and began to withdraw until just his head breached her lips, and then slammed home.
As soon as he did, the feelings of his orgasm flared again, and this time he didn’t stop it. He gave in to the sensation of her nails on his back, to the way her hips lifted to meet his. The way she gasped every time he bottomed out. He could feel her body shake as it sought what it needed, what only he could give her.
“Oh, just like that,” she gasped, her whole body tensing and arching as she came silently, her mouth open, her eyes glassy.
“Cerys,” he cried, his dick pulsing with her as his head spun from the intensity of it.
He planted his head at the side of her neck, inhaling her scent in harsh rasps as he tried to control his breathing.
Cerys’s arms tightened around him, and his place in the universe settled.
With someone who wanted him.
With someone who completely accepted him as he was.
For who he was.
He reached between them as he slid out of her and pulled off the condom before pulling her into his arms. “Little Jase might have missed that, but I miss this.”
Cerys sighed, sleepily. “Mmm, me too.”
“You tired, sunshine?”
“I am now. Maybe just a short nap and then a shower.”
He wanted to ask her about the jitters she’d had earlier, but they had all day.
Instead, he held her while they slept, and when he woke two hours later, they were still in the exact same position. The sun had shifted, the light brighter.
He slipped his arm from beneath Cerys, pulled on his jeans, and stepped out into the hall. He’d just put one of his nan’s steak pies in the oven when he heard the creak of the stairs in the old home.
“What time is it?” Cerys asked groggily as she stepped into the kitchen. She was barefoot and wearing the T-shirt he’d worn to collect her. “My phone died.”
Jase tugged her to him, and she snuggled against his side. “Lunchtime. Nan brought some food over before I came to pick you up. I think she’s nervous I’m going to let you go hungry.”
“Mmm. I’m actually starving. And thirsty. I’d love a cup of tea.”
“While it cooks, you want to tell me what was going on in your head earlier?”
Cerys sighed as she stepped away from him and he switched the kettle on to make a brew.
“Dad’s worried about this. You and me. If anything, I think he’s worried that you and he are actually alike, and that you’re going to screw me over just like he did to Mum.”
Jase huffed. “Not sure I like your dad getting in our business.”
Cerys ran her fingers over the counter, the draw handle, along the edge of the sink. “I felt the same. I told him, that this, you and me, was a boundary for me. But . . .”
He reached for her hand to stop her pacing.
“But what?”
“I also wondered . . . well. Look. I’m not stupid. I follow news about you. I see how you’re taking off. And Dad, he just . . . I came to your concert in my winter boots.”
The look of exasperation on her face was comical. “What has that got to do with the price of fish?”
“Price of fish?” she asked.
“We aren’t doing the repeating thing right now. It means what has that got to do with anything? What have your moon boots got to do with us?”
“Everything. Nothing. I don’t know,” she huffed. “I’m just me, Jase. And normally that’s plenty. And I happen to like me. So this isn’t a big woe-is-me thing, because I don’t lack confidence. But I also happen to know if an A-list actress throws themselves at you, you’ll . . .”
“I’ll what, sunshine?” he said, throwing a teabag in each cup. “I’ll say screw that amazing woman I have back home and go back to this A-list actress’s hotel room and fuck her?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know. Dad talked about you having opportunity and—”
“And I think your dad should keep his mouth shut on stuff he knows fuck all about.” He poured the hot water over the teabags and slammed it back onto the stand. “Look. Have I been a dick in the past when it came to women? Yes. Is he worried that I’m going to be a dick to you? Probably. But I sure as fuck won’t knock you up and send you back to Wales.”
“Jase. I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight. I was just . . . can’t you see it from my perspective?”
Yeah. He could. And maybe that was why it stung. “Let me set three things straight. First, I’d rather cut Little Jase off than hurt you. Whatever it is you think I’m going to do to you, stop. Second, I’ve never much considered a criteria for assessing women above being hot and available and not a stage-three clinger. But I am now completely certain that being with a woman who wants every part of me, exactly as I am, would be close to the top of my list. And third. Look in the fucking mirror, babe. You put yourself down in front of me and I might have to fuck you all night until you realise that when I look at you, I see all of you. I see every curl and freckle. I see kindness and empathy. I see humour and goddamn fucking moon boots that belong in a NASA museum if there is such a thing. Don’t put yourself down in front of me again, because I hate that you somehow think I’m bigger or better or worth more than you are. I’m pocket change compared to you, sunshine. It would take a million of me to buy just one of you. It’s me who’s punching above their weight.”
He yanked the fridge open, causing the bottles on the door to rattle and pulled out the milk. “And another thing,” he continued. “You said you liked this?” He slapped the tattoo on his chest. “It’s you and me. Fucking waves. Wave after wave after wave, always trying to reach the fucking sun. You. You’re the constant. You rise and set. And me, I just crash around you.” He ran his fingers over the waves, something he’d taken to doing when things got a bit much.
Cerys placed her hand over his, flattening his palm to his chest. “It’s beautiful. And I’m sorry.”
Jase continued to breathe for a moment, then let the tension ease out of his chest. “No. I’m sorry. I got a bit carried away. But I mean it, Cerys. You’re allowed to wobble. We both are. As long as we remember we’re in this together.”
When she pressed her forehead to his chest, he kissed the top of her head and slid his arms around her. “You okay, babe?”
“Yeah. Wobbles. I like that.”
Jase huffed. “Yeah. Well, wobble over. Today, we get reacquainted, find our feet. Then, tomorrow, we’re going over to Matt’s to drop his car off, and I thought it might be useful for you to meet Izabel.”
She looked up at him and pinned him with her gaze. “Isn’t one wobble enough?”