“But…” I add because I can feel it hanging in the air.
“But I only want to do that if you’re certain.”
“I’m on birth control, we are safe, and I haven’t been with anyone else, not since Evan.”
“And I always use protection.” He tosses the unopened foil packet to the nightstand and hovers over me again. “Take me in your hand.”
My hand trembles slightly as I reach for him. As my fingers connect, he sighs and closes his eyes for a second. I feel like he does. Our touch burns and heals in the same beat. When his eyes reopen, I can feel the promise vibrate between us. I’m dividing my focus between watching our connection and him. I want to see what it does to him when we connect like this.
“May I?” I ask, giving him a slow stroke before placing him at my entrance.
“God, Petal, absolutely…”
He rests his weight on his forearms on either side of my head, and his face looks like a beautiful mix of pleasure, anticipation, and pain.
I bring my legs up, resting my thighs on his hips and guide him only slightly into my body. Then I place my hands on either side of his perfect ass and pull him toward me until he fills me completely.
Skin on skin. Bare. Nothing between us.
I can’t distinguish between the noise of pleasure he makes and my own. Once we’re connected we move without premeditation. Everything we’ve done before is infinitely better this way. I. Feel. Everything.
Each roll of his hips, each slight bend of my body, sends a wave over me that I think will drown me and I’m fine with it. His lips rest near my ear. Each breath he takes has a tremor in it. His hands that capped my shoulders a moment ago are toggling between fists on either side of my head that press deeper into the mattress with each pump of his body and taking fistfuls of my hair to cling tighter to me.
I’m tingling from the tips of my toes all the way to the top of my head. Heat rolls over me in waves and begins to settle and build between my legs. The feeling is too much. It’s so perfect, so incredible that tears form in my eyes, rolling down over my temples.
“More,” I beg, and I’m not certain what I want more of, I just know I want more of everything I can get. More of him. More of this. More of our love.
“I love you,” he grunts into my ear again, and it’s like that phrase alone pushes me closer to the edge.
My legs begin to shake and my core tightens, threatening to tip over at any moment.
“Yes, Petal. Yes, love. Let go, I beg you.”
He’s begging me? Oh God.
I groan at an octave I’m sure only animals can hear as I press my hands deep into his back, anchoring not only myself to him, but so he can feel from all sides what I feel and what this moment means to me.
Chapter 23
Nora
I rise from the bed, my body still deliciously sore from last night, to check my phone and grab a glass of water. Tristan is sleeping soundly, so I try my best not to disturb him. I slide his black dress shirt over my shoulders and button it up a little, then tiptoe out of the room.
I stop to use the restroom and while I’m washing my hands, I take a good look at myself in the mirror.
I look thoroughly well fucked, but I’m glowing happily. I tilt my head to see my neck, and the marks he left on me are bright and vivid. I look down and my thighs are reddened from use and it makes me shiver in the best way. This is what I needed. He has covered all memories of Evan with his body and his love.
Tristan Sloane, the most brilliant, handsome man I’ve ever been around in my life, loves me. This has to be a dream because no one’s life should be this perfect.
I leave the bathroom and nest back next to Tristan. After taking yet another long stare at his beautiful face, I turn my attention to my texts and my tags on Instagram while I try to rehydrate. My eyes can hardly read the barrage of notifications and tags that await me.
I open the first one and see that I’ve been tagged in an Instagram story. It’s a video and I immediately know what I’m going to see before it even comes into frame.
It’s a clip of Tristan and I at the party last night. You cannot see his face, only his back, but mine is visible for a brief moment before I hide it in his chest. While you can’t see that his hand is up my dress, you can see that my leg is around his waist and what we are doing is obvious.
“Oh fuck,” I whisper.
I keep checking every one. There are some that are just promo from the event. Then there are the ones where I’m in the frame with the other models but a careful fan of fingers is around my hip with his obvious ring showing. Then there are professional shots of me from the side where Tristan’s eyes are clearly fixated on me. The last couple are different versions of the first. His hand pressed to the wall alongside my head, again ring showing. A short video showing my hip sliding up his leg to its final stop. Share after share. Tag after tag. Even without his face in the spotlight, it’s on us.
We both knew that we were making a statement about ourselves by being at the event together. We were and are prepared for that. What I’m not prepared for is our private moments going viral for all to see.
“Tristan,” I say his name softly, touching him on the shoulder. He usually moves if I move. Today is different. I lean in and kiss his forehead, then his chest. I finally hear a deep breath and his body springs back to life. “Good morning.”
“Good morning indeed, Petal. What are you doing awake?”
“It’s late actually. I um…”
He sits up a little, rolling out his neck. “You have something on your mind. What is it?”
“I think we may have a problem. I’m still not certain how big or how small.”
I lay my phone on his chest, open to the video of us, and he picks it up, squinting a little as he watches it as he’s so freshly awake.
“Hold on, what am I looking at?” He uses his thumb to slide the bar across to restart the clip. Then he watches it again… and again. “Is this the only clip that you’re seeing online?”
“It’s this clip and fractions of this clip. I don’t think there is anything else, but I can only see what I was tagged in right now. Will Professor Griffin find out? The school?”
“Petal, I think this is fine. You know this is me. Even if someone else knows, I don’t give a fuck. I will not let some arbitrary group of humans who may or may not have issues with our relationship comment on or let alone run our lives. I’m not ashamed of loving you, Petal.”
My heart races even faster but for a completely different reason now. He makes me swoon like I’m a heroine in an old historical romance.
“Will this affect your job though? That’s the last thing that I want.”
He passes my phone back to me, “There’s a policy about disclosure of relationships, so I think I will be called into a meeting, which is fine. I will have to answer for it, but I’ll do that because being with you is worth it. It’s not affecting your studies or my job. I’ll ensure that remains the case. They have no reason to punish either of us.”
“Then that’s all that matters. I’m not ashamed either.”
“You’ve awoken with a ferocity this morning. And you’re in my shirt.” He smirks.