Every day that goes by I feel a little better and my anxiety lessens. I spoke with the police a few days after the Spring Fling. Hendrick went with me. Thanks to all the stuff Logan and Hendrick dug up about the emails and texts, it was enough to press charges for assault and harassment.
I don’t feel good about it, but if it means that no one else has to go through what I did, then it will be one good thing to come out of it. I haven’t been able to bring myself to go see Mackenzie. She’s texted a bunch, and I’ve tried to reciprocate, but I don’t know what to say. Hendrick told me to give it time, so I guess that’s what I’m doing.
I walk into the Holland house and spot Hendrick in the kitchen, shirtless and sweaty like he just came in from a workout. Make that two good things to come from the situation. How different my life would be without him. In a matter of months, he’s become so important to me. He was my bodyguard, now he’s my sexy boyfriend, and whatever comes next, I hope he’ll continue to be mine.
He makes me feel grounded and loved and just . . . content. Like this is exactly where I’m supposed to be. Here with him. Being loved so completely makes me feel like I can have and be anything I want, but also that it doesn’t matter nearly as much. Everything but the people in my life are just movable pieces. Hendrick, his brothers, my friends, my parents . . . they make everything else seem possible because I have the foundation that lets me be me.
And right now, this me is quite enjoying the sight of my hot, half-naked man.
“Hey.” He chugs from his protein shake and then sets it in the sink. “Did you have a good day?”
“I did.” I drop my backpack in his room and then go into the kitchen. His shorts hang low on his hips and his muscles contract with every movement. “But I missed seeing you.”
I reach out and trail my hand along his chest and down his stomach. “I really, really missed you. Did you get hotter in the past six hours?”
“I missed you too,” he says and leans down to brush his lips over mine.
“Where is everyone?”
“Flynn had a late baseball practice, Knox is still at work, and who the hell knows about Archer and Brogan.”
“So, we’re all alone?”
His expression turns dark and playful. “Mhmm.”
“What ever will we do with so much privacy?” I walk my fingers along the band of his shorts.
“I don’t know.” He eliminates the space between us and wraps an arm around my lower back with his hand palming my ass. “I guess we could grab something to eat, maybe watch a little TV.”
He nods absently toward the living room where the TV is on ESPN, but his heated gaze stays on me. His fingers slip under the hem of my dress and tease the back of my thigh. He’s warm and sweaty and a delicious ache starts in my core.
“That sounds fun,” I say, a little breathy. He’s been treating me so carefully since I got out of the hospital, which was sweet, but damn, I missed this.
“Or . . .” As his word trails off, he lifts me onto the counter and steps between my legs. His rough hands drag up them, pushing my dress up around my hips. “I could just eat your sweet pussy instead.”
My skin flushes from his words. Hendrick’s mouth crashes down on mine and his fingers dig into my skin.
I’m dizzy with happiness and need. I’m safe and I am cherished. Now I want to be ravished. Widening my legs, I pull him closer and lock my knees tight to keep him there.
“You always smell like coconut and vanilla,” he murmurs as he kisses down the column of my neck. Hot, wet, open-mouthed kisses.
“It’s my perfume.”
“It makes me hard. You make me so hard.” His lips roam down my chest, over the cotton fabric of my dress, and then lower.
Wasting no time, he drags my panties down my legs and then shoves them in his shorts pocket.
He hooks an arm around one leg and guides me gently back onto the counter, where I’m splayed out for him. I prop myself up so I can watch as his mouth covers my sensitive flesh.
His hazel eyes stay locked on mine as he flicks his tongue over my clit. His grip on my legs is tight, holding me in place as my body jolts with pleasure.
It doesn’t take long at all for him to have me on the brink of my first orgasm. I want to hold out, but he sucks hard as he shoves two fingers inside of me and I can’t stop it. I fall back, no longer able to hold myself up. He moves fast, shoving his shorts down and filling me.
We stopped using condoms since I told him I’m on the pill and, wow. I had no idea it would make things between us that much hotter. He thrusts in hard and fast, pounding me against the kitchen counter. The only sounds in the house are our pants and groans and the quiet TV in the background.
I’m drunk on lust, eyes heavy and limbs shaky. Hendrick’s hand comes up to rest lightly against my throat. He uses his thumb to tip my chin down. “Eyes on me, sweetheart. See what you do to me?”
I stare at our bodies where he continues to push into me, then up to his dark hazel eyes. “You’re my undoing,” he says. “You fucking own me.”
My next orgasm rips through me without warning. Hendrick smashes his mouth down on mine and shudders through his own release. He thinks I own him, but he has it backward. I’m his. Every piece of me.
I gasp for air as he presses one more soft kiss to my lips and then pulls away. He tucks himself away and then helps me sit up. I’m sticky with sweat and sex.
“Probably shouldn’t tell Knox we did it on his cooking prep surface.”
Hendrick laughs. I can’t get enough of that light, happy sound. “No, we probably shouldn’t, but since he’s not here, wanna try out the couch next?”
Before I can answer, the front door opens.
“Later,” I tell him as I hop down. Because with him, I want to try everything.
The next morning, I’m getting ready for school when Hendrick comes into the bedroom and laughs. My stuff is everywhere. I’ve sort of taken over his room.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
He sets my coffee on the nightstand and drops a kiss on my lips.
“You know, I don’t really need to stay here anymore.”
“You and I have different ideas of what you need. I think you need to be in my bed every night.”
I laugh. “I’m not saying I won’t stay over some nights, but it’s time for me to move my stuff back to my house. Think of it as one less person fighting over the shower in the morning.”
His expression is less than thrilled.
“I sleep in your clothes when I’m here anyway.” I drape my arms around his neck and lightly scratch my nails along his scalp. “You could stay at my place sometimes too.”
“Fine,” he mutters. “Take the top drawer in my dresser for anything you want to leave.”
“Really?” The idea of having my very own drawer in his room is almost as exciting as the prospect of the many, many more nights I plan to stay here.
“Yeah.” A resigned smile plays over his lips. “I’ve been thinking I need to give up this room anyway, so Brogan and Arch don’t have to share.”
“Where will you go?”
“I was thinking with all this time I have on my hands while looking for a job, I’d fix up the loft and move up there. Temporarily. Eventually I’ll get my own place, but I want to be here to help while Flynn finishes high school.”
“I love that idea,” I tell him as my heart squeezes in my chest. “Flynn will love it too.”
“Only if you come over all the time. He’ll be more heartbroken than me that you’re moving out.”
“Deal. Anything for Flynn.”
He makes a low growl in his throat and smacks my ass.
