Jake reaches over to press the back of his hand to Beau’s forehead. “No fever but… I don’t know. Should we call someone?”
Beau swats his hand away with a scowl. “Fuck you both.”
“And we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming,” Jake sighs. “The Beau Sinclair vocabulary special—fuck,you, and if we’re really lucky,both.”
I can’t help but laugh, grateful for the break in tension. These idiots have been my brothers through everything—deployments, coming home, the years when I thought I’d never see Lily Ridge again. They’ve seen me at my worst.
“You two done?” Beau mutters, but I can see the corner of his mouth twitching.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say, still smirking. “But…will you guys keep an eye out while I’m gone? Make sure Violet’s okay?”
Jake offers a nod.
Beau just says, “Never stopped, brother.”
I’m heading out tomorrow.Violet decided to stay over tonight, so she’s currently lying beside me, her head tucked under my chin. Her lips brush against my neck, and it’s not the first time tonight. She’s been teasing me with soft touches, gently sliding her hand across my chest and leaning in just a little closer with every breath.
Her hand continues a path down my stomach, then lower. When she shifts her leg over mine, pressing closer, there’s no mistaking what she wants.
I’ve been holding back. Since that first kiss on the porch, I’ve had her mouth on me, my face between her thighs, nights where we’ve pushed right up to that final line without crossing it. But I haven’t been inside her yet.
It’s not for lack of wanting. Fuck, I’ve never wanted anything more in my life. There’s a hunger in me for her that borders on madness. Some nights I lie awake after she’s fallen asleep, my body hard and aching, and I have to remind myself to breathe.
I just wanted to give her time. Wanted her to be completely sure. After what happened with that asshole Travis, I needed her to know I’d wait forever if that’s what she needed.
Now, though—the way she’s moving against me, the soft little sounds she’s making, the heat of her pressed against my thigh—she’s making her intentions crystal clear.
“Violet…” I start, my voice rough, already knowing how this is going to sound.
Her fingers hook into my waistband. She looks up at me then, searching, hopeful. Waiting for permission.
Goddammit.
I lift my hand, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face, my thumb grazing the soft curve of her cheek. “I can’t,” I sayquietly, apologetically. “I want to…but I won’t do that. Not when I have to leave you right after.”
I pull her closer, my hand sliding down her back, savoring the warmth of her skin under the soft fabric of her shirt. I don’t want the last thing we share before I leave to be something neither of us can truly savor. I want to come back and have that moment with her when I’m not thinking about how far away she’ll be.
She stills beneath my touch but doesn’t pull away.
“The first time you let me have you like that, I don’t want to be leaving the next morning.”
She’s quiet for a moment, just staring up at me with those green eyes that see everything. The moonlight coming through the window catches on her hair, turning it silver at the edges, and I have to force myself to remember why I’m saying no.
I watch her process the words before a flicker of disappointment crosses her face. Fuck.
I tighten my grip on her. “Violet, it’s not that I don’t want you, because god, I do. I just don’t want to do this and then have to walk out the door.”
The words shake their way out of me, heavy with everything I’ve been holding back. Weeks of restraint. Months of want. Years of knowing she’s been under my skin longer than I ever admitted.
“I want to do this right,” I add. “And when I finally get to have you, I’m gonna make sure you forget what it feels like to breathe without me inside you.”
The hitch in her breath is exactly what I’m hoping for, and there’s no way she can doubt just how much I want her when my dick is rock hard and pressed against her.
“Okay?”
Her wide eyes stay on mine as she offers a small nod.
“My sweet Violet,” I murmur, hooking a finger under her chin to bring her lips to mine.