Echoes of You: Chapter 27

I couldn’t get enough. Of Nash’s words. Of his scent. Of his feel. Of his taste. All I could think was that I needed more.

My legs moved of their own volition until I was straddling Nash. But I didn’t lose his lips for a single second. My core pressed against his hardening cock, and I couldn’t help the little mewl that slipped from my mouth and into Nash’s.

That only seemed to spur him on. Nash’s hands tightened on my hips, pulling me harder against him. The pressure created delicious friction and sent a thrill through me.

Nash tore his mouth away from mine, his eyes searching. “Does this mean I didn’t send you running for the hills?”

A smile spread across my lips; the feeling of it felt foreign and rusty. I’d smiled since I returned, but not like this. Not full-out grinning like a kid on Christmas who had just gotten everything on their list. Because Nash Hartley loved me. “I never thought I would get this—everything I ever wanted.”

A home of my own. Safety. Friends who cared. A family I’d built not by blood but by choice. Nash.

His expression gentled. “I love you, Mads.”

A thrill ran through me. “Say it again.”

“I love you.”

My smile only got wider. “Again.”

“I love you.”

I let out the most girlie, high-pitched squeal.

Nash laughed. “Are you forgetting something?”

I stared down at the man whose face I sometimes thought I knew better than mine. I’d memorized every angle and curve. The faint scar below his eyebrow from where he’d bashed his head on the corner of his bed trying to land a flip. The way his nose bent just a little to the left from when he’d broken it trying to master a bike jump. How his dark blond stubble only made him look more handsome.

“I’ve loved you every day I’ve known you. No one has ever made me feel safer. More cared for. More myself. You can make the simplest things the most fun and anything an adventure. There’s no one I’d rather spend my days with. I love you, Nash. I always will.”

A low growl escaped Nash’s throat, and then he was moving. He stood, and my legs wrapped around his waist on instinct. His mouth crashed down on mine as he stumbled down the hallway. We bumped into walls and doorjambs, but Nash took the brunt of it, trying to spare my ribs, and our lips didn’t part for a single second—as if we both feared that losing that point of contact would make the dream disappear altogether.

Nash somehow carried us into the bedroom. Slowly, he lowered me to the mattress, his lips still tangled with mine. He finally pulled back, his eyes a little wild. His fingers found the buttons on my shirt, though he paused for a moment, silently asking for permission.

I nodded, my heart hammering against my ribs. A million different emotions warred inside me. Want, anxiety, excitement, fear. But most of all, hope. For this moment. For us.

Nash’s fingers deftly unfastened each button. But he seemed to be in no hurry. My hands lifted to the top buttons to help the process along.

“Don’t.” His voice was all husky smoke.

“Why?”

“Because I’ve been dreaming of peeling the clothes from your body for as long as I can remember. And I’m going to enjoy every damn second.”

My eyes flared as my hands fell back to the mattress. “Oh.”

Nash leaned over me, his lips skimming the column of my neck. “I’ve dreamt of how this skin would feel. How it would taste. I’ve come to pictures of you in my mind more times than I can count. And I know the real thing will ruin me forever. But it’ll be so damn worth it.”

My breaths came in short pants, my fingers fisting in the sheets. “Nash…”

He pulled back, moving from button to button. “Hmm?”

His focus was zeroed in on each expanse of skin my parted shirt revealed as if it were the most riveting sight he’d ever seen. Nash’s thumb circled my belly button. It was the most innocent of movements, but it had everything in me drawing up and winding tighter.

“Please.”

Nash unbuttoned another clasp. “Don’t rush me.”

I squirmed in place, a million curses on the tip of my tongue. But two could play this game. I ran my bare foot up the inside of his leg from his calf to his thigh to what stood at attention between us.

“Maddie…” he growled.

I grinned. “What? If you get to touch, I get to touch.” I stroked Nash through his sweatpants.

The sound that slipped from his lips wasn’t altogether human. Nash took both sides of my blouse and tugged. The remaining buttons went flying across the room.

I gaped at him. “You did not just do that.”

Nash grinned as he slid the blouse down my arms. As the fabric parted more, he stilled, his gaze zeroing in on the kaleidoscope of colors on my side.

I swallowed. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

His fingers lightly skimmed the marred skin, then he bent and ghosted his lips over the fading bruises. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. That I didn’t—”

I grabbed Nash’s tee and gave a hard tug. “No. It’s not on you. And he doesn’t get a place here. Not when it’s you and me. Not when I finally have what I’ve wanted all these years.”

Nash took my mouth in a long, slow kiss. “It’s you and me.”

“Always you and me,” I whispered against his lips.

His fingers found the button on my jeans, and then he was pulling them down. The moment they hit the floor his eyes were on me again. “So beautiful.” Those fingers skimmed my inner thighs, moving to my very center. They teased me through the lace of my boy shorts.

“I always wondered what you’d wear. Simple cotton? Satin and silk? Lace?”

My breath caught. “It depends on the day.”

The corner of his mouth kicked up. “It’ll be a surprise every time.”

My heart kicked and tumbled, somersaulting in my chest at the thought of having Nash over and over again.

His fingers hooked in the waistband of my boy shorts, and he tugged them slowly down. Each scrape of his knuckles against my skin twisted that invisible cord tighter until I wanted to scream. “Nash…”

“Yes.”

“Please.”

A devilish grin spread across his face. “I love it when you beg.”

I made a vow then and there that I wouldn’t be the only one begging. Nash would get a little payback one of these days. But right now? I needed him.

I reached behind me and unfastened my bra, sending it flying to the floor.

Nash’s green eyes flashed as they zeroed in on my breasts, and power surged in me. His thumb traced my nipple. “The perfect shade of pink.” His head lowered, and his lips closed around the peak, sucking deep. He hummed, sending a cascade of tingles through me. But I was done waiting.

I hooked my toes in the waistband of his sweats, pushing them down in an awkward movement. But I didn’t give a damn. I was desperate, and I’d do anything to get to Nash.

He chuckled as his lips lifted from my breast. “In a hurry, Mads?”

He’d never said my nickname with that kind of grit before. It only fueled the fire he’d lit with his words, his fingers, his tongue.

I grabbed for Nash’s T-shirt in answer, pulling it over his head. I was met by lightly tanned skin pulled taut over an ocean of muscle. Broad shoulders and defined pecs dipping down into too many abdominals to count.

Nash’s grin only widened. “Cat got your tongue?”

My fingers ran down those abs and lower to the V of muscle. Nash’s grin died. He cursed as my fingers closed around his length. “Wait. I need to get a condom.”

I looked up into those green eyes. “I’m on the pill, and I’ve been checked.” It had been a long time since I’d been intimate with Adam, and I’d always had doubts that he’d been faithful.

Nash’s throat worked as he swallowed. “I just had a checkup. Are you sure?”

I nodded. “I don’t want anything between us.” I wanted to feel of him.

Nash stepped out of his sweats, kicking them to the side. His hand dipped between my thighs, stroking and teasing. “So wet.”

My hips rose to meet his ministrations, seeking him of their own volition. That smile was back on Nash’s beautiful mouth. “Never knew you were so greedy, Mads. I like it.”

He made me that way. Greedy for every single thing he’d give me.

“Need to taste you. Been dreaming of it for years. Sometimes, I’d wake up from a dream and swear you were on my tongue.”

My core clenched, wanting, needing whatever Nash could give me.

He knelt, spreading my thighs. His tongue flicked out, circling my clit, and I let loose a whimper that begged for more.

“Better than I ever imagined.” Nash’s husky words sent vibrations through me that only drove me higher.

His tongue toyed and teased, each swipe driving me to the brink but then stopping just shy of the edge.

My hands fisted in the blankets. “Nash…”

“Hmm?” The question was a hum against my clit that nearly had me falling to pieces.

“Want you inside me.”

Nash pulled back, eyes flashing with green heat. “Killing me, Mads.” He pushed up, leaning over me and hovering there. So close, yet too far away. His tip bumped my entrance, and my legs encircled his waist, welcoming him in. His eyes locked with mine. “Love you.”

On those two words I would never tire of hearing, he slid inside. My mouth fell open as I sucked in air at the delicious stretch. Nash’s forehead pressed to mine. “God, Maddie. You’re heaven.”

I’d never felt anything like it. Somehow, Nash lit me on fire and made me feel at home in the same breath.

My hips rose to meet his. Small, testing movements at first and then deeper, longer, wanting thrusts.

Nash groaned as he drove deeper. My back arched as I sought more. His tempo picked up, angling so he hit a spot that had tremors rippling through me.

“Nash…” It was all I could say. His name was both a plea and a prayer.

His hand slipped between us, his thumb circling my clit. “Not gonna last. You’re too good. Too everything.”

His words snapped that cord tight, and as his finger pressed down, everything around me unraveled, spinning into a cascade of colors and sensation. As he arched into me one more time on a shout, it was as if everything before him had been black and white. Now, with Nash, there was only color. And I knew I’d never see anything the same again.