Should’ve Known It’s You (Not You Again #7)

Chapter 48

CHAPTER 48

KENNEDY

A ustin’s lips moved hungrily on mine, and his fingers slid into my hair as he pulled me to him. I leaned into his touch, his body warm and firm against my own as I cuddled closer, lifting one of my legs over his knee.

He combed a lock of hair out of my face and gently tucked it behind my ear, his fingertips ghosting along the shell of it. I shivered at the sensation of having him touch me there, suddenly wondering if it was weird that it felt so intimate.

The pad of his thumb traced the side of my face, brushing across it before he ran his fingers along the outline of my jaw, almost like he was committing it to memory. I melted into him, unable to resist returning the favor.

The way he was touching me made me feel special. Loved, even. I wanted to make him feel the same way, and I’d been itching to feel every contour of his handsome face under my fingertips for so long that I leaped at the opportunity.

Kissing him deeply, I ran a hand from his forearm to his bicep, moving slowly and focusing on what I could feel under his long-sleeved shirt. The muscles tensed and rippled under my touch, powerful ridges that relaxed in the wake of my fingers as they moved along.

His tongue dipped into my mouth again and again, stroking my own as his lips worked in time with mine. I loved kissing him so freaking much, fascinated by how, even if the minty, musky taste of him had become familiar, the way he kissed was often so different that it felt like I was doing it for the first time.

Austin was sometimes playful and sometimes wildly intense. He could take his time or nip at my lips before laughing or smiling. On other occasions, his kisses were hard and urgent, barely letting either of us come up for air, like I was more important to him than oxygen.

Tonight was different again, slower and softer, but no less intense than he had been these last few days. It might’ve just been the lower ceilings in the hayloft and the crackle of the fire beside us, but kissing him sure felt a lot more intimate now than it had before.

Neither of us seemed to be in any kind of rush, and yet, my body was already on edge, yearning for him as if I had been missing him for weeks. My fingertips danced from his bicep to his strong shoulder, and he ran his hand around the nape of my neck, squeezing it before he moved it lower down to my back. His fingers drew patterns I couldn’t make out. Tingles shot through me.

Butterflies took flight in my stomach and goosebumps rose on my skin. With the large window beside us, it felt like we were out under the stars again, only this time on a comfortable mattress with the heat of the fire to keep us from freezing our bits off.

Everything about the moment felt different from all the other times we’d been together. It wasn’t just our kisses tonight that weren’t exactly the same. It felt like there was a torrent of emotion passing between us, like the world had changed and put itself together again in a whole new way.

Almost as if it had realigned itself to make room for Austin and me as an us . It kind of felt like we would wake up tomorrow morning and things would look the same, but they would be brand new.

The thought made the butterflies in my stomach zoom around with excitement, the fluttery feeling at an all-time high. He flexed his fingers around my hip and I reached for the hem of his shirt, craving the sensation of his bare skin against my own.

When he realized what I was doing, he lifted his back to let the fabric pass between it and the bed, raising his arms and taking over from me when I ran out of reach. As soon as the shirt was gone, our lips came together again and our kisses became more passionate as he got to work on my pajamas.

He peeled my shirt over my head and pushed my pants and panties off next. I kicked them away, knowing they were going to get tangled up in the bedding but not caring. Fully naked now, I burrowed closer to his side and he lifted the blankets again to make sure I was still completely covered.

The butterflies swooned at the way he was taking care of me even in the heat of the moment. I placed my palm right over his heart as I kissed him again, savoring the rapid thrum of it against my hand.

Austin groaned as he cupped my side. His hand brushed against the underside of my breast and I sucked in a breath, my nipples so puckered and sensitive that even the air moving against them sent a shiver through me.

Finally running my fingers slowly down to his waistband, I made a mental note of the crests and valleys of his abs, the gentle slopes between them. I never seemed to be able to get enough of touching him and yet, as I circled his belly button before moving farther down, I felt a few coarse hairs underneath it I’d never consciously taken note of before.

He trembled underneath me, his breathing becoming uneven. I hooked my fingers into his sweats and lifted the elastic, easing it down over the tip of his erection. He raised his hips, again helping the fabric pass easily, and kept them up so I could push his boxer-briefs down after his pants.

As soon as the garments hit his knees, he kicked them off. His mouth met mine more feverishly now that we were both naked. I returned his feverish kisses, my hand tracing the V of his hips before I dipped it lower, feeling the smoothness of his skin under my fingertips before I finally reached a tuft of coarser hair. His hips twitched as I ran my fingers around his pelvis and to the tops of his thighs. Heat pooled between my legs when I felt how turned on he was.

I moaned into his mouth, wrapping my fist around the root of him and stroking slowly up and down. He let out a rumbling groan that vibrated in his chest and against my own, and I swept my thumb across the tip of him, whimpering when I felt the wetness gathered there.

Austin took hold of my thigh, grasping it firmly and tugging me closer until my core pressed against his leg. Sparks of pleasure flashed through me at the contact and my hips bucked, needing more friction as I sped up the movements of my hand.

He sucked in a breath and moaned. His muscles tensed as he moved his hand to my lower back, guiding my movements as I ground against him. For a few long minutes, we lost ourselves to what we were doing, our labored breathing and soft sighs the only sound in the room. Then he suddenly flipped us over, breaking the kiss as my back hit the mattress.

He looked deep into my eyes, the look in his own slightly frenzied. “I’m too close, Kenny. We need a condom.”

I dipped my chin in a nod. He sat up and reached for his bag, looking mouthwatering in the firelight. My skin was slick with a sheen of sweat and glowing with heat as I watched him. He pulled out a foil package that he quickly tore open, eager to get back to me.

He sat on his knees between mine, his gaze locked on me as he rolled the latex over his thick length. When that was done, he took my hands, captured my lips in another deep kiss, and slowly pushed into me. He kissed me like he would never stop.

I hooked my legs around his hips and stroked my hands into his hair, clinging to him as we started moving together. Austin stretched me out in all the right ways, filling me to the brim before withdrawing and thrusting in again, quickly finding the perfect rhythm.

I gave myself over to him and the pleasure that was building deep within me, meeting every one of his thrusts with my hips. Tension knotted inside me. My clit started tingling with pleasure, the waves slowly spreading through my whole body until all at once, it hit me like a tsunami, knocking me right off my feet as all the tension released.

My legs went numb, my ears rang, and my entire body throbbed in the aftermath. Austin’s thrusts became shorter and faster. His brow furrowed as his lips left mine to pop open. Then he moaned and I felt him swell deep inside me, his pleasure triggering aftershocks in me like fireworks.

We lay together for a long time after, our breathing slowly evening out before he got up to get rid of the condom. When he came back to bed, he pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. “We make magic together.”

“Abracadabra.” I snuggled into his side and draped an arm and a leg over him.

I debated telling him right there and right then that I loved him. It was right at the tip of my tongue, and after what we’d just experienced together, it certainly felt like a good time.

But that was one of the things holding me back. He might just think that it was the afterglow talking.

If it had only been that holding me back, it was possible that I would’ve risked it, but as I contemplated saying those words, I found them retreating. Convincing him that it wasn’t just the afterglow talking wouldn’t be hard. I would simply keep repeating it over and over again until he finally believed me, but I was also just too scared to say the words I so deeply felt.

And the more I tried saying them, the more scared I got.

It would change everything. What if I wasn’t ready? What if things didn’t work out?

If I told him I loved him, he might say it back just so I wouldn’t be embarrassed. He might also keep helping me with my business just because he felt obligated to. On the other hand, what would happen if we broke up and things got messy and weird?

What if it damaged my relationship with Jess if Austin and I got into a fight? Worse yet, what if we broke up and it hurt his family?

I cared so much about them that I really didn’t want to do anything that might hurt them in any way, but if Austin and I really got together, it was entirely possible that they might end up getting hurt too if we didn’t make it.

Going around and around about it in my head, I so badly wanted to tell him how I felt but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Eventually, I must’ve tensed or given him some other sign, because he slowly stopped tracing circles on my shoulder with his thumb. His brow puckered as he lifted his head to look into my eyes. “Are you okay?”

I forced a smile and nodded, fighting the urge to tell him the full truth and settling for a partial truth instead. “I’m perfect. We should get some sleep. I told Jess I’d help her with chores tomorrow morning and four a.m. is going to come early.”

He held my gaze for another moment before he nodded. Lying back down, he pulled me closer and closed his eyes. A while later, his breathing evened out but I struggled to follow him even after that spectacular orgasm.

It seemed nature’s sleeping pill wouldn’t work for me tonight. My head was too busy finding reasons not to let me follow my heart, even if all I wanted to do was wake him up and tell him that I loved him with everything I had inside me.

I was keeping my heart in a cage, and if I wasn’t careful, it might get stuck in there forever.