Wasted Time (The Steel City #1)

61. Declan

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

declan

The elevator ride up to my penthouse is quiet. We stand, untouching, watching the floors climb as the tension between us climbs with it. The air is thick, but it’s the good kind. A pleasant change from last year, anyway.

We both know what’s going to happen the second we’re inside of my place. I’m already conjuring up images of what is going to happen first, and I’m sure she is thinking about the exact same thing. It’s fucking tangible.

I’m stoked that this time, it won't matter what is going to happen first. Whatever doesn’t happen first is guaranteed to happen later. We have time. The rest of our lives, if I have it my way.

The elevator door opens. I gesture for her to enter the small hallway that belongs solely to me. There’s nobody here but us. I could take her against this wall if I wanted to.

She smiles, as if she can read my mind, tucking a strand of honey-coloured hair behind her ear, and walks ahead of me.

I place my hand on her lower back, though she knows the way to my door. There really isn’t anywhere else she could go, but I want to guide her everywhere anyway.

I just like touching her.

I slide my key into the lock, pushing the door open. Before she can get too far, I wrap my arms around her from behind. I love that she’s tall. It makes it easy for me to bend my head and press a kiss right behind her ear. I kick the door closed behind me and walk into my house just like this, with my home in my arms.

Her hands find my forearms, a soft giggle leaving her lips.

“You want dinner first?” I whisper, my breath hitting her ear. She shivers in my grasp, hearing the implication. “A drink?”

“No, thank you.”

My baby is polite.

“Want to watch a movie?” I’m kidding. If she says yes, I’m going to throw myself off the balcony. Two hours without touching her sounds like a nightmare.

She turns herself around in my arms just as we reach the kitchen island, pressing her back against it. She shoots me an innocent look and curls her hands in the lapels of my suit jacket. Shaking her head, she tugs her bottom lip in between her teeth, peering up at me through her lashes, bedroom eyes in full effect.

Those fucking eyes.

I wind my arms around her waist, pressing my body to hers and trapping her between me and the counter.

“The only thing I want right now is you,” she says, and it takes all my control not to groan at those words coming from her mouth. “Going slow is fine, but I’d like to change directions now if that’s okay with you.”

I angle my head, brushing my thumb against her hip. “Yeah? ”

“Yeah,” she whispers. Her fingers trail up my chest to my collarbone. She curls her hand around the back of my neck. “I’ve really, really missed you.”

I swallow, loving the way her eyes are glued to my mouth. Tell me that wouldn’t make any man hard. I’ve been living in agony without her. It’s nice to hear that she has been feeling the same way.

“Should we show each other how much we’ve missed each other then?” I grumble.

“Only if you mean it,” she says, meeting my eyes.

A dare. Another test she probably doesn’t realize she’s putting me through.

Prove you want me. Tell me you want me. I need to believe you. Help me believe you.

“Oh, I fucking mean it,” I growl, lowering my mouth until our lips are a hair width apart. “There was never going to be anyone else after you, got that?”

Her eyes shutter. Her fingers dig into my hair. She doesn’t let me finish, she does it for me. Closing that tiny gap that I gave her, Penny presses her mouth to mine. It’s soft, sweet, and not at all urgent like I expected her to be when we were finally alone again.

But I feel what she’s just done. She’s giving me those last bits of her heart that she held back, those broken pieces that another man ruined. She’s trusting me with the shards, allowing me to be the one to help her put them back together. Her trust, her issues with abandonment, her vulnerability. All those pieces are now in my hands.

I promise; they’ll be safe.

“You want me to take care of you now, baby?” I say, reaching up between our bodies to cup her face. She leans up against me, bracing her hands on my chest.

She manages a soft nod .

I angle my head, capturing her lips with my own. This time, it’s deeper. It’s submission. It’s giving into the temptation that we’ve been tiptoeing around for the last few days. I love her. I want her. I want to give her everything she needs.

Penny presses her body against my own, wrapping her arms around my neck and hoisting her chest to mine. I wrap my arms around her back, tugging her off the island, guiding her toward the stairs that will lead to my room—to our room, because that’s what it’ll be regardless of whether she’s in Pittsburgh or not.

There’s no way I’ll be taking her anywhere but there for the first time.

We climb the stairs slowly, desperate to stay connected. She lets me guide her backward, trusting me, smiling into every press of our lips. She stops mid-way and flattens herself to the wall, urging me to kiss her deeper than I can while walking up a flight of stairs.

I do.

She’s lucky that’s all I do.

When we finally get into the bedroom, I slide my fingers under the hem of my jersey and pull it over her head.

“Be gentle with that,” she hisses when I toss it aside.

“I have plans for that later,” I grumble, and I do. Many. “You started a war wearing my name on your back.”

She smirks, now just in a tiny lace bra. She winds her arms around my neck again and links her fingers together. “What kind of plans?”

“You, on your stomach,” I admit, because she deserves to know the future I have planned for us, and this is definitely a part of it. “Ass in the air, my hand in the back of that jersey, my name staring up at me the same way you will be.”

Her eyes darken. “Dec. ”

The corner of my lip ticks upward. “You like the sound of that, don’t you?”

“Can we do that now?” She pouts, and I reach up and press that pretty lip down with my thumb.

“No,” I say with a shake of the head, pecking her mouth again. “I’ve been dying for this day for months, Lucky. The first time I fuck you again, it’s going to be staring at that beautiful body of yours. I want to look into those eyes that have tormented me and spend an hour between those perfect legs. No jersey.”

Her eyes are wide. She nods frantically. “No jersey.”

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

“Let me help you,” she whispers, reaching forward. She slides my suit jacket off my shoulders, letting it drop to the floor. Then, as if trying to torture me to death, her fingers slide to the buttons of my dress shirt. One by one, she undoes them, all while looking me dead in the eyes.

She’s a sadist, and I’m a sucker for it.

When she finally pops the last one, she slowly slides the shirt off my body and reaches for my belt the second it hits the floor. I grab her hands, stopping her, and she blinks up at me like a fucking angel.

“Get on the bed and get rid of those leggings,” I order.

She flashes me a smile but drops her hands. She backs up to the bed and I get to work on my belt and my zipper.

She wiggles out of her pants and crawls onto my bed backward, eyes locked on me. The second I’m in my boxers, I’m following her. I’ll keep following her. Anywhere. Everywhere. For the rest of my life.

She perches herself on the pillows, that black bra and matching panties beckoning me. I crawl on top of her, gliding between the legs that she willingly parts for me. Two pieces of the same puzzle finally figuring their shit out.

She rests her head against the headboard, brushing her fingers along the side of my jaw. She smiles a smile so sweet that it would bring me to my knees if I weren’t already on them.

A real, Penny smile.

This one is different. This one is just for me.

Our eyes meet.

“Hi, baby,” she whispers.

I shut my eyes, my head dropping. Something about her tone… the endearing way she’s looking at me. It’s a stark reminder of the pain that we had to endure to wind up right here. It was all for a purpose. This purpose. Us.

“Hi.”

She leans upward, pressing her lips to mine while my eyes are still closed. That’s all it takes to get me back in the moment. I’m here for a reason. Her soft lips move against mine, her tongue slides into my mouth, and her fingers scratch against my beard as she takes the kiss that she wants from me.

My girl wants to be fucked.

I’ll always give my girl what she wants.

I slide my hands against her chest, lowering my body on top of hers so that she’s pinned between me and her new bed. My fingers skim the edges of black lace. She whimpers into my mouth when I slide my fingers under the material.

It is music to my ears. It’s a jolt of lightning right to my cock.

I regretfully pull my mouth from hers, but only so I can glide down the body that has left my head in shambles. I kiss a path down her chest, between her breasts, gently biting down on the softest parts of her.

When I get to her stomach, trailing soft kisses toward the hem of her underwear, fingers wrap around my chin and pull my head upward.

“No.”

I drop my chin to her stomach, deflating inside. “No?”

“Trust me, I’d love that. You’re exceptional at that,” she says, and I can’t help but smile with vindication. “I don’t want to wait tonight. I just want you.”

I groan, pressing my forehead against her skin. I have my arms wrapped around the outside of her thighs. I squeeze to muffle my desire.

She’s going to kill me.

“I haven’t been with anyone since you and I take my pill religiously.”

My head snaps upward. “What are you saying?”

She dips her chin, fingers gliding through my hair. “No condom. If you’re okay with it.”

I almost collapse. Almost croak and die right there.

Um, yeah. I’m more than okay with it. I’ve dreamt about this more times than I’d like to admit. Being buried in her, bare and without a barrier between us. Holy fuck, I can’t imagine how much better it could get. It’s already untouchable, and that’s with the goalie in play.

“Yeah, baby. I’m fucking okay with it.” I scramble upward, kicking off my briefs.

She’s all smiles now, the kind that lights up her eyes. She reaches around and tears her bra off, letting me work on her underwear. They’re discarded in seconds, and then she’s opening her legs for me, and I’m climbing in between them, crushing my mouth to hers.

“Let me warm you up at least,” I mumble against her mouth.

She lets out a little laugh, reaching in between us to take my hand. She brings it down between our bodies. My fingers slide between her folds, and I almost come right then and there. She’s drenched. She’s absolutely soaked, and I haven’t even touched her yet.

“You did that on the ice,” she says against my mouth.

That might be the hottest thing a woman has ever said to me.

I press my forehead to hers as I dip my fingers inside of her. Her breath hitches, and her fingers dig into the skin of my shoulders. I shake my head against hers, holding my breath at the feeling of her. She squeezes around me, and I can’t fucking believe that I get the honour of loving this woman. I watch her face, trying my hardest to pace myself. She’s warm and tight around my fingers, and my cock is aching for his turn.

A low moan leaves her throat, and she arches up against my hand. I place a hand on her waist, holding her down, treasuring that small access she has given me to her neck. I press my lips to the column of it, gliding my tongue down her skin. My movements are slow. Teasing. I’m trying to get her to accept the pace I’m setting, even though her body is pleading with me to rush this.

“Please, Dec,” she whispers.

And then she has to go and beg for it.

Fuck it.

I’m about to make her come on my fingers when I stop all together.

No warmup. I forgot. I got ahead of myself. Lost myself in the feeling of her. In the way her expression softens when the things that I do make her feel good. She does that to me. Makes me lose the plot a bit. She’s got to take a little blame here too. She can’t let me touch her and then expect me to remember that I’m supposed to stop.

I slowly withdraw. She’s watching me, lids heavy and eyes full of lust. She spreads herself wider underneath me, not saying a word. The ultimate invitation. To fuck her. Bare.

Right now.

I reach down, taking myself in my hand. I’m rock hard already, aching and desperate for her. I stroke myself a couple of times, loving the way she stares at my cock like she’s hungry for it. Her tongue wets her lips, a soft noise leaving her when I curl my wrist at the head. I fuck my hand a bit longer, just so that she keeps looking at me like that. It’s worth it to watch her salivate over the piece of me that I’m about to make her come around.

“Fuck,” I whisper, growing stiffer in my fist.

God, who knew watching someone watch me could get me off? We’re definitely going to explore that later, but that’s not how I’m going out tonight. I lean forward between her legs and line myself up against her. I can feel her warmth already. It takes everything in me not to drive into her and remind her how damn good we are together.

Soft fingers find my cheek, pulling my attention away from the area she wants me most. “No running.”

She says it to me, but it’s a reminder for herself.

Stay with me, baby. I got you.

I nod, pushing into her just enough for her mouth to fall open. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She grips me perfectly, and the immediate tightness makes me pause to take a breath. Exactly what I expected. Exactly how good I thought she was going to feel when I finally got to fuck her again. I know what she wants from me is not this little promise of what I can give her. She wants all of it, but I need a second to adjust. I’m not ending this prematurely.

I push into her, slow, but completely. Drive all the way into her until her back arches off the bed, her fingers desperately scratching at my shoulders.

I’m not going to last.

I groan as I bottom out, head falling forward to her collarbone. My hands ball in the sheets. She feels better than I remember, and I remember her fucking fondly .

This is the moment everything changes. This time, for the better.

The moment we commit to doing this. For real. Her and I.

Finally .

“I need you.”

I need you.

I need you, too.

Her moans are sweet and soft, and they feel just as good as she does against the skin of my arm when she lightly bites down onto my wrist to convey how good this feels.

I reach up, wrapping my hand around the base of her throat, thrusting deep into her. Slow. Smooth. Rubbing up against the spots where she needs me most. The spots that I’ve craved to touch again.

“Oh my god,” she whispers. Her hands go to my forearm, and I squeeze her throat a bit, earning the biggest, ‘fuck me’ eyes I have ever seen.

“That feel good?” I ask, watching her try to scramble for something to hold onto. I brush my thumb against the column of her throat.

She lets out a small whimper as I pull back again. She nods quickly, her brows furrowed, mouth falling open. “Keep it slow. Just like that.”

I smile, loving the way she can explain how to please her in words. I don’t know if there’s anything more attractive than that. I can take direction, I’m fucking good at it, too. It’s the reason I made it to the big leagues. I can fuck her the way she needs me too.

“Nice and deep?” I ask.

Her eyes shut, the talk making it ten times more pleasurable for her.

She hooks her legs around my waist, pulling me even deeper.

I curse, trying to hold myself together, but failing miserably at the sight of her. I can’t finish too early, not tonight, but when I look down and watch my cock slip in and out of that perfect spot between her legs, I don’t know how long I can last.

Bare. No condom.

This is where I’d like to die.

“God,” I groan, continuing this grueling pace that has her unable to form words. She’s riding the waves of pleasure like nothing I've ever seen before. She’s lost in it, the slow push and pull of this. Desperate. Needy. I need this vision of her imprinted on my mind every time I fucking blink. “Look at you.”

“Keep going. Oh god, keep going.”

“I’m not stopping, baby,” I promise, placing a hand on her lower stomach. I gently apply pressure as I push inside of her again, and the satisfaction is instant.

The moans that leave her are like heaven, the new pressure forcing her eyes to shut.

“Holy fuck,” she whispers, clinging to my arms. “I’m going to come.”

I nod, keeping my hand steady. “Look at me.”

She’s breathing deeper, her eyes unable to focus, but she does as instructed.

Good girl.

She rolls her head toward me and meets my eyes.

“That’s it, baby. Eyes on me.”

“Dec,” she breathes, nails digging into my arm. I squeeze her throat a bit again, wanting to get her there. “You feel so good.”

“Fuck,” I grumble. Those words make me want to snap my hips and give it to her the way my body needs to, but they also keep me grounded. This feels good. Don’t change it.

I make one more push inside of her, deep and steady, and I know she’s a goner. She tightens around me, a long cry leaving her mouth. Her orgasm trickles through her in waves. She shakes underneath me, her legs trembling around my back as she comes undone.

And my fucking god, it’s the hottest thing I have ever seen.

My jaw clenches as I fight to keep the same pace. She needs to ride this out. I want her to ride this out.

When she finally starts calming, her mouth still hanging open, eyes glassy—she reaches up and grabs my chin.

“Fuck me the way you need to,” she says, her eyes dropping to my lips. I don’t need to be asked, that look was a request in itself. I smash my mouth to hers.

“You gonna give me another one?” I ask, still rocking inside of her slowly.

“Don’t pull out and I’ll give you as many as you want.”

Another request. A big one. One that would feel like a risk I wouldn’t be willing to take with any other woman. It’s an instruction I can follow, one that makes my cock harden while I’m already buried deep inside of her.

“Really?” I ask, swallowing.

She’s asking me to finish inside of her.

If that doesn’t drive me over the finish line, nothing will.

“ Please .”

I groan, the idea of my come spilling down her thighs an image that’s too hot to pass up. I kiss her deeply again, slamming my hips against her now. Her moans flood the room, loud and breathless. I fuck her hard, her cries cheering me on, her body tightening around me with each thrust.

Fuck, she feels good.

Fuck, I love her.

“Fuck,” I groan, the sound of our skin slapping against each other melting into my words. “That’s it. I’m close.”

“Oh my god,” she cries out. “Me too.”

“You sure?”

Her eyes snap to mine. Pure lust. “Yes.”

Damn it all to hell.

Two more thrusts and her body tenses, nails nearly drawing blood from my arm. Feeling her come once was hard to make it through. Twice? When she’s spent, drenched, and overstimulated? Not even god’s strongest soldier could make it through that.

I fucking lose it. My balls tighten and my hand moves from her throat to her jaw as I explode. I’m still fucking her hard and fast, my hips slamming into hers, when I spill into her. Her body coaxes it from me.

It’s fucking heaven.

She is heaven.

Nothing has ever felt like this in my life. Nothing ever stands a chance at feeling like this again. I was doomed in that hotel room, and I’m doomed now.

When I finally catch my breath, I fall on top of her, kissing the sweat glistening on her neck. I move to her jaw, kiss her there. Then her cheek. Kiss her there, too.

Her arms wind around my shoulders, fingers immediately toying with my hair. There’s a gentle tug at the root, so I angle my head upward, and her lips are on mine. Slow, promising. A reminder that this time, it’s different.

This is love.

No running. Never again.

I reach for her, cupping her face in my palm. The face that brought me to my knees. The face that broke me. The face that somebody else hurt to the point that she didn’t believe she deserved this. That this wasn’t possible for her .

She’s my lucky Penny. Not his. Never been his. Always been a bit mine, hasn’t she?

There wasn’t a way this story ended without her wearing my last name on her back, and in her fucking wallet, and on all those cards she’ll use to spend our money. I’m not happy that he had to break her to get her here, but at least she’s here, and she made it to me safe and sound.

I’ll spend the rest of my life loving her the way she deserves to be loved. Loving her like it’s my full-time job. I’ll love her through the pain that another man created. Love her so that she can trust herself again. Love her so that she trusts me like she’s trying to. And I’ll love every fucking second of loving her, because taking her for granted is not something I’ll ever allow myself to do.

“Should I go back and forth between home and Pittsburgh for the next little while?” she whispers against my mouth.

I nearly jolt backward. “What?”

Her cheeks flush, fingers resuming their work in my hair. “Is it too soon?”

Typically, it would be. But, not for us.

“No,” I say immediately. “Do you want to do that?”

“Can we talk about it over cinnamon buns and coffee?” she asks quietly.

I smile, pressing my mouth to hers. “We can talk about it whenever you’re ready to.”

“I’m ready to.” She brushes her thumb against my mouth. I kiss the pad of it. “If you are.”

“Want to wait until morning?” I ask, noticing her heavy lids. I brush my fingers against her cheek, and she leans into the touch.

“Is that okay?”

I nod, kissing her softly one more time. “We have time. ”

“Okay,” she whispers, nuzzling into the pillows a bit. “Tomorrow sounds nice.”

Tomorrow does sound nice.

I smile, studying her sleepy face. As much as I love the idea of me dripping down those thighs all night, I know she’ll regret not cleaning up before going to bed, and I fully intend on getting her nice and filthy again in the morning.

“Let’s go shower, and then we can get some sleep, okay?”

Those eyes flutter open. “Will you wash my hair?”

“Ah, Lucky. You know I’ve got you.”