Page 82 of A Simple Regret

“I had a good time this evening,” she whispers softly, her warm breath tickling my throat.

“I did too, Shortcake. Tonight felt…right.”

“Yeah,” she agrees. Pulling back just enough to meet my eye, she asks, “Was this just tonight? I’m not trying to pressure you and I’d understand⁠—”

I stop her words with my mouth. Her lips instantly part, allowing my tongue to slip inside for another taste. “No, Shortcake, it wasn’t just for tonight. I don’t know what the future holds, but having you here, in my arms and in my bed, is right where I want you. We’ll take it day by day, all right? We’ll keep talking, but I need you to understand, about what happened after graduation, I really do forgive you. We can’t move forward without it, and that’s what I want.”

Tears fill her eyes once more. “I want that too.”

“Good,” I tell her, pulling her close once more. “Tomorrow morning, we’re gonna get up and take a shower—together—and then you’re going to go have breakfast with Theo and your dad.”

She settles back against me and sighs contently. “I never thought we’d ever be here. Not specifically in your bed, but…together, in the same place. I always dreamed it would happen, and now it’s real.”

“It’s real, baby. We’re real.”

“Good night, Cam,” she replies, immediately yawning.

“Night, Shortcake.”

I can tell the moment she starts to drift off to sleep. Her breathing becomes even and shallow, and her body sags against mine. I don’t fall asleep right away, however. I hold her in my arms, ignoring the tingling in them as it falls asleep. I’m terrified I’ll wake up and find out this was just a dream, that this woman was only a figment of my imagination.

Eventually, my eyes close and I’m unable to open them. I think about her in my arms, how perfectly she fits there. I think about having breakfast with her son in the morning and getting to spend more time with him. I think about making love to her tonight and hoping it’s not the last time.

And I wonder if I’m ready to enter a relationship with Maren again, giving her my heart a second time, despite the outcome the first time around.

Even in my exhausted state, I know the answer is yes.

I want a future with Maren. Maybe not exactly what we had planned before, but a new one. One with the three of us.

With a smile on my face, sleep finally claims me.

CHAPTER

TWENTY

Maren

I carefully roll over, trying not to wake him. Opening my eyes, I take in the gorgeous, sleeping man beside me. I’m still having a hard time believing we’re here, together. After all the years we spent apart, then the hurt and sadness we had to get past, the conversations we’ve had to have—and probably will continue to have—it’s still a little surreal to find us here, together.

My fingers glide down his arm. His skin is soft, yet his hands are rough, no doubt because of his job. He twitches in sleep but doesn’t wake. It only takes a few seconds before his breathing evens out once more.

I move my hand down, resting it first on his abdomen and lightly tracing his abs before lowering it down to his groin. He’s not completely hard, but the moment my hand brushes across his semi-erect cock, it grows immediately. I can also tell his even breathing has stopped, a sign he’s now awake but isn’t moving.

Wrapping my hand around him, I give his cock a gentle squeeze, gliding my hand from root to tip. The result is a loud groan from the man lying beside me.

“Good morning,” I murmur, continually moving my hand.

“Yes, yes, it is,” he responds, opening his eyes and gluing them to me. “I like seeing you in my bed first thing in the morning.”

“Is that because I’m holding your dick?” I quip, offering a little smirk.

He snorts. “It is not, but that is quite the bonus.”

“Well, lie still, Mr. Miller. I’d like to continue the bonus,” I insist, getting up on my knees and bending over him.

Swirling my tongue around the head of his cock, I slowly lower my mouth over him. He holds completely still, but I feel the way he flexes in my hand. I bob up and down using controlled movements, knowing each time I go down on him is driving him closer and closer to the edge of control.

He reaches over and grabs my hair, gently pulling it to the side so it doesn’t get in my mouth. I hold his intense gaze as I bob down once more, sucking him like a Popsicle on a hot summer day.