Page 151 of The Best Shot

His hand slid down, palm splayed low on my stomach to keep me still for it. “Then hush.”

I did.

Lazy afternoons disappeared on the couch, half-packed bags forgotten while I climbed over him, needy and impatient, kissing him quiet whenever he laughed about it.

In daylight, we could still make it fun. Still act like we were only being greedy. But nights were different. At night, the countdown found its way into bed with us.

We got rougher after dark. Hungrier. Hale would drive into me hard enough to shift the mattress, hands locked around my hips like he could keep me there by force of will alone. I met him just as hard, and reveled in it. Every bit as gone as he was.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, the ties came out.

His belt first, then a length of black cord. He was calm about it, matter-of-fact, but his control looked paper-thin when he wrapped it around my wrists and tied them to the headboard.

I’d never let anyone do that before. Never wanted to.

Except maybe I had, in a way. Months back, in his bed, when he told me to put my hands above my head and leave them there, and nothing on earth held them but him saying so.

The rope was just catching up.

Maybe it was reckless, but the effort it took him to stay careful only made me want him more. With Hale, being tied didn’t make me feel helpless. It made me feel chosen. I could give him control and know, down to my bones, he’d never misuse it.

He took full advantage.

And I liked that too.

Later, I woke up to him staring at the ceiling, jaw tight, one arm tucked behind his head.

The clock read 3:47 a.m.

I shifted closer, pressing my bare body against his side. His other arm came around me instantly, his palm sliding over my back.

“Can’t sleep?” I murmured.

“Thinking.”

“About?”

His hand paused between my shoulder blades.

“The quiet,” he said. “It’s going to be so fucking quiet when you’re gone.”

“You’ve got Dolores,” I said. “And Gina and Martin.”

He huffed. “Yeah.”

I’d worked toward this for years, but I hadn’t planned on missing someone before I’d even left.

He wouldn’t ask me to stay. That was never going to be his move. And I trusted, more than I trusted most things, that we would still be us on the other side of six months.

But trust didn’t make the distance smaller, or make me less afraid that something would shift between us while I was nine thousand miles away and unable to get to him.

I slid my thigh over his. “I’m coming back, Hale.”

“I know.”

“I’m coming back to you.” I kissed his chest, then lower, dragging my lips down his stomach. His hand tightened in my hair, but he didn’t stop me. “This doesn’t change us.”

I took his dick into my mouth and felt whatever he’d been about to say leave him in a broken breath.