Thirteen (Love by Numbers Book 4) (26 page)

“How fucking dare they, after everything you’ve been through.”

She silences my tirade with a kiss, then speaks against my lips, “Ssh, it’s over, it’s done. I don’t have to lay eyes on that man again until his case goes to court and I’ve been assured that with the evidence they now have against him and the stunt he pulled last night with Nic, that he will be going away for a very long time.”

I search her face for any worry, “What about his associates?”

She remains calm when she replies, “I don’t have enough information on any of those so nothing happens to them, but that’s a good thing, it means that they don’t have any reason to come after me. If Wayne decides to rat them out, that’s his business, not mine.”

“So it really is over?”

“For now, it really is over.”

Sweet relief.

I can’t help myself; I take her lips with mine and kiss away the day. Kiss away all the badness and kiss away the touch of any other man but me.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, put him down, Lils. You don’t know where he’s been.”

We break apart with matching grins.

“I know
exactly
where he’s been.” Lilah retorts with a dirty wink in my direction before she unlocks her legs from my waist and I slowly let her slide down the front of my body to the floor.

When she turns around to face her family, I strategically place her in front of me to hide my significant boner.

“TMI, Lils. You’re not supposed to talk like that in front of the ‘rents. You know it freaks Mum out.”

Anita blushes and playfully smacks Nicola on the arm, “Oh hush yourself, Nicola Jane, we’re not total old fogies, yet.”

I’m not sure whether to slink away and hide in the corner from the embarrassment of having this conversation with my girlfriend’s parents, who I barely know, or stand proud and own it. Lilah takes the decision out of my hands when she links her fingers through mine and declares, “It’s been a long day. I’m going home with Harry. You want to stay with us, Nic, or are you going home with Mum and Dad?” Then as an afterthought she turns to me and whispers, “It’s still okay to stay with you, right?”

I chuckle and kiss the tip of her nose, playfully replying with, “Well… it looks like it. I can hardly kick you out now, in front of your parents and everything.”

She looks affronted for a split second then reaches up and tweaks my nipple, hard.

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“Because I can.”

“We’re in a cop shop, you know. Maybe I’ll report you for actual bodily harm.”

She smiles at me, her eyes darkening, before licking her plump limps. “Oh, I plan on doing something to your body and some might even class it as harm, but I think you’ll like it.” Then she winks.

“Ewww, we heard that you know.” Nicola protests from the other side of the room, and again I feel like I want to hide in the corner before her father decides to clip me around the ear for leading astray his little girl.

Lilah ignores her and leans towards me, placing a chaste kiss to my lips.

“Take me home please, Harry.”

Home.
That word sounds so good coming from her mouth, so good that I have to bite back the urge to strip her down right here, and make her say it over and over again, while naked and riding me like a cowgirl.

Must stop thinking filthy thoughts. Must stop thinking…

“Filthy thoughts? Yeah, it might be a good idea.”

Then the little minx discreetly rubs her hand against my erection and spins around to kiss her folks and Nicola goodbye.

I panic and grab my jacket off the chair, holding it in front of my obvious hard on, so as not to poke Mr and Mrs Tremere in the eye.

She is so gonna pay for that…
STOP
. I must not think filthy thoughts.

I rock from one foot to the other, going through the times tables in my head, when Nicola comes over and stands straight in front of me. No humour on her face.

“I’d like to take you up on the offer of the spare room, in a few days time, maybe. It’s closer to the hospital for me and…” She begins to ramble, her words all rushing together. I’ve never seen Nic nervous before.

“It’s yours. For how ever long you need it. I’ve already cleared it with Nate.”

Her rambling stops, and she just looks at me. Really looks at me.

“I want to be jealous of you for taking my sister away from me, but I can’t. I can’t be because she’s more herself than she has been for years. You’ve done that Harry. You’re good for her.”

“She’s better for me.”

She thinks for a moment and then smiles, “Huh. You’re her extra.”

“I’m her what?”

“Her extra.”

“I’m not sure what that means.”

“Lilah has always wanted to be ordinary when she’s anything but. She has always said that when she finds her extra, she’ll be extraordinary. You’re it. You’re her extra.”

She leans forward and lowers her voice conspiratorially. “And I can see she’s yours.”

W
aves breaking on a shore.

Fireworks exploding in the sky.

A volcano just before it erupts.

Oh,
fuck.

Why am I thinking about these things when I’m just about to…

“
Oh. My. God.
Don’t stop, don’t you
dare
stop.”

My back arches and I come apart. I feel weightless, yet heavy. Calm, yet buzzing with energy.

“Harry. My name’s Harry. If you’re gonna call out anyone’s name when my head is between your legs, make sure it’s mine.”

I lift my head from the soft pillows just in time to see his devilishly handsome face emerge from between my shaking thighs.

“Get up here,
God,
and kiss me.”

“With pleasure.” His grin, as he moves up my body, is pure sex. I may just have experienced one of the best orgasms of my life but this look on his face has desire sparking through my body and gathering at the juncture of my thighs.

“I want you inside me, Harry. I want it to be just you and me.”

His mouth takes mine in a deep, delicious kiss and I taste my lust, mixed with a liberal dose of Harry. It’s decadently naughty and I can’t hold back the moan that comes from the centre of my chest.

“It’s always just you and me, Lils.” He pants into my mouth, before taking my bottom lip between his teeth and nipping at it like it’s a sweet treat.

“No, I mean-” I gather my thoughts as his hips roll into mine and his cock drags excruciatingly slow over my sensitive clit, “-no condom. I’m clean and I’m on the pill. Let me feel you, just you, nothing else.”

His body stills and his lips no longer trace a path over my collarbone. Does he not trust me after everything he found out about my history with Wayne? Does he think, even for one second, that I’d put him at risk?

“We don’t have to; I just wanted to let you know the option is there if you-”

“I’m infertile; I can’t have kids, Lils. No balls, remember?”

I am such an idiot.

“Harry, I’m…”

His head lifts and his face hovers directly over mine. “Don’t say you’re sorry, Lils. Saying sorry means you pity me. I’ve had enough pity; I don’t deserve it. I’m alive. Here with you I’m alive. Who needs balls for that?”

He tries and fails to give me a carefree smile but I can see his pain. He’s buried it deep and covers it with humour, but it’s there, clear as day.

I search his beautiful grey eyes wondering if he wants to talk or if this is the wrong time. Maybe our second time getting naked with one another isn’t the best time to address it, but I need him to know that nothing has changed for me. “I’d rather have you, minus your original nuts, than never getting a chance to experience what we have right now. We may have both lost a fundamental part of us, but we’ve still got the most important one, our hearts and right now, Harry David Brown, you own mine and I don’t want it back.”

I watch as my words register, his eyes looking over me like it’s the first time. Without speaking he leans down and takes my mouth with his. Just as I’m about to gasp for air, he slides straight into me, right to the hilt, and steals the last bit of oxygen from my lungs.

“I” a delicious roll of his hips, “adore”, a lick from his hot tongue right over my nipple, “you.” He pulls almost the entire way out before thrusting back in and hitting the spot inside me that makes me cry out in ecstasy.

“Harry.”
His name is both a plea and a prayer.

“Say it again,” he demands huskily.

Despite being on the edge of orgasm I can’t help but play with him, “
God.”

He snaps his hips forward, punishing my teasing with a hard thrust.

“Tom Hardy.”
Yeah, I might have said that just to get a reaction and get one I do. His next thrust pushes me half way up the bed and I forget the game I’m playing and call out with abandon,
“Harry. David. Brown.”

Then I come apart in his arms, my back almost breaking in half with the force of the tremors that wrack my body and I gasp for air. He’s not done yet, though. He continues his onslaught, his pace never wavering, not until I tighten my thighs around him and lick his ear, using my breath to blow over his sensitive, damp skin. “I adore you, Harry.”

He comes with a roar. My name on his lips a vow. A promise that we are both whole, together,
finally alive.

I
love the aftermath of making love to Harry, as much as the act itself.

The way he can’t seem to bear not being as close to me as physically possible. The way his arms tighten around me, even in slumber. I’m not discarded like some used toy. I’m cherished,
adored.

It’s a new feeling for me and I like it.

I vowed never to tell another man I loved him after Wayne. The word seems meaningless, thrown around on a whim by everyone and anyone.

‘Oh, I
love
that dress. You’re gonna
love
the pasta in this place. I
love
you more than I
love
jelly tots.’ Yeah, like I said,
way
overused.

When I told Harry I adored him, for me, that was a confession of what others call
love.
He may not realise it and I’m not ready to explain it, but he owns me and the thought scares me. Are feelings like this classed as insta-
love
? Am I only feeling this way because of all the crazy that’s happened in the last few days? Does he feel this too?

Who cares about the timeframe of my feelings? Not me.

The last few days may have compounded how I feel about him but they certainly aren’t the cause of it. I felt a connection to Harry the very first day we met. Okay, so it wasn’t adoration at that point, but it was something; something I wasn’t looking for or expecting.

Does he feel the same way? If the way he’s embracing me right now has anything to say about it, I’m guessing he feels something, maybe the same something as me.

I shutdown my thoughts and melt into his warm, strong arms. Sleep claims me quickly and I dream of the words ‘
I love you’
leaving Harry’s lips.