“Best day ever,” he whispered with eyes that were smiling at me.
“I couldn’t agree more.” I spoke honestly. “But enough with the talking.”
With a smirk, I thrust my hips into his, I slid my hands between us and fumbled with his fly. Our mouths were molded as one and with every fumble of our hands, our kiss intensified. I smiled into the kiss as I heard him moan against my mouth as my hand brushed his ever-growing bulge. His hands slipped into the elastic waist of my sweatpants and I whimpered, I actually whimpered as his finger grazed my highly reactive core.
I groaned at the loss of sensation as he pulled away from me. I lifted my hips off the mattress and he pulled my sweatpants over my hips and threw them across the room, causing me to giggle. “A bit overdramatic, don’t you think?”
He winked before his lips crashed onto my chest, causing me to gasp as pure pleasure swept through my body. He removed his mouth from my nipple and kissed his way down my stomach, stopping only when his lips reached the lacy of my panties. His thumb went inside my panties, pulling them slowly over my hips.
“You are so beautiful.” His eyes were burning in passion as he looked over my naked body. His lips hit my reactive skin and he continued his attack on my body. Kissing from my knee to the inside of thigh, his lips began kissing, sucking and biting the responsive skin on my inner thighs and I gasped loudly as I felt his breath on my core. My moans broke the silence of the room when I felt his mouth and tongue exploring my heat. Throwing my head back and grasping the bed sheets, I knew I was close. His tongue danced inside of me in the most spectacular way, while the feeling of his lips caused me to cry his name over and over again.
“Please, Tate, I need you.” My voice was begging, ragged by the intensity of this moment.
In one thrust he was deep inside me; it felt like my body was perfectly made for this. He looked at me as I adjusted around his width.
“I can’t believe I finally have you.” His words crashed around me.
He grabbed the headboard behind me and thrust into me hard, deeper and harder each time. We were a mass of heavy breathing and sweaty and withering bodies. We never broke our gaze, I wanted to watch him, I wanted to see his face in the moment when all inhibitions were lost. I felt myself clenching around him, I was close and I knew he was close. I grabbed his hips, begging him to go deeper. I felt the familiar feeling of my body tightening around him and I knew I couldn’t hold it any longer.
“Come for me, Sav.” That’s all he had to say, with one final thrust deep within me I lost it… completely and utterly lost it. I shuddered around him time and time again. I felt him unload inside of me and hand on heart I had never ever felt this close to anyone as I felt at that moment.
He collapsed hard against my chest; his arms still encased my waist, our bodies still connected. Our breathing danced in unsteady harmony as we tried to gain composure, a sheen of sweat covering our bodies, everything about this moment was perfect.
“You are amazing, Sav.” Tate kissed me softly as he wrapped me in his arms and I immediately felt myself drifting off, my body still tingling from the pleasure that was just unleashed.
I opened my eyes to the sound of my name. My eyes attempted to focus on the room around me. I heard his voice before I saw him. Nothing else in the world mattered when my eyes landed on Tate. There he was standing by the bed holding two steaming hot cups of coffee in just his boxer shorts, freshly showered, the water still glistening on his incredibly toned chest. His hair was scruffy, like he had just dried it with the towel, leaving it to fall however it wanted. He was incredibly sexy.
“Holy shit,” I gasped at the sight of him. Even after the abundant number of times he had dissolved my emotions in a split second, the way he would grab my attention as if he was the only one in the room and the undeniable way that he would stop my heart beating, he could still shock me into submission with the sexiness he portrayed. He seemed to not even realize the effect he had on me.
“What? Are you okay?” His face fell as he rushed toward me, putting both mugs on the table.
I smiled up at him as he sat beside me on the bed and grabbed my hand protectively. I rolled over to my side, propping my head up with my hand; my eyes began leering over him.
“I am more than okay. You just overwhelm me, Tate Connors. You are incredibly sexy,” I purred in response. Seriously, this guy was too much.
His eyes dropped from mine quickly before his hand rose to the back of his neck and he rubbed it in the way that I was now realizing meant that he was nervous. I watched in amusement as he smiled at my words, but it wasn’t his smile that caught my attention.
I giggled as I sat up, pulling the white cotton sheet tightly around my naked body. “Are you blushing, Tate?”
“So what if I am?” He collapsed on the mattress beside me and rolled on his stomach allowing me to look at the tattoo on his back. I knew exactly who the three stars were for: Tanzi, Ali and his mum. I now knew who the heart in the center of his back was for… Candice. My gaze was broken by the sound of his failed attempts to hide his muffled laughs after burying his face deeply in the feathered pillows.
“What are you doing to me, Sav? Since when have I blushed?” he muttered into the pillow.
He rolled onto his back and looked up at me with serious eyes. “You do realize that being the girlfriend of Tate Connors comes with massive responsibility.”
“And what responsibility would that be?” I asked as I propped my head up with my palm and looked over at him with a smirk.
He bit his bottom lip as his eyes narrowed and searched my face. “Well, you must be available to kiss me whenever I want, you need to become very familiar with the desk and lounge in my office and most importantly, you must provide me with Tim Tams.”
“Hmmm, I don’t know…those terms sound a little tough. What about my terms?”
“And what would your terms be, Ms. Rae?” He laughed, bringing his arm around my waist and pulling me toward him.
“Well, you must cook for me, come to my apartment whenever I need you and take me back to San Diego.”
He bit his lip as I watched his mind race.
“Ms. Rae, I would like to formally introduce myself as Mr. Tate Connors, exceptional cook, provider of your every need, San Diego tour guide and most importantly, the loving boyfriend of Savannah Rae.”
Did he just say loving? I felt my breath catch at the sound of those words. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. The way his arms tightened around my waist seemed to answer my questions though. He had said it; he couldn’t mean it though. He wouldn’t mean it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Tate, get your ass up out of bed! Well, well, well…what do we have here? Jack come here!” Tanzi eyes widened as she burst into Tate’s bedroom to find me wrapped up in his arms.
“Tanzi, you need to learn how to knock!” Tate groaned against my neck.
“Well, you never have anyone in here so I don’t need to knock,” she taunted and smiled at me warmly.
Tate pulled his face from the confines of my neck and looked at me. “I told you I never have girls in here. You are the exception, Sav,” he whispered before leaning in and kissing me softly.
“Jack, they’re kissing!” Tanzi shrieked. Tate grabbed the pillow from beneath our heads and hurled it toward Tanzi.
“It’s about time you made him an honest man, Sav! About fucking time.” Tanzi winked at us before being pulled out of the doorway by Jack, who couldn’t resist but give Tate thumbs up while throwing a wink in my direction.
After much whining and complaining from me, Tate and I reluctantly untangled our bodies from one another.
“I’m hungry!” I whined as a low grumble unleashed from my stomach.
“I’ll have a shower and then I’ll make us breakfast, or well, probably brunch now.”
I sighed and rolled to my side propping my head up with my hand as I gazed at his retreating figure striding toward the door. The way his boxer shorts hun
g on his hips was truly a beautiful sight, a sight that I don’t think I would ever get sick of ogling at. I giggled like a schoolgirl when he caught me staring at him. He was turning me into such a girl…I never giggled…ever. He gave me one last wink over his shoulder before he disappeared into the bathroom to shower.
I rolled over and pounded the mattress excitedly like a crazy fanatical girl. I had just spent the day having incredible, life-changing, toe-curling, back-arching, sizzling sex with possibly the hottest guy I’ve ever seen and every inch of my body was aching in pure ecstasy. I had quite possibly had the best day ever!
“What are you doing?” Tate questioned when he walked back into the room. “The look on your face is priceless.” He laughed as he stood in front of me with a towel slung around his waist and a devious grin on his face.
He gazed down at me with a satisfied smile. “Thank you for an amazing day.”
“Thank you for showing me who you really are,” I responded. He had trusted me with the knowledge of his past, he had opened up every part of him and he had given me his bruised heart as I had given him my broken heart.
His smile took over his face as he leaned down and rested his forehead against mine. It was moments like this that I realized meant the most to me. Moments of complete silence, the only sounds being our beating hearts and our breathing, moments where our thoughts were our own but moments we shared together.
Smiling, he shook his head at me while he pulled on his sweatpants, not bothering to put a shirt on. “The things you make me think of doing. You are too damn seductive, Miss Savannah. You are sassy, sexy and seductive, you are my personal triple threat.”
Knowing that he wasn’t coming back to join me, I unenthusiastically sat up in bed, pulling the sheet around me. Horror swarmed me when I realized I had no idea where my clothes had ended up after last night and this morning’s sexcapades.
“Tate! Where are my clothes? My panties? My bra?” I asked in horror.
“I hid them around the apartment so Tanzi would find them,” he replied, straight faced and serious.
I looked at him in disbelief. “Tate Connors!” I shrieked.
“Savannah Rae!” he mimicked before winking and throwing my panties to me.
A wave of self-doubt flooded me and I self-consciously wrapped the sheet around my naked body as I walked toward him.
“And once again she gets shy around me.” He stifled a laugh as he began searching the bedroom for my clothing and then began throwing them to me when he found them.
“Stop teasing me,” I pouted and bit my lip, trying to hide the smile threatening to give me away. “I might be a little shy but I am happy.”
“It’s because you finally bagged me…right?” He wiggled his eyes brows suggestively at me as he gestured at his body with his hands.
I rolled my eyes at him and made my way toward the bathroom. “You’re such a romantic, Tate!”
***
I walked into the kitchen to find Tanzi and Jack sitting at the table and Tate serving up eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns. I looked at these three amazing people and couldn’t believe how lucky I was. I felt like I had known each of them my whole life. I felt like I could be myself without any judgment.
I cheekily walked toward Jack and sat on his lap. He wrapped his arm around my waist as if he was Santa Clause. Tate’s laughter from the kitchen caused me to look up at him and I swallowed hard. He was mine. His eyes darted between Jack and me and he shook his head as amusement washed over his face. God, he was attractive.
“So now that you two have finally stopped being so damn stubborn, I am going to tell you a bit about Mr. Tate Connors.”
“Jack, you’re an asshole.” Tate laughed as he walked into the dining room and pulled out the seat opposite us and put a plate in front of Jack and me.
“You may as well feed my girlfriend while you are being a sleazy ass,” Tate scoffed and slid my plate toward us. Just hearing Tate call me his girlfriend caused a million butterflies to swarm around my belly.
Jack rolled his eyes at Tate before completely ignoring him and turned his attention back to me. “Okay, well, he loves peanut butter on toast at 3 a.m. when his shift finishes, he secretly likes those pink girly drinks that no man would ever drink and he lets Tanzi give him facials when they are having their twin time.”
“Seriously, Jack!” Tate chuckled as he shoved the delicious-looking eggs in his mouth.
“Maybe you and I can have our own special Jack-and-Sav time when they are having twin time. I am so glad that I have someone who will understand how torturous it is dating a twin. Always second…always forgotten…always unloved…”
“You weren’t unloved last night, Jack. Do you not remember what I did to you?” Tanzi snorted from across the table.
“Tanzi, please! I don’t need to hear that.” Tate screwed up his face and covered his ears. I couldn’t help but laugh. It was the exact reaction Tanzi had when I talked about Tate.
I shifted in Jack’s lap. “Will you let me give you facials?”
“As long as it’s berry scented. I love berries!” Jack screeched. The four of us burst out laughing and dug into the brunch Tate had made. He watched me over the table and I couldn’t stop myself from blushing. He had such an effect on me.
I stood on the balcony and wrapped my arms tightly around my body as the cool Los Angeles air hit me. We finished brunch and now Tanzi and Jack were in the kitchen fighting over who was going to do the dishes. Tate was due to leave in ten minutes. A set of strong hands wrapped around my waist from behind and pulled me in close, I knew by the scent of green tea, bamboo and vanilla that it was Tate. Resting his head on my shoulder, we stood in silence, looking over the balcony of his apartment. I twisted my face toward him in a moment of harmony and his eyes met mine.
I turned in his arms to face him as his hands rested on my lower back, making patterns on my bare skin above my jeans. I looked at his face, trying to memorize every inch it for the long three weeks ahead. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed the corner of his mouth, the exact way I knew he liked it. His eyes closed as his kissed the tip of my nose in a tender moment before speaking.
“I better go.”
I nodded in silence and halfheartedly released myself from his tight grip. Leaning my forehead against his, my voice was barely a whisper. “Text me when you get to New York.”
Tate nodded and pulled my face to his. His lips massaged mine in what was quite possibly the most sensual kiss I’d ever had. He pulled away leaving me breathless and wanting more. “That was so you don’t forget me.” He winked.
I didn’t want him to leave; all I wanted to do was go back to his bedroom, climb back into bed and forget the world together. Turning to give me one last look, his eyes twinkled in a beautiful and inviting way, the big blue eyes that sucked me in from day one constantly overwhelmed me. The smile on his face was almost too much. This was going to be a very long three weeks.
I followed Tate into the living room and watched as he hugged Tanzi tightly and whispered something to her. Tanzi turned to look at me before looking back and nodding with a smile on her face. What were those two conspiring?
“See you soon, my beautiful ladies.”
Tate closed the door behind him and I turned back toward Tanzi and sighed loudly. I pouted at her as she wrapped her arms around me.
“You and I are going to spend so much time together. Remember, Tate and I are twins,” she said with a suggestive wriggle of her brows.
“Are you trying to come on to me, Ms. Connors?”
“I’ve wanted to get in your pants from day one!”
Our laughter filled the apartment and I knew Tanzi would keep her word.
“Is it too early to open a bottle of wine?”
“It’s never too early for wine,” I said with a wink.
Tanzi rushed to the kitchen and brought back a bottle of white wine and two wineglasses. I sat cross-legged on the couch and started sipping my wine. Who cares if it w
as three in the afternoon?
“So it’s been killing me. Tell me everything?”
Smirking, I thought of my words carefully. “Now when you say ‘tell me everything,’ do you really want me to tell you everything?”
“Please keep it PG in regards to my brother. I don’t need to know everything.” I laughed as she scrunched up her gorgeous face. There were some things a sister didn’t need to hear about her brother.
“It was perfect, Tanzi. He told me everything and I told him all about my past. Your brother was unbelievably sweet and we hung out,” I gushed.
I was amused as I watched Tanzi’s face contort in disgust. “Oh Jesus, Sav, I don’t need to know that you two ‘hung’ out.”
The tone in Tanzi’s voice deepened and I noticed her demeanor change into Miss Serious. “Can I admit something to you?” she questioned.
“Anything,” I responded nervously
“I’ve never seen him like this. He puts on this tough ‘I don’t get a shit’ persona but he is completely preoccupied with you. He took you to San Diego because he wanted you to know everything about his crazy past. He never tells anyone about his past. Only Jack and I know and now you. That’s massive for him.”
“Tanzi, what would you say if I told you that I am falling incredibly hard and fast for your brother and it’s scaring the absolute crap out of me?”
“I would once again say: it’s about fucking time!”
I, Savannah Rae, was someone’s girlfriend again, I had met my match in every way and the thought absolutely freaked me out. The thought that I was someone’s focus and someone’s heart was something that would have petrified me to death but this was something magical, this was something that felt so right.
As I settled in my bed for the night, I finally switched my phone on and listened as two text notifications ignited the silence of my bedroom. I knew exactly who they would be from. My heart raced and my tired eyes were now focused on the tiny screen in front of me.