Basic Chemistry: LOVE 101 - WILLOW BAY NOVELLA

by Layne, Harlow

  He bites his bottom lip and moans. “What are you waiting for?”

  “You’re very distracting, Mr. Landry,” I say as I step toward him.

  “Let’s see if I can help with that.”

  I watch as he gets into the hot tub and then holds his hand out to help me into the water.

  The heat feels heavenly on my skin as I sink further into the water. Merrick glides me over to the side where we can look out at the water and the slowly setting sun.

  “God, you’re beautiful like this.” His hands run over my shoulders and down my arms until he reaches my hands. Lacing our fingers together, he brings our hands above my head as he brings his front to my back. I can feel his erection probing my back, making me want to wiggle my ass against him, but I refrain. I don’t want to ruin the moment when we so rarely got them in the past.

  His hot breath skates along my jaw and down my neck before he places kisses along my shoulder.

  “I forgot how good you smell,” he nuzzles into my neck. Bringing our hands down around my front, he pulls my back to his front and holds me there. “This place is beautiful. Thank you for setting this up.”

  Turning my head, I look back at him. He looks down at me with a serene smile on his face. During these last few months, I never thought we’d be here, but seeing him now, I know we’re going to be okay. “After how everything went down before, I wanted to show you how much you mean to me. I let my insecurities and fears rule me when I should have told you how I felt.”

  “I understand why you didn’t. I was careless with how I didn’t want to hide what we had from the world, but after Jeremy caught us, I realized how devastating it could be for both our lives. I still want to pay your brother back.”

  Turning back to the sun, I rest my head on his shoulder. “He doesn’t want to be paid back. He only wants me to be happy.”

  “I promise to make you happy from today forward,” he says, holding me tighter.

  Four months ago, I wouldn’t have believed it, but now I do. My eyes are open to how much this amazing man cares about me. I’m not an infatuation, but the woman he loves. I still can’t believe he wants me, and now he’s never going to get rid of me.

  “I want to find a house on the bay to live in if the sunsets are anything like this,” Merrick murmurs.

  “They’re even better,” I state.

  “Wait,” he leans around to look me in the face. “Does your house back up to the bay?”

  He’s only been to my house once and never been inside, so I don’t blame him for not knowing. I wish instead of hiding my relationship with Merrick from Declan, I would have told him before Jeremy blackmailed me. If I’d done that, then he’d know everything about me. But I know I can’t live in the what-ifs. All we have is the here and now, and I plan to make the most of it.

  “It does,” I smile at him before pecking the corner of his mouth. “The view is the reason I bought a house in that crazy-expensive neighborhood.” And the sunsets, but he’ll see soon enough.

  His brows furrow. “Why aren’t we there then?”

  “Because my brother is moving out of my house and into his new apartment as we speak. When we get back to Willow Bay, you’ll have to watch the sunset with me.” And maybe stay over.

  “I like the sound of that.” Resting his chin on my shoulder, he asks. “Are you going to be sad when he’s gone?”

  “Maybe a little bit, but we both need to live our lives, and neither one of us is going to do that while living together.”

  “Really? Does that mean—”

  “There will be no more hiding for us, Merrick,” I cut him off. “You can come to my house anytime you want. Spend the night—”

  I’m cut off by being whirled around and his mouth crashing down on mine. Not wanting to waste another second, I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his trim waist. I use this position to start gliding up and down his shaft.

  “Please tell me you’re still on the pill,” he moans against my lips.

  Unable to speak, I nod while running my hands down his shoulders, along his ribs, and then the ridges of his abs until I’m met with his deep V.

  He slides his hands up my outer thighs and grabs onto my ass, lifting me. Placing the tip of his cock at my entrance, I slowly take every inch of him until he’s fully seated inside of me.

  He’s so big, and it’s been so long, I feel almost too full. It’s a delicious stretch that has me rocking back and forth as Merrick slowly moves in and out.

  Skimming his lips along my collarbone and up the column of my neck, Merrick grips my ass tighter. “It’s been too long. This is going to be fast and rough, but I promise I’ll make it up to you later.”

  I don’t tell him I don’t care if it’s fast or slow, rough or sweet. The way he makes my body sing with pleasure has me wanting him each and every way.

  Merrick moves to sit down, making me straddle him as he thrusts up while using his grip to bring me down. He holds onto me so tightly that I know I’ll have bruises tomorrow that I’ll wear proudly.

  Letting out a strangled groan, he stills inside of me. I’m so close, I continue to ride his thick cock as Merrick quakes underneath me. Heat explodes through my body, and stars fade in and out of my vision.

  Merrick holds me tight against his chest as I come down, panting against his damp skin.

  “I’ve dreamed of your tits, of this luscious ass, of being inside of your cunt, and in your heart,” he kisses along my collarbone and down between my breasts until his lips are hovering over my heart.

  With half-lidded eyes, I can’t help but smile at his sweet words. When Merrick first came into my office, I never thought he would be the type to say such sweet words, but over the months we were together, and our time apart where I analyzed every conversation, I’ve learned there’s so much more to this man that his dirty-talking mouth.

  “You’re in my heart as well. The months we’ve been apart, I’ve felt as if half of me was missing.”

  “And now?” He asks, nuzzling my neck.

  “I’ve never been happier or felt so complete,” I answer truthfully.

  Standing with me in his arms, Merrick sits me on the side of the hot tub. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a little nap.”

  Now that he mentions it, I am tired. It’s probably from the heat of the hot tub and the endless months of sleepless nights.

  “A nap sounds good. I miss sleeping with you.”

  Merrick smiles down at me as he slips out of the hot tub and then helps me down. Lacing our fingers together, I let him lead me back inside the cabin and into the small bedroom with a beautiful view of the lake.

  “This place really is great, and to know I get you all to myself for the entire weekend,” he pulls back the covers for me.

  “I feel the same way. It’s long overdue, but it’s the first of many weekends together,” I say as I climb onto the bed, with Merrick following after me.

  Lying behind me, Merrick curls around me and tangles our legs together. Nothing has ever felt as right as being in his arms. With each breath we take together as one, the more my body relaxes, and sleep takes over.

  * * *

  The lightest of touches runs along my arm and down my hip as I wake up. I smile, knowing it’s Merrick, and turn over to find him resting on one elbow while he looks down at me.

  “You’re beautiful when you sleep, and you make these little noises—”

  Horrified that I’ve been snoring while he’s been laying here for who knows how long, I cover my face with my hands. “I wasn’t snoring, was I?”

  “No,” he answers, peeling my hands away. “It’s like little puffs of air. It’s cute.”

  “It doesn’t sound cute,” I argue. Wanting to change the subject, I ask. “How long have you been awake?”

  “Not long,” he leans down and brushes his lips across mine. “I want to spend every weekend we can like this.”

  “Like what?” I ask for clarification. Turning on
my side, I run my fingers along his arm to his shoulder and up to his neck. My thumb rubs across the scruff of his beard. I want to feel it between my legs.

  “In bed with you and in our own private bubble away from the world.”

  “As often as you want, I’ll let you in my bed. I know you’ll be starting your job soon, but we can make time for each other. Plus, I’ll have more free time for the next two months before school starts.”

  Rolling me onto my back, Merrick climbs on top of me and buries his face in my neck. “If I would have known you were coming back into my life, I would have told them I’d start in a month rather than two weeks. I figure two weeks is enough time to find a place to live and move in.”

  The thought of Merrick waking up somewhere else and not beside me twists my stomach into knots. Once school starts back, we won’t have as much time to spend together.

  Before I can think too much about it, I pull his mouth to mine and sweep my tongue inside. “Move in with me,” I pant out when we finally break apart.

  “Are you serious?” He pulls back while still hovering over me with wide eyes.

  “Yes, I don’t want to miss any more moments with you. I want to wake up to you every morning and go to sleep with you every night. Why should you look for a place when we are going to live together eventually anyway?” Or at least that’s my hope.

  “I… um… I’m speechless,” he shakes his head. “I didn’t mention apartment hunting because I wanted you to ask me to live with you.”

  “So you don’t want to live together?” My heart falls to my stomach and then feels like it’s being trampled on.

  “I would love nothing more, but I don’t want to push you for more than you’re ready to give. I thought you wanted your house to yourself for a while.”

  “From my brother, not you, but if you want to wait, I’ll wait. I know I don’t deserve to have you back in my life so easily after what I put you through.” Turning my head, I look out into the darkness, knowing I shouldn’t have asked.

  “Baby, don’t be like that.” Taking my chin between his thumb and forefinger, Merrick turns my face slowly to look back up at him. “If this is what you want, then I’ll pack up all of my belongings and move in on Monday. Trust me; nothing would make me happier.”

  “Only if this is what you want. Don’t do it for my benefit. I may have gotten ahead of myself.” I knew I should have waited to see how the weekend went.

  “No, I think you, no we, are right where we need to be.” Kissing first the corner of my mouth, he moves to the other side and then places a soft kiss on the tip of my nose and then to each eye. “Ask me again.”

  I feel stupid, but I blow out a breath that makes his hair fall onto his forehead in a cute way that makes me smile. I don’t want to miss moments like this with him because I am too chickenshit to ask again.

  Instead of asking, I tell him what I want because that is what he deserves. “I don’t want to miss any more moments with you. I want to be able to fall asleep in your arms and wake up to you between my legs.”

  His brow quirks up. “Is that the price of rent?”

  “I think it’s a fair trade given what you do to me.”

  He smirks as he scoots down the bed. “I’d like to make my first and last month’s down payment now, then.”

  Merrick makes good on his promise. Each morning I wake up with a smile on my face as the man of my dreams brings me more pleasure with each passing day. And each day, I give it right back. Each night we get to know each other a little bit more, and I fall more in love with him each passing day.

  When I first started working at Willow Bay University, I never thought I’d meet the man I was meant to spend the rest of my life with in my classroom, but life has a funny sense of humor.

  Without chemistry, our love would be nothing.

  Did you enjoy BASIC CHEMISTRY? If so, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads, Amazon, or BookBub. Reviews mean the world to authors especially to authors who are starting out. You can help get your favorite books into the hands of new readers.

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  Acknowledgments

  My family- your support means so much. Thank you for all of your encouragement and giving me the time to do what makes me happy.

  To my girls: QB Tyler , Carmel Rhodes, Kelsey Cheyenne, Erica Marselas. I love each and every one of you. Thank you for all of your support.

  Loni Ree: Thank you for bringing me on for the Love 101 collaboration. It’s been so fun!

  Wendy: I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank you for EVERYTHING you do!

  Amanda: Thank you for talking me through when I didn’t know where this story would go and being my cheerleader.

  Thank you Bex for making my story into a book.

  To all my author friends, you know who you are. Thank you for accepting me and making me feel welcome in this amazing community.

  Lovers thank you for always being there day or night in my group.

  To each and every reader, reviewer, and blogger - I would be nowhere without you. Thank you for taking a chance on an unknown author.

  About Harlow

  Indie Author. Romance Writer. Reader. Mom. Wife. Dog Lover. Addicted to all things Happily Ever After and Amazon.

  Harlow Layne is a hopeless romantic who writes sweet and sexy alpha males who will make you swoon.

  Harlow wrote fanfiction for years before she decided to try her hand at a story that had been swimming in her head for years.

  When Harlow's not writing you'll find her online shopping on Amazon, Facebook, or Instagram, reading, or hanging out with her family and two dogs.

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