When The Stars Align

by Jeanette Grey

  “Too much?” he asked.

  “No.” Fuck, no. “It’s fine.”

  And she was so glad she was on her stomach like this—that he had no way to see her face.

  Because it was more than fine, more than not too much.

  It was perfect. Too perfect, and her heart panged.

  She didn’t know if she would ever, ever get enough.

  Suddenly, she felt every inch of her nakedness all over again, and Adam was too far away. She stretched her arm out toward him, trying to tell him without words that she needed him closer, hot and real and pressed against her.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Just… come here.”

  He rose up easily enough, climbing higher on the bed, but of course the asshole had to do it all sweet and fond, laying a line of kisses up the backs of her legs and along her spine. He kept that careful space between their bodies, too, and she wanted it gone, wanted to be blanketed by him, protected from all the things today that had left her shaking. From her own mind. From herself.

  She lifted up onto one elbow, craning her neck and reaching to get a hand on his skin. She couldn’t look into his eyes, but she could drag him in—in and in until their lips met. Opening for him, she held him against her and licked into his mouth, suddenly desperate.

  She didn’t want to think anymore, didn’t want to be taken care of. She wanted to lose herself.

  “Jo.” He broke away enough for air. He sounded dazed but still too cautious. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, I just—” What? Everything inside her felt like it was cracking apart. Deep in her gut, it hurt. I just felt really vulnerable. I needed you close. She swallowed and gripped him tighter. “I want you.”

  “I want you, too,” he said, and how did he make it sound so simple? Admitting that? “But—”

  “No buts.” She pulled him to her mouth and kissed him with another level of need, hot and dirty. Fumbling, she took him by the hand and led him to her breast, the one with the piercing through it, and that never failed to get him going.

  Sure enough, a filthy noise fell out of him as he rubbed the metal between his finger and his thumb. Her nipple perked up, going hard and swollen as lines of heat shot straight to her clit.

  “Isn’t that good?” She ground her hips into the mattress, squeezing her thighs together. “It feels so good when you touch me like that.”

  He cut off a curse, sagging lower against her until finally his cock dragged against her ass. He moved into the contact, flesh bobbing through the thin layer of fabric still separating them, and his throat worked like he had things to say but had lost the words. “But I was going to…”

  Right. Take care of her. Treat her right. She shook her head and kept him close. “You’re taking such good care of me now.”

  And that seemed to do the trick. He melted into her at last, letting her bear some of his weight. She wedged her legs apart until he fell into the space between them, and fuck, maybe someday they’d do this bare. Someday when they’d done the whole going and getting tested thing, and she’d had her implant checked out.

  She pulled away and buried her face against her own arm. Shit. Shit. They were never going to get that someday. No way in hell they were begging a ride to a fucking clinic, or waiting around for results from someone who might not speak English.

  They had a few more weeks. That was it.

  And it made her feel empty in a way she’d never imagined it would.

  Adam pulled back, sounding startled as he shifted his hand from her tit to her side. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” She would be, goddammit all. “Get a condom?”

  “Already? Don’t you want me to…”

  She shook her head, collapsing down onto the bed and slipping her fingers between her legs. Momentary jag of sadness or no, she’d just been rubbed and stroked and petted for longer than she would normally be able to stand. She was ready.

  “Just want you in me,” she said, and her voice faltered. She squeezed her eyes closed, going for broke. “Want you close.”

  He hovered for a long second, and she was going to lose her mind if he put her off or tried to make them talk some more. They’d already talked; they’d talked until she was hoarse.

  She forced herself to look at him. Gritted out the word, “Please.”

  A shudder went through him, and he kissed the tip of her shoulder, a closed-mouth press of lips that felt like a balm. “Okay. Okay.”

  Running his palm down her flank, he pushed off and opened the drawer of his nightstand. While he got himself ready, she turned her face into the bedding and played with her clit. When he came back to the bed, he was gloriously naked, all hot, smooth flesh sliding against hers.

  “Like this?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” She wouldn’t be able to look at him, but the urge to be surrounded by him hadn’t faded at all.

  “Okay.” Kneeling between her legs, he nudged her hand out of the way and replaced it with his own. He’d gotten so good at working her body in the time they’d been together, but it all felt like a tease.

  With a little growl of frustration, she bucked her hips, only to be pinned down. A hot palm at the base of her spine. More of his weight bore into her, and she was ready to throw him off, to climb on top and take what she wanted the way she always did, only…

  Only…

  So many times already tonight, Adam had asked her to let go. To let him care for her, to let him… She blinked hard against the warmth surging through her. There were other words for what he was doing here, the way he was treating her, and she wasn’t prepared to hear or think or say any of them. But she could accept him.

  She could give him the chance to offer her this moment. This safety.

  Shutting her eyes, she buried her face against the mattress and breathed out long and slow. His fingers slipped through her lips and over her clit, then dipped down to press inside, and she groaned his name.

  His erection throbbed against the back of her leg, hard and hot even through the layer of latex. “That’s it, baby. Just let me—”

  Something inside her went suddenly, achingly soft. A warmth blooming through her cunt and in her heart, and maybe they were both the same.

  Maybe they were both about making room for him. Letting him in.

  Then the warmth was a heat, was a fire just waiting to ignite, and she shook her head. Reached out a hand behind her until she connected with his skin. “No, not without… I need…”

  His fingers drew away, leaving her empty and alone and hanging over the edge until his hips settled between her thighs. Until the blunt head of him slid wetly across slick flesh.

  And she didn’t beg. She didn’t plead. But she shut her eyes.

  “Adam…”

  He sucked in a breath, bracing himself with both arms over her, and she thought, Finally.

  Then he sank into her, so slowly she could’ve cried.

  She kicked out hard, foot connecting with the mattress. Fuck, she was so full, and it felt so good—the way his weight pressed her down and held her. The soft kiss of his lips against her shoulder and her neck, and she whined.

  There was something untethered in her, something frantic, but he had her. He wouldn’t let her float away.

  He murmured her name against her temple, and it was a word and a prayer. She turned into it, and he dipped down to meet her lips, driving even deeper and forcing choked groans out of them both. His mouth was hot, the angle all wrong, but she didn’t care. It was just the rasp of his teeth over her lip and the softness of his tongue. They were one circuit, every part of him touching every part of her, electricity zipping up and down her spine. Life.

  And then he started to move.

  Her eyes flew open as he thrust back in hard. She’d been so close before he’d even gotten inside, overwhelmed by his touch and his kindness, and now he was hitting this tender hollow deep inside, winding her higher. She pushed into his thrusts, but his weight pressed her back down, a
nd she gave in to it. She took it.

  Sneaking his hand beneath her body, he got his fingers on her clit again. The quick circling strokes shot lightning through her, and orgasm was right there; she could taste it—

  But it wasn’t until his own unsteady breathing went shallow, the strain making his kisses harder, that the pleasure gathered into a storm. For what felt like an infinite moment, they hovered there on the edge together, and she wanted it to come crashing down, and she never, ever wanted it to end.

  He bit down on her lip and choked on her name, hips stuttering against hers. One more rough rub against her clit—

  The feeling exploded out of her, too much and not nearly enough as it dragged her under. Blackness washed out her vision as wave after wave of it overtook her. Adam took a final, punishing thrust forward and stilled, mouth hot and open against her cheek, and the low pulsing of his body in hers wrung another surge of pleasure from her that blanked her thoughts all over again.

  When she came back to herself, he lay half slumped over her, heavy torso barely supported by the shivering columns of his arms. She clenched around him, and it still felt good. But he twitched, a pained sound slipping past his throat before he withdrew. She gave a little whimper at the emptiness.

  How was it possible she still wanted more?

  “Yeah?” he asked as he climbed off of her, and there was intent there, for all that he was shaking. An offer. Blessed air swept in to fill the sweaty gap between their bodies, but it didn’t help to clear her head.

  “Don’t think I can move,” she said. It wasn’t quite an answer, but it was somehow, too. Yeah, she could go again—she kind of wanted to go again—but she didn’t have the strength left. He’d pulled it all out of her. Left her feeling weak and shimmering and amazing.

  She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt so good.

  With a low, rumbly laugh, he put a hand on her hip and rolled her over. The new stretch of mattress was deliciously cool against her burning skin. She blinked her eyes open to find him kneeling beside her, all the dips and rises of his musculature gleaming, damp strands of hair framing his face.

  Ridden hard and put away wet. She probably looked even worse.

  And then he eased her legs apart and moved to lie between them. Her sex gave a hot pulse, but she stopped him—fumbled a hand toward his shoulder when he spread her lips and stroked his thumb across her clit.

  “You don’t have to.” It would’ve been more convincing if she didn’t groan out loud at the heat of two fingers pressing inside.

  He smirked, lopsided and beautiful. “Believe me. I’ve been dying to do this for a very, very long time.”

  Then he was sliding down the bed, and all the breath left her lungs.

  She’d partied with some cunning linguists in her time, but it wasn’t usually a part of her sex life. It felt too intimate, and besides, she probably tasted like latex, and with one orgasm down, this second one wasn’t going to come quickly.

  Except the first hot swipe of his tongue had her hands going to his head. With the second she closed her eyes. His mouth was warm and wet, and apparently the guy could still surprise her. He knew what he was doing, coaxing the barely simmering embers of her last climax right back up into a pressing need, something too big to fit within her.

  She arched her spine and surrendered. He licked and sucked and filled her with hot fingers, and something inside her threatened to shatter. Curling his hand up, he hit this perfect place inside, and his tongue sped, flicking over her harder and harder, and she couldn’t hold herself against it… couldn’t hold back—

  When she broke again, this time, tears trickled from her eyes. But they were good tears. Amazing tears.

  He climbed back up her body, worry written all over his face. She pulled him into her and kissed her desire from his lips.

  She was still herself. But somehow, in that instant, everything was different.

  And she wished—God, she wished—that she could keep it.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was probably creepy, how long Jo lay there, watching Adam sleep. Pale, early morning light spilled in from the window, falling across his bare, wide shoulders. His hair was a mess, his lips parted, and she was pretty sure the hint of a shadow under his mouth was the beginning of a puddle of drool, but she didn’t care.

  She’d slept here, beside him, and the earth hadn’t shaken to pieces. Only her perception of it. And now it was a brand-new day, and she couldn’t go back. She didn’t want to.

  Okay, fine, maybe she wanted to go back to sleep, but that wasn’t happening, either. There was too much going through her mind. Adam and work and…

  Her dad. One way or another, she would have to deal with that situation today. Passive-aggressively ignoring and/or avoiding him held some appeal, but as she stared at the fall of Adam’s eyelashes across his cheek, she kept coming around to everything he’d said the previous night.

  And it made her want to laugh. She’d given up on the whole optimism thing a long, long time ago. She’d given up on her father. But the way Adam had spoken, the way he’d treated her… maybe she’d given up on love a little too soon.

  Finally, even she had to admit she’d flown straight past creepy and was rounding the corner of obsessive. She should go. Should sneak out and steal some clothes and head to her house to start her day. Except…

  Except Adam had been so eager for her to stay. If he woke to an empty bed, he’d be okay about it, but he wouldn’t be happy.

  When had making Adam happy become something that warmed her heart like this?

  Nervous, she reached her hand out and stroked her knuckles down his cheek. “Adam?”

  He sighed and smiled and nuzzled deeper into his pillow.

  She tried again. “Adam?”

  This time, his eyes fluttered open, soft and hazy, and the glow in her chest grew and grew.

  “Hey there, handsome,” she said.

  “You stayed.” He made it sound like it was the best thing in the world.

  “Yup.” Leaning in, she brushed a kiss against his brow.

  And he might have seemed lazy and half awake, but the guy was strong. His hand snapped out, and he held her in place, dragging her down toward his mouth.

  She squirmed. “I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”

  “Neither have I.”

  And then he was kissing her, and yeah, it was a little gross, but it was also sleep-warm and soft, his lips parting slowly and his tongue licking into her mouth. He tugged her body against him, into the cradle of his naked side, and suddenly she kind of got it. Why people liked to spend the night together. Why waking up with the person you were fucking was something to be prized.

  His grip slackened, that bleary smile overtaking his mouth again. “Do you have to go?”

  Thank God he brought it up. Her will to leave had started to evaporate with the first blush of their kiss, but her antsiness hadn’t. “I probably should.”

  “Okay. Thanks for waking me.”

  So she’d chosen correctly after all. She would’ve decked a guy if he’d made her get up just to say goodbye. But she wasn’t Adam, and Adam was glad.

  She was kind of glad, too.

  She pressed another kiss against his lips. “I’ll see you at work?”

  “Yup. Eventually.”

  With that, she rose and found the T-shirt he’d loaned her the night before. Boxers alone weren’t going to cut it, so she grabbed a pair of his basketball shorts off the chair in the corner and tugged them on. She shoved her bare feet into her boots and laced them enough that they wouldn’t fall off.

  Yeah. There wasn’t any question about what she’d been up to last night.

  Before she left, she cast one last glance at the bed. Adam’s eyes had half closed, but the soft curve to his mouth told her he was still watching her. He cast a sleepy wave in her direction, and her face nearly cracked with the force of her smile.

  It was early enough that she didn’t run into anyone, either in the guy
s’ house or in hers. She tiptoed past Carol’s unconscious form to the closet, where she grabbed some actual clothes. Normally, she’d be as bad as the rest of them, sleeping in, but not today.

  The entire walk to the observatory, she kept her gaze on the horizon. The sky seemed a brighter blue than usual, the greenery more vibrant, and the air smelled like it was teeming with life. Her muscles felt sore in the best possible way. She just felt good. Satisfied.

  Right up until she got to the cafeteria, where her feet stopped cold inside her boots.

  Shit-fucking camel balls.

  As far back as Jo could remember, her father had always been a morning person. Up at the crack of dawn and on his way to the lab. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see him at one of the little tables outside, neatly dressed and reading something on his tablet. She’d known she’d have to deal with him, that she was bound to run into him at some point.

  She’d just really, really hoped she’d at least get to have a cup of coffee first.

  Her heart throbbed inside her chest. Maybe she still could. If she kept her head down and didn’t talk too much, she could probably buy her breakfast and sneak off without his even noticing her. After all, it wasn’t like he’d ever noticed her before.

  And just like that, she was seven years old again, standing at the entrance to his kitchen. Hair in pigtails with her knee socks and her pleated, plaid skirt. Waiting for him to tell her she looked pretty or that he’d liked the pictures her nanny had promised she’d leave out for him to see when he came home. Or anything.

  Anything at all.

  She took a step back, and then another, cursing at herself. The same rush of anxiety that’d had her running and flailing out with words and fists came over her again. She’d sworn she’d never be that little girl again. She’d never wait for anyone to love her.

  She didn’t have to wait for anyone to love her.

  Because somebody already did.

  Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath.