Free The Hustle (Irreparable #4) by Kj Bell Page B

“Why’d you really come?”
    When her eyes move to the side, I know I have her. “I feel some connection to you I can’t explain, and thanks to Captain Morgan, I had the courage to prove you feel it too.”
    With a sharp inhale, I move my thumb over her warm lips. “How would you have felt if I fucked you and then told you I didn’t feel anything for you?”
    She pushes my hand away, her gaze focusing on the wall behind me. “I would have been disappointed, but it would have been worth it, because taking risks leads to things unexpected and brilliant. There’s no fault in exploring a connection and seeing if it leads to more.”
    I’m left dumbfounded by her words as they continue to swim around in my thoughts. I avoid risks that could lead to the unexpected and brilliant, but Peyton leaps in, feet first with her eyes and heart wide open.
    “Aren’t you afraid of getting hurt again?” I ask, still struggling to understand. “You’ve had two assholes break your heart. Why would you risk putting yourself through that kind of pain again?”
    “I just accept that a few assholes breaking my heart is worth finding the one person who won’t.”
    I blink several times, wondering how her heart can be so resilient when mine is such a quitter. “And if it’s more than a few?”
    She shrugs faintly. “The world has to run out of assholes eventually.”
    “That’s what you’re banking on? That someone will come along and prove they’re different from every other guy you’ve dated?”
    “No, I’m waiting for the one who comes along and proves he deserves me.” She leans forward, her voice lowering to a whisper. “Are you too chicken to find out if it’s you?”
    Her laugh, her smile and the way she makes me think awaken a feeling inside me that I thought died when Maria left. Her eyes widen as I stand and take her hand.
    “Fuck it,” I say quietly, pulling her up from the couch. “Come with me.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “To take a risk.”
    I guide her down the hall to my bedroom. As we stand facing each other in front of my bed, words aren’t spoken. We exchange thoughts instead as our hands slowly undress each other. I take my time exploring her body, noting the places that elicit a quiet moan, or cause her to shiver.
    If I’d allowed this moment to take place in my office, it would have been over quickly, and that, I would have regretted. I’m going to savor each slow moment I spend bringing her to climax and the way she screams my name when she finally lets go. I’m going to ensure our first time together is an event of epic proportions.
    Her warm lips press into mine, urging me to open. I welcome her kiss, slipping my tongue into her mouth and brushing it over hers. The kiss causes an explosion in my heart that branches out though my veins, filling me with warmth and lessening the darkness. She sucks on my bottom lip as she ends the kiss and lies on my bed. I’m signaled by her index finger to join her. There’s a brief moment where I hesitate as my heart fights with my dick to say no. I shove the doubt down. If Peyton can take a risk after everything I shared with her, then so can I.
    I crawl up her frame and cover her body with mine, absorbing the warmth of her skin like a blanket of comfort as her slim legs wrap around my waist.
    The intimacy I’ve avoided for months brings all of the emotional pain I expected, but I welcome the onslaught of feelings as a revelation that in the depths of my heart, I’m still capable of feeling more than hatred.
    She lifts her hips as I slide inside of her, sealing our bodies together. The intensity steals my breath and it takes me a moment to move. Before long we’re making love in unison as though slow dancing, and as if we were made to go together. It takes effort to contain my emotions, but it’s even harder not to put an end to what we’re doing because I want this. I want her. Something inside of me feels Peyton’s a risk worth taking. That