Pulling back once more, he looks at me again. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t,” I whisper and place my fingers against his lips. “It’s all forgiven.”

He looks down at me from above, his dark hair hanging forward and his eyes glittering in the soft glow of my lamp. Tilting his h*ps back, he pulls out of me and then pushes back in slowly…all while holding my gaze.

He does it again…pulling farther out, pushing back in just a little deeper.

Each time, some air is expelled out of my lungs and my heart pulses in response.

Alex is gentle with his pace, matching the emotion in his eyes. When I get close…when my body starts to tingle, and tighten, and my veins are pounding with blood, Alex goes just a little bit faster to help propel me over the edge.

A strangled sound comes out of my mouth as I splinter apart, just as he sinks slowly into me one more time, holding his body still and staring at me tenderly while he comes.

Propping himself on his elbows above me, Alex gives me a warm smile before leaning down and kissing me on my forehead. He then rolls to the side, taking me with him and tucking me in for a cuddle.

“I love you, Alex,” I tell him, because he said it last and never gave me a chance to reciprocate.

Squeezing me closer, he says, “I can’t believe you’re lying in my arms right now. I thought I had lost you for good.”

“Why did you change your mind?” I ask, immensely curious as to what prompted his turnaround.

“I think I knew within five minutes of walking out your door I’d made a mistake, but I was too stubborn to admit it. Every day that passed, I started to accept it more…that I was wrong to let you go. But every day that passed, I convinced myself you had moved on. That I had hurt you too bad.”

“I understood why you did it, Alex. I didn’t agree with it, but I understood.”

“What did you understand?” he asks me, with just a tinge of unease, because he’s asking to be put under the microscope.

“I understood that you were struggling with concepts that were very foreign to you, especially after having been raised in an atmosphere where you were to eschew all outside interference with your career. You were waging years of training and molding against just a few weeks of getting just a glimpse of what love could be. I think most people would have had a hard time taking the shot at love and not just going back to what they knew…safety.”

“Is that why you accepted my apology so easily?”

“That…and the fact I love you. Like insanely. There was no hesitation on my part, Alex.”

“Garrett told me that I wouldn’t have to grovel.”

Pushing out of Alex’s arms, I practically screech, “Garrett told you about that?”

“Yup,” I say with a grin. “He admitted that he even promised you that he wouldn’t, but I think his exact words were ‘I suck ass at keeping promises.’ ”

“That ass-wipe,” I mutter before sinking back down and laying my head on Alex’s chest.

“You should be thanking him, not cursing him, baby. He spurred me into action.”

“You would have come to your senses eventually,” I say with conviction, tracing my fingers through the hair that starts a dark trail just below his belly button.

“Yeah, I would have. But at least this way, it got done a lot sooner.”

“I guess,” I grumble.

“You need to be mad at Glenn too. He was complicit in all of this.”

Snaking my hand down farther, I glide my fingers over Alex’s cock, which starts to swell from the slight touch.

“Let’s not talk about my baby brother while I’m doing this,” I admonish with a laugh.

Alex reaches his hand down, covering my own and forcing my fingers to wrap around his length. When I’m holding him within my grasp, Alex tightens his hold on me, causing me to squeeze him almost roughly.

He groans over the sensation and that spurs me to start a slow pumping motion. I barely get two strokes in on my man, when he’s rolling over on top of me, kicking my legs apart to make room.

With a twist of his hips, he drives into me, and I feel such exquisite pleasure that tears prick at my eyes even as a groan tears out of him.

“I’ll never let you down again,” Alex murmurs near my ear. “I swear it.”

“I love you,” I answer him, but then I’m lost, as he starts to make love to me with a ferociousness that drives all rational thought out of my mind. Instead, I give over to the sensation and let Alex show me with his body all the ways that he loves me in return.

Epilogue

Alex

I had to enlist Minnie’s help…yet again. It didn’t cost me a thing other than hearing Minnie squeal into the phone when I called her last week to discuss my plan. It was her job to make sure that Sutton’s schedule stayed clear for lunch today.

This plan has been two weeks in the making and it’s getting ready to go down in just a little bit. Sutton will have no clue what hit her and I can’t wait to see her face. As I open the door to the crisis center, Minnie pins me with a glorious smile and a wink.

“All set?” I ask her.

“Absolutely,” she says conspiratorially. “Ready for me to buzz her?”

“Let’s get this show on the road,” I tell her with a grin.

Minnie picks up her phone and buzzes Sutton’s office. “Hey, doll…you have a gorgeous hockey player up here to see you.”