Not Until You: Part VII by Roni Loren Read Free Book Online

submissive side to you—a beautiful, dead-sexy desire to please. But the only time that’s dangerous or wrong is if you put it in the hands of someone who is going to exploit it. I would never want to change you or get in the way of your career or dreams. And it’s okay to want to be taken care of or protected sometimes. No one should have to take on the world all alone all the time.”
    I looked at him. How many times had I imagined his face these last few weeks? How many times when I’d curled up at night had I wished he were there next to me? And though I liked Mike, I knew in my gut it was only friendship. When he’d kissed me tonight, there’d been none of that fire that was there when Foster simply brushed his lips over mine. Even just sitting here in the car with him had this hum of electricity moving through me.
    But there was so much to think about, so many decisions already made. My job was here, my dad was counting on me. I had a house now. And Foster had said it himself, he was who he was. I either had to embrace his personality and dominance fully and accept what that brought out in me, or it’d never work.
    I reached out and took his hand. “I don’t know if I’m going to have all the answers for you tonight. All I can offer you is honesty.”
    “That’s all I’m asking, angel,” he said, lacing his fingers with mine.
    “I’ve missed you so much, I can barely breathe through it sometimes,” I admitted. “When I lie in bed at night, it’s you who’s on my mind. And I’m wearing this anklet because I wanted to feel close to you again, and I can’t seem to take it off.”
    He closed his eyes, his chest expanding with a deep breath, and brought my hand up to his mouth, brushing his lips over our entwined knuckles.
    “And I’m not unhappy, but I’m not happy either. I haven’t been happy since that last morning I woke up next to you.”
    His gaze met mine, naked emotion swirling in those blue depths. “Ditto.”
    “And there’s a lot we need to talk about and consider. But it’s late, and it’s already been a long night for us both.”
    He sighed, his expression turning resigned, and let go of my hand. “Right. Plus, I’m sure if I don’t take you home in the next ten minutes, your dad will probably send out a search party. Last thing I want is to cause you more trouble with him.”
    Foster lifted his arm to turn the key, but I put my hand over his, stopping him. “I don’t want to talk anymore tonight. But I don’t want to go home either.”
    He turned his head, brows knitted. “What?”
    I wet my lips, the yearning that’d been building over all these weeks filling every pore of my body. I knew it probably wasn’t fair to ask, but I was done overanalyzing things tonight. Even if I didn’t know what the future would look like, right now I needed this. Him. “I don’t want either of us to face the world alone tonight, Foster. Let me stay with you.”
    Awareness flickered over his features, like street lamps blinking on, and I saw my own yearning reflected back in him. He gave a quiet assent and turned the ignition.
    Tonight, we wouldn’t be alone.

Chapter 37
    We didn’t speak on the drive to his hotel or on the way to his room. We simply held hands, our fingers twined tightly together. And during the climb in the elevator, he watched me, much like he had that first night riding up to that hotel room. But this time I wasn’t trying to hide anything from him. This was me, stripped down to the studs, no walls to protect me.
    When the door shut behind us in his room, he flipped the lock and turned to me. Everything was there on his face. He pushed my hair behind my ears, looking at me like he was afraid I wasn’t real, like I’d disintegrate and sift between his fingers like sand. His thumb traced my bottom lip. I shuddered beneath the simple touch, my heartbeat loud in my ears.
    Then his fingers were tangling in my hair as he bent my head back and brought his mouth down to