Page 134 of The Scientist

He threaded his fingers through mine and brought them over my head. His movements were deliberate and unhurried, each stroke blending our bodies together in a seamless rhythm. I wanted so badly to touch him, to feel his taut muscles beneath my fingertips, but Lex held my hands pinned above me. So instead, I did everything I could to draw closer to him, squeezing my thighs tightly around his hips. It took an embarrassingly short amount of time for him to work me back up again. The sweat beaded across his forehead as I watched his brows furrow in concentration. I could tell he was still holding back, waiting for me to finish (again). I tilted my hips to change the angle, causing his cock to brush deliciously across my most sensitive area.

As Lex picked up speed, my grip tightened around the fingers he still had threaded through mine, my insides suddenly tensing as I exploded, shattering into a million pieces. Lex groanedloudly in what sounded like relief more than anything as he found his release, thrusting into me one final time. I was surprised by how much I liked feeling his warmth spreading inside me as he rolled his hips slowly, drawing out his pleasure.

I lay back completely spent as Lex rolled on his back next to me, trying to catch his breath.

I turned my head to look at him, already missing the feel of his weight pressing onto me. “I’ve never done that with anyone before,” I told him. “Without protection, I mean.”

His eyes met mine. “Neither have I.”

I smiled. I liked that we were each other’s firsts in that way. “Was it a lot different for you?” I always imagined the contrast would be more pronounced for the guy.

“Yes, but it’s always felt different with you.”

I heaved a sigh. “Stop doing that.”

“What?” he asked with a puzzled expression.

“Stop saying the most romantic shit anyone’s ever heard. I can’t cry anymore today.”

He chuckled lightly before turning onto his side to face me. His hand lifted to caress my face while his fingertips slowly began tracing my lips. Even without saying anything, he still managed to bring tears to my eyes with his quiet tenderness.Romantic bastard.

His hand suddenly came to a halt as he stared at me for a few moments before letting it drop from my face completely. A serious look came over his expression as he propped himself up on his elbow. “There’s something I need to say to you.”

His tone had me worried. “What is it?”

“I know it’s selfish, but I’m going to say it anyway.” He took a breath. “I want you to stay… I know how much you love New York and how much you miss your dad, but I want you to stay here with me. Stanford wants to renew our contract for next semester, but I didn’t want to give them an answer until I talkedto you. I want to be wherever you are. So if that’s in New York, then we’ll go, but I think we could be happy here. So I’m asking you to stay.”

I looked at him, really looked at him. Every line of his face was beautiful to me. I was so completely in love, and I wasn’t going anywhere.

“There’s just one problem,” I said.

His face fell. “What is it?”

“I don’t know if Stuart’s going to be willing to switch houses with me.”

Crinkles formed at the edges of his eyes as a smile spread across his face. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen him look so happy.

California might not feel like home yet, but this certainly did.

Chapter 32

The nervousness showed on my face as I stared at the live image of Lex and I huddled together on the screen of his phone.

“She’s lost a lot of her English,” he said as the FaceTime call was ringing. “I’m going to have to translate for her.”

“Okay,” I said, smoothing down the front of my shirt.

He ran his thumb across my hip. “She’s going to love you.”

The call picked up, and a woman’s face appeared on the screen. The resemblance to Lex was uncanny. They had the same Slavic slope to their eyes and the same full mouth. The slight difference came with the eye color. Hers were a deep shade of brown while Lex’s were a lighter, more amber shade.

Lex greeted his mother warmly, and I heard my name being spoken through the Russian dialogue.

“Hello, Hadley,” she said with a slight accent.

“Schastlivogo Rozhdestva,” I said to her. I’d been practicing how to say Merry Christmas in Russian for the last hour.

I could see the surprise on both their faces as they smiled at me. His mom replied in Russian, and he answered her before they both started to laugh.