Chapter 18
“Do I not get to choose after all?” Melody asked quietly, looking him directly in the eye, her expression sombre as if disappointment was expected.
Micah knew right then that he had been trapped in a web of his own good intentions. His subsequent decision had the ability to destroy something precious and fragile.
This wouldn”t be about refusing to take advantage. It would be about denying her something vital; the knowledge that she truly did have the choices he was trying so hard to convince her of.
Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.
In all his years, Micah didn”t think he”d ever faced a dilemma as difficult and as sensitive as this.
In the end, no matter how much it pained him, he couldn”t bring himself to shatter her tenuous trust by taking away the choice he”d assured her that she absolutely had.
”Just know that you don”t have to do this,” he reminded her finally, keeping his eyes locked with hers as he let the hand that had captured her own slip away to his side and allowed her the freedom to do as she would.
Melody felt empowered.Micah had given her something beyond her normal sphere of comprehension. She wondered if he knew that, but some sixth sense told her that indeed he did. He was a man of deep feeling. She could tell that for herself. A man of uncommon depths of morality and integrity. She had the sense she was testing his boundaries, though she didn”t fully understand why. But she understood enough to know that he somehow did this for her benefit and not his own.
He didn”t move a muscle as she touched him, tentatively, once again. If it wasn”t for the feeling of his body quickening underneath her questing touch, Melody would have believed that he was unmoved, he stayed so still, but she came to realise it was because he didn”t want to coerce her in any way.
Because he wanted her to genuinely understand that she was free to do—or stop—as she pleased.
Her heart squeezed. He truly was an extraordinary and exceptional man.
Even as she sought to give him her own gift, he gave a more generous one in return.
As much as she wanted to please him, Melody couldn”t resist the urge to explore the hard muscles of Micah”s torso as he sat, so patient and restrained, before her.
She’d never had either the inclination or the liberty to put her hands on a man”s body before, and even if she had, none of the ones she had seen looked remotely like this. Micah was sculpted and defined, and he resonated an innate strength that was all the deeper for his moderation of that power.
That those muscles could tremble under her inexperienced touch emboldened her all the more.
”Can I kiss you?” she whispered, searching his face.
Couldshe tell just how torn he was? Micah wondered.
He couldn”t answer, he didn”t have it in him. While he realised that much of this interaction was tantamount to the first time for Melody and was glad her previous experiences hadn”t soured her to the true beauty of a mutual and harmonious coupling, he couldn”t shake the gut-wrenching feeling that if he became a contributing participant, he would be guilty of influencing her free will.
The only way he could deal with this was by giving her free rein to do as she wished without any intervention from him. Anything else would have the queasy disquiet that was already bubbling through his veins erupting in what would only be an ugly and irreversible disaster.
But, just as so much of the connection they shared had ensued on a transcendental scale, this was no different, and once again, the two of them seemed to communicate without the need for words. It was uncanny.
Micah”s lips parted, and Melody took that as a cue to bring her own mouth lightly down on his. She brushed her mouth against his own then darted her tongue out in a quick flick before it was gone. He could feel her gentle breath warm against his face before her tongue searched out a longer stroke.
As she became more comfortable, Melody settled her torso against his and he could feel the hard points of her nipples rubbing against his chest, telling him that she was aroused on some level.
It was a good sign, and he was gratified by that. He hated the idea that she felt she needed to give restitution by way of her body just because he’d helped her, no matter that this was her choice and he had tried to talk her out of it.
She sucked on his bottom lip and gave it a careful little nibble before finally pressing her lips against his more fully. Eventually her boldness increased, and she reached up to take his face in both her hands before she poked an exploratory tongue between his lips. Micah didn”t think she noticed that although he followed her moves, there was little of himself in this meeting of mouths. He allowed her to lead, and that was okay.
This, whatever this was, was all about Melody.
She was panting slightly when she finally came up for air and looked at him with a combination of surprise and wonderment. He realised that he’d inadvertently moved his hands to hold her by her narrow waist. At least the hold was light, he told himself, forcing his hands away as she sat up and gazed consideringly at his chest.
Still, she took him by surprise when she dipped her head and flicked her tongue out to catch a droplet of water that shimmered on his collarbone, then chased a rolling drip down one of his pecs.
Melody took such innocent delight in the act that Micah found he couldn”t stop her no matter how much it knotted up his insides.
After that, it was as if the flood gates had opened for Melody. She kissed and nibbled and licked down his neck, his chest, and his abdomen.
When she”d had her fill, she wasted no time with any more tantalising, just plunged her hands down inside his shorts until his rock-hard cock sprang free. She had an experienced hand and she used it to her best advantage, petting and probing, cupping and rolling his balls in her palm, varying the length of her strokes until he could no longer help but to roll his hips in torment at her practised teasing.
Micah swallowed and clenched his fists against the very real temptation to take control. He was a man on the edge.
That was until Melody rose up out of the steam that surrounded them, water sluicing down the planes of her body and her long, wet hair and looked as if she was about to straddle his lap and mount him.
His breath lodged painfully in his throat, and he bit his lip hard to prevent himself from shouting her down and destroying her new-found confidence, but this was something he did not want, and his eyes found hers in desperation.