Edge of Desire

Chapter 15

Avery

The hot shower beat down as I pored over the events of the day. A huge smile spread across my face.

Hmm, another awesome hike with beautiful views of Preston’s butt. I was a sick woman. Here I was, in the middle of the wilderness—well, okay, it was seriously luxurious wilderness, but still—with some evil drug lords trying to kill us and all I could think about was Preston’s ass.

Then, we shared an unbelievably hot kiss. I mean a toe-curling, belly-tightening kiss. Next, sweet-honey Preston tells me he won’t have sex with me until things are right emotionally—pinch me, please—and he’s never felt this way about a girl before. Attention: did everyone out there hear that? Okay, just in case you didn’t, Preston said he would not have sex with Avery until things were right emotionally because he didn’t want it to be just about the sex.

On to shooting the guns, and don’t hold this against me but, my God, that was just about the most fun thing ever. Who knew guns were that much fun? No wonder everyone wanted one. Those exploding water jugs were a blast.

But now we got to the scare the crap outta Avery part. Panic room. Wait. I need to amend that. Panic tunnel. Who the hell has a panic tunnel? This is serious shit. Okay, I knew it was serious before, but Preston has just elevated it to a whole new level.

And then it struck. I couldn’t breathe. It was the same as on the airplane. Only this time I was in the shower and had loads of shampoo in my eyes.

Feeling around with my hands, I knew one thing for certain. Soap or no soap, I had to get the hell out of there. The door … I had to find the door. It finally gave way, and I heard it bang on the wall. Still trying to suck in air, I stumbled out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Now the shampoo hit my eyes full force and it burned like hell. Wiping the suds away with the palms of my hands I hoped it would help, but it only made it worse. Where was all the air? I fell to my knees, and really needed Preston, but didn’t know where he was. And dammit, my eyes were useless.

I crawled out of my room and across the hall feeling around the door, until I found the handle. Everything was turning gray, but he was in here and must’ve heard me. I felt him next to me, talking to me, asking me what was wrong. Even though I couldn’t speak, he figured it out, because he left and was only gone a few moments before he put something over my mouth. He talked me through the breathing thing. My skin tingled everywhere, like pins and needles, and my eyes were on fire from that stupid shampoo. Finally, finally precious air reached my lungs. My arms found his, gripping them as hard as I could.

“It’s okay, Avery. You’re fine. You had an anxiety attack. You’re good now.”

He pulled the bag off my face when my breathing eased. The pins and needles subsided, but that damn soap in my eyes stung like hell. “Preston, my eyes are on fire from the shampoo.”

“Put your arms around my neck.”

When I did, he lifted me up. I marveled at his brute strength for I was no lightweight. He picked me up from off the floor too. Surely this man was the strongest man in the universe. How proud I was of him.

He carried me into his shower, which was running, and stood me under the flow of water, as he closed the door behind him. The water rinsed the shampoo off my head and face, and I finally got blessed relief from my burning eyes. When I turned around, Preston stood there staring at me in all his naked beauty. We both froze, hypnotized by each other. I hadn’t even noticed he’d been naked while I was in the agony of my anxiety attack.

I couldn’t speak for a moment. I simply wanted to stare at him, he was that perfect.

I swallowed as I drank in the view. “Preston, I’ve never seen anyone as sexy as you.” I moved closer to him for I wanted to—no, big correction here—I needed to touch him.

I opened the palm of my hand and placed it over his heart. Its beat collided with my hand, almost as if it knew my hand was coming to meet it. That sounded super corny, but it was true. We looked at each other and his mouth crashed onto mine as his arms caged me against the marble wall. Preston bent his head toward my neck and kissed all the places that took my breath away. Not once, not twice, but over and over until I moaned and cried out for him.

His mouth did things to my breasts I had only imagined before and he kissed me in places I never knew gave me such pleasure.

Then he knelt in front of me and lifted my leg, placing it over his shoulder.

“You’re so fucking exquisite. May I touch you?”

“Please,” I moaned. I could barely think, but when he asked if he could touch me, I was expecting his fingers and not his tongue. When his mouth settled onto me, my breath was torn away as it caught in my throat.

My fingers sank into the muscles of his shoulders as his tongue swirled around and around on my clit, sucking and licking. When he slid his fingers into me, it was all I could do not to collapse to the floor, as the sensations began to build. Heat poured through my veins, intensifying as my body burst into flames of pleasure. His tongue and fingers continued to work in rhythm until I orgasmed around his hand and mouth, crying out his name.

When the spasms finally ceased, he stood up sliding his body along mine, and held me in his arms, kissing my neck, cheeks, and then mouth.

“I want to feel you inside of me,” I said against his lips.

“Not yet, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have done what I just did, but I couldn’t stop. Seeing you wet and naked with soap running down your body did something to me that I can’t explain.” His hand was on the top of my head as his thumb massaged a circle on my forehead.

I knew he was conflicted over what happened, and I didn’t want him to be, so I put my lips on his again and said, “Preston, I’ve never felt so wonderful. You don’t know what you did to me. It was amazing. Please don’t feel like you’ve done something wrong because it couldn’t have been more right in my book.”

He pushed his body against mine and I felt every contour of him. “Avery, I wish it were that easy. I want to make you feel more than just good. Orgasms are great. I mean have you ever had a bad one? It’s more than that though. When I’m with you, I want it to be more than just an orgasm or two. I want to give you something beyond that. I wanted us to wait until we were at that point where it actually meant something besides just great sex.”

I had to ask myself if he was for real. I’d never have a man care so much about this.

“Am I old fashioned or out of date a little?”

“No, I think you’re being kind and considerate. Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah.”

All this time the water was running all over us. I reached over and turned it off. He smiled and opened the door and then handed me a towel.

“Does this mean you want to wait until we’re in love?”

He stopped what he was doing and turned. His eyes pierced mine. Was it possible for someone’s eyes to reach into your heart and touch it, because I was pretty darn sure his just had? Let’s be honest. Everything about this man was extraordinary. He could hop around like a silly rabbit on one foot, and I’d say, “Oh, look at Preston, isn’t he just adorable?” I seemed to be in a constant state of arousal around the man as it was.

“Yes, Avery, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

My heart skipped a thousand beats. Before Preston, no one had ever thought enough of me to say something like that. Before I could even stop myself, I heard the words gush from my mouth, “Do you think you could ever love me?”

“No, I don’t.”

My heart crashed to the floor.Why had I even asked him that? How stupid was that?

Before I could think of anything to say, he asked, “Do you know why?” he asked.

“Why?” I didn’t really want to know, so I’m not sure why that tiny word eked out of my mouth.

“Because I don’t think, I know I could love you.”

I whipped my head toward him so fast, because I wanted to be positive I didn’t mistake what I heard. “You could?”

“Without a doubt. I could love you with all my heart and soul.”

“Really? Me?”

“Yes, you and only you.”

I beamed and kissed him lightly on the lips.

“Then I guess we’ll have to work on that, won’t we?”

“I guess we will. But you’re a little late because I already am,” he answered, giving me a cheeky grin, as he pinched my butt.

“Ouch!” I yelled. “You better watch out, buster. Do you know why?”

“No, Avery, but I think you should tell me.”

“Because paybacks are hell.”

“Yes, they are. And I’m quite sure yours will be spectacular.” He wore the most charming smile.

I went to my room to put on some clothes. Preston could love me. Could I love him? I’d never loved anyone before. What did it feel like to love someone? Should I ask Justin? I never gave it much thought before because I never thought it would happen. I’d had such bad luck on the man plan that I had taken myself off it. Little Dickie was my last straw. After that horrible experience, I’d sworn off men. They were bad luck on all counts. But Preston put me back on track. I’d never felt about any man like I felt about him. He made me feel like ... well, I’m not exactly sure how he made me feel. All I knew was that if our little episode in the shower was any indication of what was to come, I was ready, willing, and certainly able. Just thinking about him got me all hot and bothered. Honestly, he turned my blood into a five-alarm fire.

Looking at the clock, I realized I’d been standing in my room, naked, for the last thirty minutes. I hit the closet and pulled out some jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, slid on some flip-flops, and headed downstairs. When I reached the kitchen, Preston looked up from his task of chopping vegetables and grinned. I smiled back, but he kept on smiling.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Yes, there is. Do I have something stuck in my teeth? Broccoli, black pepper? What’s up?”

“Okay, it’s your hair. Did you brush it after your shower?”

Thinking back, I realized I hadn’t. My hand flew to my hair, and it was a tangled mess of mostly dried fuzz.

“Good grief, I bet I look like there’s a nest of squirrels livin’ in here.”

He belted out a hearty laugh. “Not quite. Birds maybe, but not squirrels.”

“I totally forgot to brush it. Now I’ll never get one through this.”

“Avery, did you have your mind on something else? Were you distracted?” He gave me another one of his cheeky grins.

“You’re not playing fair, mister. Not fair at all. What do you think, Preston? Of course, I was distracted. I’d just been butt naked in the shower with the hottest guy in the world while he ... er ... while he, um ...”

“Yes? Tell me, what did this hot guy do to you?”

My face grew warm, and the rest of my body followed. I was feverish, so I began to fan myself. I grabbed a handful of my shirt and pulled it away from my chest, trying to get some airflow down there. “You see, he put my leg over his shoulder and then put his mouth on me, and well, his tongue was. Oh God.” I buried my face in my hands. I was so embarrassed talking about it with him. I pulled the front of my shirt over my face and stood there like that.

Strong arms wrapped around me and tucked me into his chest as he chuckled and hugged me.

“Then what happened?”

“It was wonderful,” I said into his chest as I hugged him back. “Talking about this embarrasses me.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s so intimate. That’s why.”

“Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah.”

“It was the greatest thing I’ve ever done. You’re beautiful all over and you taste like heaven.”

“Oh God. Now I’m really embarrassed.”

“Will you look at me, please?”

“Do I have to?”

“No, but I would love it if you did.”

I lifted my head and pulled my shirt down so my face was exposed. Then I locked gazes with him.

“Please don’t be embarrassed about this. I want you to be able to talk freely about it with me. What you like or don’t like. Body parts and what I do to you or vice versa. But I loved it, Avery. Every single minute.” Then he passionately kissed me.

“Preston?”

“Yeah?”

“You know you said you liked doing that to me, right?”

“Very much so.”

“Would you want to do it again, because that kiss you just gave me sort of set me off a bit?”

He started laughing then.

“Have I created a monster in you?”

“I think maybe you have.”