Chapter Twenty-Two
When I woke up from reliving my worst nightmare and found myself curled up against Anthony’s bare chest, something inside me shifted. After everything that had happened between Matt and that stupid masked man, I should not have wanted Anthony’s hands on me. But he was different. Only he would be able to erase the horrible memories, filling the pain in with beautiful pleasure.
I brought my hands to his chest. The light speckling of hair was damp, which confused me. As I shifted my body to straddle his lap, taking in even more of him as I ran my hands over his chest. His sharp intake of breath had me looking up, his face twisted in an almost pained expression.
“Please, I want to forget,” I begged, my voice threatening to break. His face was undecipherable, his brows pulled together and lips in a thin line.
Pulling away, I shifted to get off his lap. This was too much to ask of him. I read the signals wrong. Great fucking job, Gwen. The overwhelming urge to scream at my fucked up emotions had me wanting to punch something. Anthony’s hands found my face. My body froze between the bed and his lap, then his lips were on mine. I melted into his hold on me as he pulled me closer to him, our chests touching.
He leaned back, just enough so I could look into his eyes while keeping our bodies pressed together. “Gwendalyn, are you sure?” His voice was hoarse but gentle. I nodded my head, pulling at my bottom lip with my teeth. I wanted this man more than words could ever express. “Words, luce mia.”
“Please, Anthony. Help me forget,” I whispered.
He was on me before I could take my next breath. Taking his time, he kissed me in the most rough and passionate way. I had never felt this way before. My skin was on fire, begging for his touch. His hands moved; one going behind my head, fisting my hair at the base of my neck. The other was on my upper thigh, tugging me toward him until I was once again straddling him with my legs wrapped around his waist. His kisses became desperate, as if he was running out of air and I had the last of the oxygen.
I don’t know how long we stayed like that, chests pressed together and desperately clinging to each other. When his lips left mine, I groaned at the loss. Using the hand in my hair, he tilted my head to the side, nipping at my neck with his teeth before kissing the skin and soothing the pain. Over and over, his mouth travels from the base of my ear to my collarbone, leaving a wet trail in its wake. Every inch of my skin was crawling, demanding more contact. I barely registered my head resting on the pillow as he leaned over me, his hand moving from under my head.
“Anthony, please…” I begged, not recognizing my own voice. “I need you to touch me…”
“Grab the headboard, luce mia.” He commanded, the low growl sending electrical pulses through my body. “If you let go, I stop. But you’re going to be a good girl and tell me when things are too much, aren’t you?”
“Yes…” My answer was breathy, trying to push my body up into his. He pulls away, smirking down at me as I stick out my bottom lip. I stretch my arms above me to grab onto his headboard, my legs falling from Anthony’s waist to rest on his hips. His hand moved down to the hem of my shirt, pushing it up until my breasts were exposed. He quickly palmed them and I moaned when his thumbs brushed my nipples.
“I love the way you respond to my touch, luce mia.” His praise sent a flood of arousal between my legs as his mouth latched on to one of the peaks. Sucking it into his mouth, his fingers trailed down my stomach, his touch sparking a fire in my core.
When he reached my hips, my breath hitched, and I pushed into the mattress away from his touch.
“Anthony…” I whispered, not wanting to let go but needing him to pause. His hands quickly left my body as my mind started spiraling. The bruises. I hadn’t seen them since yesterday, but I knew they wouldn’t have just disappeared. What if this changes things? A tear escaped from the corner of my eye as I took a deep breath to re-center myself.
“Luce mia, are you okay?” His voice was calm and gentle. My chest tightened at his concern as the emotions flooded my body.
“I’m okay. I just needed a minute. The bruises…” I trail off, not knowing how to explain what I was feeling. As if reading my mind, one of Anthony’s hands brushed over my hip. I lifted my head, watching as Anthony leaned back on his heels.
“Gwendalyn, I said it last night and I will say it again. These bruises do not define you.” His hands snaked under my ass to the waistband of my pants while he talked, working them down my legs until they were off and on the floor. “You are no less because of what he did to you. When you leave my bed, it will only be when you understand how extraordinary of a woman you are. I will worship your body for however long it takes.” His lips found my exposed hip, nipping at the skin in the same way as before, my skin once again on fire. As he made his way around the bruise, my body responded to the sensations, warmth pooling in my center.
“Anthony…” My head fell back once again, my eyes closing and a moan escaping my lips. My legs tried to straighten and Anthony’s lips left my skin, his hands pressing on my thighs, spreading my legs.
“Do you trust me?” He asked, lust coating his words. I nodded my head, certain he could see me from his position in between my legs. When he didn’t immediately restart his assault on my skin, I lifted my head to see him glaring at me in warning.
“Yes, Anthony. Of course, I trust you,” I answered, offering a small smile to encourage him even more. My heart skipped a beat watching Anthony look down at my body, desire consuming his features. His middle finger ran through my center, gathering the wetness that had dripped down my thighs from his earlier admiration of my body. Slight discomfort pulsed between my legs as he gently slid a finger inside me, slowly moving back and forth. My brows pinched together at the intrusion, willing my body to relax. This was Anthony. I trusted Anthony.
“Gwendalyn, look at me,” he urged, my gaze finding him. “Good girl, luce mia. You can do this.” My face relaxed with his praise, my tense muscles following suit. Anthony leaned down, planting a kiss directly above my exposed clit as he added another finger. I gasped, trying to push up into him for more, but his hand on my thigh tightened, keeping me against the bed. His head moved, his beard scratching against my hip. I started to ask what he was doing when I got my answer. Pain radiated through my body as his mouth bit down on my bruised flesh.
“Fuck. Anthony…” My voice came out as a strangled moan, my hips instinctively bucking against Anthony’s hand as he pumped his fingers faster and the pain morphed into pleasure. His thumb grazed my clit, an orgasm quickly building. My nails dug into the wood of the headboard, not wanting to accidentally let go. “Please, Anthony, don’t stop,” I groaned, my body begging for more.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he smirked, releasing my bruised flesh from his mouth. His grip on my thigh tightened, digging into the bruises already there and making them his. I wanted to scream, not from pain but from the torture my emotions were inflicting on me. Every cell in my body wanted him to continue, but something in my mind held me back from letting go. Shame and guilt forced their way into my thoughts. I should not be enjoying this.
“Stay out of that pretty head of yours, luce mia,” Anthony said, reading my mind. “You are so beautiful. Don’t think, just feel.”
My chest tightened, not understanding how this man saw me as anything other than broken and damaged. But I needed this, to have my body feel like my own again, and who was I to try to convince Anthony otherwise? His mouth was on my hip again, biting down harder as his thumb intentionally circled my clit. My orgasm was so close, every muscle in my lower body tensed, my toes curling. I just needed something…
“Come for me, luce mia,” he growled, and that was all it took for me to go toppling over the edge. I screamed my release, coming so hard that Anthony’s hand on my thigh was the only thing keeping my entire body from arching off the bed. Every single one of my nerves was on fire, demanding all the oxygen in the room as my orgasm reached parts of my body I didn’t know existed. My soul floated above me as wave after wave of pleasure hit, nearly drowning me as I tried to hang on. I wanted to live in this ecstasy forever.
Anthony milked every ounce of my orgasm, letting me enjoy the bliss as long as I wanted, coming down from my high in my own time. Once my body sank back into the bed, he slowly withdrew his fingers from me and I whimpered from the loss. I lifted my head, catching Anthony’s heated gaze as he stuck his fingers, glistening with my release, into his mouth. My hands fell to my sides, nearly numb from how hard I had been clinging to the headboard. Finished with cleaning his fingers, Anthony pushed himself upright until he was sitting on his heels, his hand falling from my thigh. A shiver ran down my spine from the loss of his body heat so close to mine.
I pushed myself up onto my elbows, my body still buzzing from the mind tingling orgasm it has just received. “Anthony, that was…” Amazing? Mind blowing? Fucking awesome? There were no words to describe what had just happened.
“I don’t believe I said I was done with you yet, luce mia.” His gravelly voice paired with the dark gleam in his eyes should have had me pulling away and running out of this bedroom, especially after everything that had happened. Maybe that was why I chose to stay. Anthony had shown me what it felt like to be cared for, and I had never trusted a man more completely before today.
“Please, I don’t think I can take anymore,” I begged as I attempted to pull my thighs together.
“Oh, but you can, and you will.” He growled, his gaze never leaving mine as his hands trailed up from my ankles until they reached my knees, pinning them against the bed and effectively exposing every inch of my wet pussy to him. Positioning himself in between my legs, he trailed gentle kisses from my knees until he reached my clit. His warm breath on the sensitive bundle of nerves had my body squirming under his hold. “Now, be a good girl and let me clean up the mess I made.”
His mouth was on me before I could comprehend what had happened. The expert way his tongue swiped up my center had my entire body shaking in pleasure, sending sparks of electricity through my body. His speed was torture as he slowly lapped up the release that was dripping toward the bed. My legs convulsed when he flicked my clit with the tip of his tongue, his hands traveling up to dig his fingers into the flesh of my thighs.
“Anthony…” I moaned his name, my voice sounding foreign, and I tried to process my indescribable need for this man. He set my skin on fire with a single look. His touch caused every muscle in my body to go weak. I needed to touch him, to make sure this was real. My hands found his head, my fingers weaved through his hair, making him groan. The sound sent a vibration through the most intimate parts of me, causing my hips to buck against his mouth, silently demanding more. An orgasm was threatening to take over.
“Patience, luce mia,” he chuckled, looking up at my body through hooded eyes. “Stay still or I will find a way to tie you down until I have finished.” My breath hitched. Why did the thought of Anthony tying me up turn me on?
Anthony bit down on my clit, effectively pulling me out of my thoughts and eliciting a harsh wail to escape from my throat. He already knew his way around my body, adding another reason to the growing list of reasons I was falling for this man. His tongue pushed inside of me, my hands fisting his hair. I was so close and didn’t know how much more I could take.
My hips rocked against his mouth, matching his speed while he dug his fingertips further into my thighs. The painful pinch of breaking skin mixed with the pleasure of Anthony’s tongue sent me over the edge. There was no holding back the release that took over my body. My heels dug into the bed as Anthony held me down, lapping up every drop of my cum before it could leave my body. Only when he was satisfied that he had left nothing behind did he remove his hands from my thighs and lift his head.
My body sated, I let my eyes close while Anthony’s gentle hands tugged at my shirt until the hem met my hips. The mattress shifted under his weight as he made his way next to me, bringing the comforter with him before he snaked his arms around my body and pulled me toward him until my back was against his chest. His hands rubbed lazy circles on my hip and everything fell away as I relaxed into Anthony, knowing he would fight every last one of my demons, if they dared return, without me having to ask. Sleep claimed me while he whispered praises into my hair, making me feel more appreciated and cared for, then I had in a long time.