Unexpected Entanglement (Echo #3)

39. Chapter 39

thirty-nine

It was way past one in the morning when Rowan and Chris successfully sent the late partiers to bed. The skeleton late staff had also just gone to their quarters. The cleaning would wait until morning.

Even Alex had gone to bed at eleven after a couple of hours of dancing. She had to prepare for the wedding brunch, which, thank goodness, wouldn’t start until nine. Rowan was sure they’d have a few people needing hangover remedies like she had this morning—correction, yesterday morning.

“Let’s lock up and get to this tomorrow,” Chris suggested.

“Way ahead of you,” Rowan said. “I just need to double-check if Alex and the staff shut off everything in the service kitchen.”

“It’s Alex. Of course she did,” Chris said, taking her hand. “Come to bed. I have a wish to fulfill.”

Rowan laughed. “Just one second.”

Chris didn’t let go of her and followed her to the kitchen at the end of the big barn. She checked the levers, and everything was where it should be.

“They’re all off,” Chris announced and pulled her to him. “Let’s go. I’m not sure how much longer I can stay up.”

Rowan circled her arms around his shoulders and pressed herself against him. “I’ll keep you up.” Capturing his lips, she did what she’d been wanting to do all night long. She ran her hands through his hair as he welcomed her kiss and took it up a few notches by wrestling her tongue without preamble.

No need for foreplay. She’d been ready for him for hours with every fiery gaze they exchanged from across the room, every graze of his hips against hers when they’d been on the dance floor, and every whisper of what he’d promised to do to her tonight.

She didn’t want to wait for the bed.

Rowan pulled him to the only clean and clear surface around them, the metal prep table, without breaking their kiss. As if reading her mind, Chris lifted her up onto the table and pulled the skirt of her dress up her legs.

Her own hands got busy pushing his suit jacket off and threw it aside. Not bothering with his tie and shirt, she went straight to undoing his pants and pulling the zipper down. Unable to fight her need to touch him, she pushed his pants and underwear just past his firm ass and cupped him in her hand.

Chris groaned against her neck as he ran his lips to her ear and sucked on the lobe. Meanwhile, Rowan had circled his hard cock in her hand and started a slow pump. His hands were trying to pull her underwear from under her, but he got frustrated when he couldn’t get them off fast enough that he ripped the delicate thong right off.

“I’ll get you a new one,” he told her.

She laughed. “I don’t care. They weren’t comfortable, anyway.”

He lifted the scrap between his fingers. “But they’re hot as hell.”

“You ruined my underwear…” Rowan pulled him back for a kiss. “…because you were impatient, and now you’re feeling chatty?”

“No, ma’am,” he murmured against her lips. One of his hands slipped between her legs. “God, you’re so wet.”

“Now, Christopher!” she ordered impatiently.

Chris didn’t need more urging. He fit himself between her open legs and entered her welcoming warmth.

Fast or slow—it didn’t matter when Chris made love to Rowan. The fatigue of the day evaporated in the second they touched each other. All he could focus on was her, being inside her, and melting into her. He’d never felt this intensity with any of his former lovers.

Then again, he’d never bonded with them the way he had with Rowan. Where in the few relationships he’d had, he’d always felt an imbalance in the equation, as if something had been missing. But with Rowan, their temperaments balanced each other, their dreams echoed one another, and when their passions collided, Chris was in awe of the power they generated together.

Tonight, the ferocity of their needs was equal, if not stronger than their first time, when it’d been all fueled by lust. The need to possess, to fulfill this fierce desire, doubled when she met him with the same heat firing inside her.

Tonight, they were in a tempest, fighting together to survive a force of nature they couldn’t control. All they could do was ride it out.

“Rowan,” Chris groaned against her neck, almost out of breath.

"Let me drive," she whispered in his ears and pushed him off her.

Chris didn't even have time to think as Rowan swiftly flipped their positions like the hurricane that she was. After pushing him to lie back on the table, she climbed over him and kissed him, surprisingly gently.

"Who's in charge now?" Rowan said against his lips as she guided him back into her.

Chris groaned and laughed at the same time. He loved she didn't hold back her passion and wasn't afraid to take what she wanted. He could see why straightlaced Richard couldn’t handle this force of nature. Rowan needed someone who loved her for her—passionate, temperamental, and spirited. She needed someone who could keep up with her, balanced her, and loved her dirty mouth in and out of bed.

“You can drive anytime, sweetheart," he replied. Then he urged her, "Ride me hard."

Rowan plunged them back into the storm, and Chris lost his words. In seconds, they were sucked into an uncontrollable spin. Chris felt like he was fighting for his life. He could hear his racing heartbeat in his head. He could feel himself reaching for survival.

But not without her.

Rowan grabbed Chris’ hand and guided him to exactly where she wanted him to touch her as she rode him. When his larger finger found her button and applied the right pressure and rhythm she craved, her whole body screamed in triumph.

Yes, yes, yes.

The friction they created together sent millions of sensations throughout her body. She didn’t feel herself coming. It yanked her out of the storm and hurled her into the deep ocean.

When it hit, every nerve in her body shattered. The pleasure was so intense that a wave of sorrow ran through her as she realized she might not experience this again.

Not without him.

Rowan felt herself drift down into the ocean’s depth, feeling peaceful despite the pain. Suddenly, warm arms caught her and pulled her back to the surface. Chris turned her around gently and kissed her.

“Stay with me,” he whispered.

Rowan didn’t have the energy or the voice to reply. So she just echoed it in her head.

Please, stay with me.