20. Dove
DOVE
M y words echoed between us with finality. Josh’s eyes flashed, dark and promising.
His fingers found the thin strap of my halter top, brushing it like he might follow it to the knot at my neck. I held my breath, waiting for him to pull—waiting for the moment he’d bare me. But it never came.
Instead, his touch followed the trail Torrence had mapped earlier, igniting my skin like a match to gasoline. Whatever Torrence had tried to stir in me, Josh now coaxed into a full-blown fire with nothing more than a barely-there touch.
Shallow pants fell from my lips as his hand moved glacier-slow.
I squirmed, rising onto my toes to encourage his touch.
The only contact between us was the delicate brush of his fingertips—featherlight, teasing—and I could hardly stand it.
He held himself back, one arm braced above my head, surrounding me with his presence but refusing to let our bodies touch.
His distance made me impatient and twitchy, which was the only reason why I did what I did next. I boldly grabbed for his hand, guiding it to the top of my unbuttoned jeans, showing him exactly where I wanted that hand right now .
His fingers dipped inside for one glorious, gratifying moment—and I nearly groaned. But before the sound could escape, both my wrists were seized and pinned above my head in one swift, breathless motion.
His large hands shackled me in place, keeping me from moving.
He leaned in close, his breath warm against the shell of my ear. “Do you want something, Dove?” His voice was low and teasing—as if he found this all amusing rather than painfully arousing.
I nodded, the heat radiating off him clouding my thoughts.
“What do you want?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. I’d fooled around before, obviously, but never like this. Never had to ask for anything so explicitly.
“If you can’t ask for it,” Josh’s voice dropped, low and mocking, “then you don’t get it.”
“I want you to touch me,” I said before I could stop myself.
“I was touching you.”
“I want you to touch me…” I bit my lip, heart pounding. “Lower.”
Both our gazes dropped to where my shorts hung open, a sliver of my underwear just barely visible.
“If you can’t say it…” He trailed off, his earlier words hanging in the air between us. Then you don’t get it.
I buried my face in the crook of my arm, using it as a shield to hide. This was both embarrassing and disturbingly arousing at the same time. Having Josh this close to me, hearing his voice husky with lust I caused… it was almost too much.
Telling him what to do?
I wasn’t sure I could.
His voice came in my ear, a caress of words and hot breath that incited a shiver to wrack through me.
“Let me make you feel good,” he implored, his voice a rumbling whisper. “Trust me to take care of you, make you feel good. I promise I’ll get you there.”
I’d been impatient, hasty—grabbing at him to touch me. Apparently, Josh had other plans.
I nodded, a thrill shooting through me at his “promise.” His deep groan vibrated against my ear.
“Good girl.”
I’d never heard Josh sound like that before, and I nearly melted into a puddle at his feet.
The only thing keeping me upright on shaky legs was Josh and his steady grip.
He shifted, encasing both my wrists in one hand, while his other resumed its perusal of my body—this time straying farther from where I’d guided him.
I whimpered as he thumbed the fluttering pulse at my wrist before gliding down my forearm, ghosting over the sensitive skin of my inner arm. He mercifully skipped my armpit, knowing how ticklish I was, trailing his fingers over the swell of my breast instead.
With each agonizing touch, my breathing shallowed.
He was touching me without truly touching me, and he had to know how agonizing it was, but I’d stupidly agreed to be patient.
Yet that patience all but flew out the window when he circled my nipple, coaxing it into hardness and releasing a desperate whine as I arched into his touch.
“You make the sweetest sounds,” Josh remarked, his voice nearly unrecognizable—husky and dripping with desire. He pinched my taut skin, and I gasped. “I wonder what other sounds I can get you to make for me.”
He circled my throbbing nipple one last time before moving on.
He huffed a laugh against my neck at my disappointed sound.
I wanted nothing more than to stop him, to slip from his grasp and tug my shirt free so he could put his mouth to work instead of just his hand.
I’d never considered my chest sensitive before, but my breasts ached, and I wanted his mouth on them—for Josh to suck and nip instead of just tease.
His warm, calloused hand brushed past my belly button, and I sucked in a breath as his thumb dipped inside for a moment, the fabric riding up just enough to allow it. It seemed Josh was committed to exploring every inch of me, except the place I wanted him most.
When he finally, finally reached the top of my shorts, I could have wept. My clit was throbbing, and I was so uncomfortably wet for him it was embarrassing. Josh was an inch away from slipping his hand inside to feel for himself. Then there would be no doubt how much I wanted him.
I shifted my hips just to nudge his hand, a silent plea hidden in the movement.
But he remained determined to go at his own pace, trailing his fingers back and forth above the waistband of my shorts, coaxing butterflies to come alive inside my stomach.
“Please,” I begged, unbale to take his teasing any longer. “ Please , Josh.”
“There’s no going back after this, Dove,” Josh murmured, his voice heavy and serious as he drew back, ensuring out gazes met. “Are you sure?—”
I couldn’t take it anymore. With a sudden, desperate movement, I shoved myself forward, my arms straining against his grip to capture his mouth in a searing kiss.
Kissing him was both everything and nothing like I’d imagined.
His lips were soft yet commanding, and a moan escaped as he pressed me back against the barn, kissing me harder, deeper.
His woodsy, masculine scent enveloped me, and the moment felt like coming home—like finding something I never knew I needed.
When his hand finally slid into my underwear, I gasped into his mouth.
He used the opportunity to delve his tongue inside, so tender and loving compared to Torrence’s overeager conquest. He bit my bottom lip softly, then licked the sting away, our ragged breaths mingling as his fingers crept farther down.
“Fuck.” His body sagged against mine, his forehead resting against my temple. “You’re so wet.” His voice was a pained rasp, and my body responded to the sound like Pavlov’s dogs, growing wetter in response.
“Is this all for me?” Josh asked, a hint of jealousy hidden in his tone.
Did he really think any of this was for Torrence?
I could’ve laughed. None of my arousal had anything to do with him. I’d been so dry, I was afraid all his rubbing might start a brushfire, whereas one touch from Josh and I was practically a fire hydrant.
“Yes.” I turned my head and captured his lips again, unable to resist, because they were addicting, and I could . Every moment of this felt surreal, like I was merely sleeping and any minute I would wake up to find it had all been a dream. “I’m always this wet for you, Josh.”
Josh groaned, deep and gravelly. “You can’t just say shit like that.” But my words did the trick, reassuring him enough that he straightened, looming over me once again as his hand slipped farther down through coarse curls to finally circle my clit.
My eyes squeezed together tightly at the sensation as my head titled back, a rush of air leaving me. His touch was better than any daydream or fantasy I could have possibly conjured.
As if reading my mind, Josh murmured, “I’ve thought about this, about you , for so long.
” His hand kept up its torturous ministrations, rubbing lazily as he talked, drawing tremors out of me as the pleasure mounted gradually.
“I’ve had plenty of time to think about what I would do to you if I ever had you. ”
If .
That one word reminded me that he’d left, that he’d given me up?—
His fingers drew back and slapped my clit, as much as they could in the confides of my shorts. I inhaled a sharp breath at the zing of pain that jolted through me.
“None of that,” he chided. He leaned in to lick at the seam of my lips, causing me to moan and open for him, my indignation from a moment ago forgotten. He kissed me like he was thirsty—taking deep, drawn-out sips that stole pieces of me with each swipe of his tongue against my own.
My chest heaved as we separated, my eyes instantly drawn to his handsome face.
I’d never seen him look like this before.
Josh’s lips were puffy, and his eyes blazed with desire, causing my stomach to flip at the hunger in their depths.
I couldn’t help but wonder what I must look like to cause that expression.
I imagined my cheeks were flushed where his stubble had rubbed against them, my lips swollen from his biting kisses, my shorts open and inviting.
My breasts strained against my top as I caught my breath. I bet I looked as wrecked as I felt.
“Now be a good girl and ride my hand.”
Without warning a finger entered me, causing a deep groan to punch out of me at the intrusion. His fingers were just as thick and broad as he was, and it had been a while since I’d had anything in me.
I could count on one hand the number of men I’d fooled around with before Torrence and I hooked up. It had been semi-regular for a while, until mom got sick, and I’d become too busy with the farm to do anything at the end of the day other than crash into bed.
As his earlier moves demonstrated, he’d never been particularly amazing at getting me off, and I’d never allowed him to go all the way.
Not when I’d been saving that for the man in front of me.