22. Chapter 21 #2
As they kissed, he could feel himself falling again. Or maybe he’d never stopped falling for her. But her familiar taste, the breathy little sounds she made as he nipped her bottom lip—
He slid his hand up her shirt.
Because he knew she wasn’t wearing a bra, and if he was getting her off, he was going to enjoy every inch of her.
She moved faster than him, stripping her shirt off before he’d fully got to palm even one breast.
“Hell,” he growled before pinning her to the mattress. He’d missed her so much. Not just the physical stuff, but her, all of her. “You’re so gorgeous, it hurts to look at you sometimes.”
She covered his mouth. “No, you can’t say all this sweet stuff,” she whispered.
He nipped her hand. “I’m going to say it. Because I mean it. You’re incredible, Hope.”
She got that same look she always did when he gave her compliments, as if she wanted to argue or simply didn’t know how to take them, but he didn’t give her a chance.
Instead he kissed her again as he palmed her breasts, rolling her nipples into tight little points exactly the way she liked it.
Oh so slowly, he ran his thumbs over the hard buds, savoring the way her kisses grew more erratic and the way she wrapped her legs around him, digging her heels into his ass.
“Faster,” she demanded against his mouth, urgency riding her likely as hard as him.
“So impatient.” He gently bit her bottom lip.
“Yes, absolutely I am.” She tugged at the bottom of his shirt, practically ripped it over his head. Then she sighed as she raked her gaze over him—and followed with her fingers in soft little sweeps over his bare skin.
His muscles went taut at her gentle touch. No one touched him the way she did, with a sweet reverence he felt to his bones. But he pulled back when she tried to slip her fingers under the band of his lounge pants because he was staying in control. “Nope.”
“You make me crazy,” she rasped out.
Good. Because he’d barely started. And he needed to keep his pants on if he was going to maintain any semblance of control.
Because god knew she wasn’t going to help either one of them on that count.
“You’re going to lie back and hold on to the headboard while I taste exactly what I’ve been missing. ”
She sucked in a breath at his words and commanding tone, because she loved it when he told her what to do—but only in the bedroom.
She squirmed against the bed as she did exactly that, gripping onto the headboard as he leaned down and sucked one nipple into his mouth, her moans everything he needed as he teased her. He switched between breasts until she was panting and demanding more.
If only it took pleasure and orgasms, he knew he could keep her tied to him. They’d always had chemistry. But she needed more from him: to feel safe, to know that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Laughing lightly against her taut abdomen, he kissed a path down her stomach as he tugged her pants off—and found that she had nothing on underneath.
The sight of her spread out for him, her legs parted, had him harder than he’d ever been. He’d planned to tease her a little more, but god, he needed to get her off with a desperation that bordered on obsession.
Sliding one finger along her slick folds, he groaned at how wet she already was.
Demanding, in pure Hope fashion, she arched her hips against him, trying to make him go faster. As he slid his finger deeper, he crouched between her legs and could feel the tension coiling in her as she dug her heels into his back.
“I’ve missed you,” she rasped out.
She’d been so honest with him when they’d been naked together before, more so than any other time. He wasn’t sure if it was because they were both literally bared to each other in those moments, but he’d treasured her realness with him in their intimate moments.
“I’ve missed you too.” He didn’t stop teasing her as he murmured the words against her clit.
As he increased his pressure, he added another finger, and neither of them talked after that. He teased and pleasured her with his tongue and hand until he felt her inner walls tightening around his fingers faster and faster.
When she slid her fingers through his hair, clutched onto his head, he knew she was close. He sucked on her clit—and she came hard and fast against his mouth and fingers, with her entire body.
“ Bradford.” She moaned it like a prayer as her climax hit.
The way she said his name sent a shiver of pure pleasure down his spine. His cock pushed against his pants, his balls pulled up tight as he finally lifted his head to stare up the length of her body.
She watched him, looking a little dazed, but only for a moment before she grabbed his face and pulled him to her, kissing in that full-body way that made every single brain cell leave his head.
He loved the feel of pinning her to the bed, of them being skin to skin, and when she slid her fingers down his pants and gripped his cock, he didn’t stop her.
Because this was Hope touching him and he was at his breaking point. As they kissed, she began stroking him until he lost control, coming on her stomach in long, hard strokes that completely wrung him out.
As he came down from his high, she gently let go of his erection then pulled him close, clearly not caring about the mess.
He didn’t care either, just wanted to hold her, lose himself in her.
“We’re not done,” she whispered, kissing him softly as she wrapped her legs around him, holding him close.
He wasn’t sure if she meant tonight or in general, but he knew he wasn’t done. Wasn’t walking away from her. Not after this. It was too soon to tell if anything had changed for her, but he was going to make it impossible for her to leave by the time all this was over.