Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Echo
If I still want him? I’d say that Hayes can’t possibly be serious, but the masculine angles of his face I’ve memorized because I’ve stared at them a million times says he is.
“After everything, you’re really asking if I want you? Hayes, I have since I was old enough to understand what that even meant. I don’t need experience with anyone else to know I always will.”
“Shortcake…” He sounds choked and humbled, like this moment means everything to him, the way it does to me. Is that possible?
His stare fastens on mine again, his eyes now dark with desire. Yes, it is. And it’s real.
Hayes has always been intense, doing everything with determination and purpose. His expression now tells me he intends to make love to me with that same zeal and fervor.
I gulp and shiver because there’s nothing to be nervous about. My fantasy of being the woman Hayes Elliot falls for is finally coming true.
A smile takes my face hostage, curling up my lips with abandon. We should probably talk more, mutually agree that our friendship comes first, no matter what. But there’s no need to question that. I know it does. Just like Hayes knows I’ve waited a half a lifetime for him to want me back.
I launch myself against him, wrapping my arms and legs around his muscled shoulders and narrow hips before planting my lips on his with a moan. He stumbles back for an unsteady moment, groping for balance. But Hayes is athletic. He’s mastered many sports over the last decade, so it doesn’t take him long to find his footing. The instant he does, he takes my mouth, opening his lips over mine.
His kiss turns ruthless and demanding. Against my heart, his pounds. When I rock my hips, desperate for the friction I need to ease the ache only he’s ever made me feel, he’s as hard as steel. And when I claw at his shoulders, Hayes grips my ass in his palms, his fingers biting into me as he strokes himself against my pussy with a groan.
It’s not enough.
He falls back to the bed with a frantic curse. I tumble on top of him, straddling his hips as our arms and legs tangle. He melds his mouth to mine again. I open my lips and my thighs wider, inviting him deeper and shamelessly rubbing myself against him.
Please, please…lift my skirt, unzip your shorts, and end my years of aching need .
As if he hears my silent pleading, Hayes rolls me to my back, diving deeper into our kiss and drowning me in his masculine taste. He’s like spice on my tongue. Potent. Intoxicating. Addictive. But he’s so much better than my fantasies because he’s so incredibly real.
This close to him, I feel dizzy. Euphoric. My thoughts stop. My body takes over, my heart leading the way.
He slides a spaghetti strap down my arm, baring my shoulder, along with the tan lines from my bikini. I hold my breath as he does the same with the other. Only a few tiny buttons hold my dress in place and conceal my breasts from his hungry stare.
He pauses, his stare drilling into mine. I’m afraid to blink in case this is a vivid dream. But Hayes’s expression is too penetrating to be anything but honest.
He reaches for the top button on my dress. “You sure about this?”
My heart kicks into overdrive. “Positive.”
“Shortcake, it’s okay if you’re not ready. We don’t have to do this until I make it up to you. I’ll be patient. The most important thing to me is earning your trust and making you happy.”
That’s sweet but… “I’ve already waited forever. So if you’re suggesting we wait longer, that will make me very unhappy.” But what about him? “Unless you need time to get used to the idea that I’m more than your friend and?—”
“I don’t. I’m down with it. All I want is you, preferably naked and smiling.”
A wave of heat washes over me as I nod. “Then hurry.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He plows through the buttons on the front of my dress, his fingers a rapid-fire blur as he starts at my cleavage and doesn’t stop until the fastenings end at my waist.
The two sides of my bodice part, and he peels them away from my body. Since I’m not wearing a bra, my breasts bounce free. My erect nipples point straight at him, silently begging for his touch.
He groans long and low. “Oh, fuck.”
My cheeks heat with giddy excitement. “They’re not new. You saw them last night.”
“Because you dropped your dress for me. Today, I’m unwrapping you like the special gift you are.” He cradles one of my breasts in his big palm, sliding his thumb over the tip, pinging desire through my body. “You’re even more beautiful tonight.”
That compliment shouldn’t melt me, but I close my eyes, savor his touch, and give myself over to him. “You don’t know how many times I’ve imagined you doing this to me.”
“Tell me,” he breathes on my neck.
I shiver. My ache grows. “So many it’s embarrassing.”
His sexy groan rumbles against my ear. “I love hearing that you touched yourself to thoughts of me. Next time you start fantasizing, whisper every tiny, dirty detail to me. I’ll give you everything you want—anytime, anywhere, and any way you want it.”
My breath hitches. Is he trying to steal my sanity before I give him my virginity?
“Take off your shirt.” I grab at his tee and yank it impatiently up his torso.
Hayes helps me along, sitting up and reaching behind his neck to jerk the garment over his head. When he tosses it across the room, I gasp.
I’ve seen his naked torso dozens of times—at the pool, at the soccer pitch, hanging out while watching movies…last night when I had my mouth on his cock. Knowing I can touch him right now and that he’ll welcome my fingers on his skin? Knowing he’s mine? It’s a fantasy come true.
Suddenly, I can’t keep my hands off my best friend’s body. I skim my fingertips over his wide shoulders, tracing their hard curves before setting my palms on the solid bulges of his pecs. His exhalations turn rougher when I drag my thumbs across his nipples the way he did to mine. Then he closes his eyes, frowning like he’s fighting to restrain the urge to climb all over me.
I flit my lips up his strong neck, lingering over his thudding pulse, and guide his hands back to my breasts. “Don’t hold back for me.”
“Echo, I’m trying to take this slow. You’re killing my good intentions.”
“Glad to hear it.” I gather my too-short skirt in my hands and tug it up.
Xavian insisted these dresses make my legs look amazing. I’ve felt self-conscious wearing flounces and ruffles that end a scant couple of inches below my underwear, but seeing Hayes visually devour me and being with him here now… It’s been worth it.
I yank the dress over my head and fling it across the room. That leaves me wearing only a tiny pair of blush pink panties, held up by a ridiculously thin strip of lace clinging to each hip. Hayes’s stare climbs up my thighs, traces those bands of lace, before grazing the indention of my waist, dipping to my belly button…then dropping to focus between my legs. His eyes narrow and darken.
The front panel of these nearly nonexistent panties is completely see-through. It clings wetly to my bare, Xavian-swore-Hayes-would-love-it-waxed pussy. Hayes’s hot stare tells me Xavian was right.
My pulse jumps. My womb clenches. My ache sharpens. His cock swells, getting even harder. He swallows like he’s digging even deeper for control.
“Echo.” He murmurs my name like a benediction. “Damn, you’re beautiful.”
I pull the pins from my hair, and the heavy bun coiled on top of my head falls loose and free, the ends curling under my elbows and brushing the ticklish skin just above my panties. “You make me feel that way.”
Hayes thrusts his fingers into my hair and fists the strands, using his grip to pull me in for a kiss. The instant our mouths merge and our bare chests meet, I melt against him, clutching him tighter with a groan and losing myself in the moment. It’s everything I’ve dreamed of—and more. In my forbidden thoughts, Hayes merely wanted me. But knowing he loves me, too? I can’t wait to give him my all.
I open wider and take more of his kiss. He tosses me onto my back and rolls on top of me, sliding his hips between my legs and rocking against me. I swoon. God, I want him more than I thought I could ever want any man.
“Hayes,” I pant between kisses, planting my feet on the mattress, lifting to meet every downward thrust of his hips.
His mouth trails up my neck. His teeth nip at my lobe. He’s trying to consume me, so he doesn’t answer. Not that I’m surprised. When Hayes concentrates on something, his focus is absolute. That’s the case as he kisses his way across my shoulders, past my collarbones, and heads straight for my nipples. And just like yesterday, when he takes one in his mouth, pleasure feels like a live wire sizzling my whole body. I’m struggling to process those sensations when his fingers find their way into my panties, and he settles a pair of fingers over my sensitive clit.
Slowly, torturously, he rubs me. My back arches. My legs go taut. I cry out. Ecstasy threatens to overtake me, erasing everything except my love for Hayes.
“Look at you…” he breathes against my breasts. “So trembling and rosy, willing to surrender every part of yourself to me.”
“I’ve saved it all for you,” I gasp.
“I know, shortcake. I’m so fucking lucky. I’m going to treasure every bit while I worship you. When I’m done, you’ll never doubt again how much I want you. Or how much I love you.”
At those words, I shiver. Then he takes my nipples—one after the other—into his mouth while his fingers work me mercilessly. The ache is more than I can bear. The closer he brings me to the edge, the more I shudder and plead. The harder I pant. The more desperately I need.
“Hayes! Please. Now.”
He strips off my panties and runs his fingertips slowly, reverently over the bare pad of my pussy, despite the fact I’m a shaking, pleading mass of arousal. I love the way he looks at me when he’s got his hands on me, like I’m his wonderful everything. But he’s not undressing himself so he can make love to me.
That’s not okay.
“You have to stop touching”—my breath hitches when he skims my most sensitive spot—“me. You’re tormenting me.”
“I am. You’re amazing, so soft and swollen. So wet. I love watching you shiver and pant. Just a little more…”
“Now!” I shove him to his back and attack the button at his waistband.
A smile plays at Hayes’s lips. “Eager much?”
Isn’t he? Maybe not yet. I haven’t had the chance to get my hands on him. Though the tables are turned, my body hums as if his fingers still flirt between my legs and his tongue still grazes the hard tips of my breasts. It’s driving me insane. But I’m dying to excite him just as much.
I yank down his zipper and tug his shorts off. Then I stare at his cock—long and thick with a rigid staff and a head purple with need. I swallow, and my mouth goes dry.
“What if I do this?” I whisper as I wrap my hand around his cock, pumping him slowly, moving above him to settle my mouth on his nipples.
“Fuck,” he groans, seeming to melt into the mattress. “The feel of your hand on me… Oh, damn.”
“Eager now?”
“Shortcake, I’ve been eager since I realized I was in love with you.” His breaths are labored. “I just want you to be ready so it doesn’t hurt. I want it to be good for you.”
Every time I think I can’t love Hayes more, he says something wonderful that proves me wrong. “I know you, string bean. You’ll do everything you can for me. You always have.”
He rolls me to my back with a nod, brushing my hair from my face. “I always will.”
Then he reaches for a condom. I press a hand to his chest. “You don’t need that. I’m on the pill.”
Hayes freezes. “Since when?”
I’ve shocked him. He thought he knew everything about me… “Since last month, when you surprised me with this trip.”
“Shortcake…” He swallows, drilling down into my eyes. “I’ve never not worn a condom with someone. I’ve been tested recently. I’m clean. But I’ll glove up if it will make you feel safer.”
Slowly, I shake my head. “I never want anything between us again.”
He lowers his hand. “Same. I want to be as close to you as I can.”
Then there’s nothing left to say until he settles his body over mine and kisses me with reverence. Before Hayes has even made love to me, I already know I’ll be his forever.
Our kiss lingers, deepens, turns more urgent. I grip his shoulders. He settles his hands on my hips. I spread my legs to him. He slides between them. I lift in welcome. He aligns the head of his hard shaft against me. I hold my breath.
Then he pauses, his exhalations against my mouth uneven and rapid. “Ready?”
“I have been for years.”
His face softens as he presses our foreheads together for a solemn moment, then looks at me again. “I love you.”
“I love you. No more stalling.”
He winces. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“The only way you can do that is if you friend-zone me again.”
“That’s not possible anymore. You’re mine now.”
He fits his lips over mine, plumbing the depths of my mouth as he thrusts into me with an urgent press of his hips and tunnels deep with one sure stroke. I gasp, both at the tinge of discomfort and the new sensation of every inch of Hayes Elliot filling me.
Oh, my god. The two of us are one now.
“Shortcake,” he groans, gruff and gravelly. “Jesus, you feel good. You okay?”
“Yes.”
He breathes hard, struggling to control himself when he cups my face. “Still hurting?”
“A little.” Maybe more than that, but I know it won’t last long. Hayes won’t let it.
He frowns. “Let me make you feel good.”
I have no idea what he’s planning until he grabs a pillow from the bed, shoves it under my hips, then eases back, almost withdrawing.
Panic bites at me. “Don’t stop.”
“Never.” Between us, he settles a thumb over my clit and circles the hard bud. A bolt of shocking pleasure shoots through me, settling right where we’re joined. Then slowly, he fills me again with a moan that rips from his chest. “Ever.”
This time, the pain is nonexistent. Instead, friction fills me with a flurry of tingles, and when he cants his hips forward, pressing even deeper into me, he rubs a spot that has me gasping. My eyes go wide and zip up to his. I grip his shoulders. “Do that again.”
He grins. “My pleasure.”
Hayes does. The sensations grow. I suck in a shocked breath as more sensations impale me.
“Better?” he asks, sounding strained.
“Hmm… Great.”
“Thank god.” He surges deep again and again and again, settling into a rhythm that compels me to rock with him.
We move as one, and desire floods every nerve in my body. Desperate to be closer, I kiss my way up his neck to nip at his lips and I wrap my legs around him, silently begging him to never stop.
With every thrust, he scrapes a nerve-filled spot I never knew existed. The ache between my legs coils tighter. Hayes’s exhalations become guttural sounds of agonized pleasure. The bed squeaks. Sweat forms at his temples. My whole body tenses, poised on the edge of something amazing. My nails find their way to his shoulders and dig in needy supplication. He doesn’t disappoint, just fills me harder and faster.
“You’re tightening,” he grates out.
“I’m close.” So close I can hardly find my breath.
He surges even deeper as if he’s never had anything sweeter and he intends to consume me whole. I lose myself in him, to him—for good. “Oh…yes!”
Ruthlessly, he settles his thumb over my clit again. With the other hand, he digs his fingers into my hair and forces me to look into his eyes as he shoves inside me, pervading every inch of my body.
“Echo.” His dark eyes delve into mine.
The connection is like nothing I’ve ever imagined in, even my wildest fantasies. It trips me into the sort of ecstasy I’ve never, ever felt. I let go, screaming, my pleasure liquid until I’m boneless putty in his hands. Hayes falls into the abyss with me, driving the rapture up another shocking notch with rapid strokes as he crushes me in his possessive embrace.
The pulsing and shuddering seem to last a blissful forever before my brain slowly returns. I open my eyes to find Hayes staring down at me with a love I never dared to believe I’d see on his face.
“Oh, my god. That was…everything, shortcake.”
I offer up my lips for a soft kiss as tears of joy sting my eyes. “More than I ever imagined. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He thumbs my damp temples with a reverence that propels more tears to fall. “You know you’re never getting rid of me now.”
“We’ll need to leave the bed occasionally to eat, drink, and shower. You have the final mixer on Friday night, right?”
“I’ll skip it.”
“I might need a break by then.” In fact, I fidget because I could use one now. The pleasure is fading into a lovely, mellow glow, but my girl parts are a little tender.
“If you’re sore, shortcake, I’ll kiss it and make it better,” he promises, but his sly grin flattens into something serious. “But I didn’t mean this week. I meant for the rest of our lives. You ready for that?”
His question lights me up all the way to my soul. “With you? That’s what I’ve always wanted.”