Thirty
30
Salem
A hint of tobacco, mint and spice drew me closer. I inhaled deeply, burrowing into the warmth of the scent. It was like a clean, brisk forest with the sun wrapping around me.
Why was I in a forest?
I tried to focus and think about where I was. The thick, hard arms that surrounded me tightened, and a deep groan had my eyes snapping open. I blinked. Then blinked again. The tattooed chest was still there. The smell wasn’t a forest, but a body.
“Don’t go getting tense now,” a deep, familiar voice said with the husk of sleepiness. “I’ve had you clinging to me all fucking night like a damn kitten.”
I closed my eyes again and bit back my own groan.
What had I done? Well, after one too many margaritas. I should have stopped when I felt the first buzz. God, I was a lightweight.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked, humiliated as bits and pieces started coming back to me.
He grunted. “What about? Wearing that bikini? Taking it off and putting on nothing but my shirt, then passing out in my bed?”
My eyes flew back open at that comment, and I realized I was indeed without panties. “Oh God.”
I started to move, and his arms locked, making it impossible.
“If you’re sorry, then stop wiggling,” he muttered.
The sound of Rome’s husky voice was unfortunately sending jolts of things to parts of my body that did not need to react. Especially in my state of dress and location. I was in his room.
I remembered he’d carried me up the stairs. But why had we come to his room?
I bit down hard on my lip at the fact that he’d seen me in that stupid bikini. Enough tequila, and my self-confidence was booming.
He had seen all the parts that weren’t what they once had been. I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.
How was I going to hold my head high, knowing he’d seen my bare butt?
“You’re sweeter when you’re sleeping,” he mumbled, then yawned. “Relax, Salem. It’s too early to be that tense.”
I sucked in a breath as he buried his nose in my hair.
“Mmm, you still smell like coconut and fucking honey.”
What did one do after waking up from passing out drunk in their first love’s bed almost two decades later? Was there etiquette to this? Did I act like it was no big deal, like he was doing? And, God, WHY did my nipples have to be hard and tingly?
Okay, I had to remain calm. Play this off. Then get out of here and go freak out before pulling myself together in the shower. I could do this.
I opened my mouth to say something like, Are you sure you don’t mean chlorine water and cigarettes? since Nina had been smoking last night in the hot tub.
But no words came because Rome’s hand slid down my back. I stopped breathing when it reached the curve right before my bottom—and then he kept going. His large palm cupped my left butt cheek and squeezed. A rumble that sounded like a pleased sound vibrated in his chest, and I sucked in air.
“Fuck, that’s a spectacular ass.” His tone wasn’t sarcastic or teasing. “Let me feel it.”
Was I asleep? Was this one of those dreams?
“Silence is going to be taken as a yes,” he told me as he tugged up the hem of the shirt I was wearing.
This time, I did an audible gasp as the callous tips of his fingers brushed over my skin. I began to tremble, but I couldn’t help it. I would stop it if I could.
“Fuck,” he swore in a gravelly tone, then squeezed my bottom and jerked me closer.
A whimper passed my lips, and my nails bit into the rock-solid chest that my hand had been pressed against.
His hand moved further down, until his fingertips slipped between my legs. I jerked from the contact and the mini explosion of pleasure that it had sent off throughout my body.
“Ah, fuck, you’re wet,” he growled, then grabbed my leg and tugged it up to rest my knee on his hip. “You gotta let me play now, Angel Face.”
Play? This wasn’t playing. It was…it was a path to my destruction. Again.
“I, uh…” My words went from telling him that this needed to stop to pleasure that I’d forgotten existed, igniting between my legs as he ran a finger through my sensitive area.
“Look at me,” he said gruffly.
I tilted my head back to stare up at him. The pale green color, which was the very first thing I’d noticed about him, still drew me in. His eyes were heavy-lidded from just waking up, and I was sure that there had never been a man who was more tempting than Rome when he looked like this.
“That’s better,” he praised me. Then his finger went from caressing to gently pumping, but not exactly penetrating my entrance. It was more of a tease. “I want to see your face. Know it’s you creaming on my hand.”
I sucked in a quick breath, then let it out. I’d forgotten about his dirty talk.
When his finger sank inside me, I shuddered, and my eyes fluttered, but I didn’t close them. They stayed locked on his. His pupils were expanding, the black edging out the green. The darkness excited me, although I wasn’t used to it. I didn’t know what it meant, yet my stomach flutters began as I watched it happen.
He used his long, thick finger to slide into me, then out in a torturously slow rhythm.
“This was my pussy.” His words sounded like a growl as his jaw tightened. “It was always supposed to be mine.”
Although that claim made me pant, I didn’t want to think about it. Not what it meant. Not right now. The guilt would come, and I wanted this moment with him. As much as it might hurt later, I wanted this. I just hadn’t realized how much.
His eyes dropped to my mouth, and I watched as his tongue traced his bottom lip. The silver bar that pierced it caught my attention. Before I could think about it much more, he lowered his head and cupped the back of my head, his hand bringing me closer to him.
The press of his warm lips on mine caused a small cry or moan—I wasn’t sure which, but a surge of elation pierced my soul, as if to wake it from dormancy. He invaded my mouth, and the flick of his tongue had me clambering to get closer to him. I grabbed his arms and arched against him, savoring his taste. The connection made my heart thump wildly.
Rome’s chest rumbled with a sound of satisfaction as his fingers tangled in my hair. There was nothing else. Not now. Just us. His tongue—although it felt different now—tangled with mine, as if I was the only thing that could sate his craving.
“Goddamn, you still taste sweet,” he rasped as his mouth left mine to trail kisses along my jawline, all the way to the pulse in my neck. With the tip of his tongue, he licked the spot, then pressed his lips to it. “Roll onto your back. I want to see if your pussy still tastes like honeysuckle.”
That hit a chord that I wished had been left alone. I didn’t want to think about it or…Eamon. But the mix of emotions came in a rush and sat heavily on my chest. Rome didn’t wait for me to move; he used his body to pin me to the mattress. He braced his arms on either side of my head as he stared down at me.
“Don’t get in your head now, Angel Face. We’ve already unleashed this. I can’t shut it off.” His words felt almost like a warning.
I swallowed hard, wishing I could block it out. Separate the two. The before and the after. But I didn’t think that would ever be possible. I dropped my gaze, and he immediately grabbed my chin, forcing my head back so that I had to look at him.
“Eyes on me,” he ordered.
It was hard to look at him and deal with all the other stuff. He was the reason for it all. The cause for every choice I had made since I had been sixteen years old. And somehow, even without me telling him about Rome, Eamon had known that.
“You used to love having my head between your legs.” His voice was thick and husky.
I remembered. I remembered everything. Even when I wanted to forget it. Every moment.
He let go of my chin and ran his finger down the side of my face. “Still so fucking beautiful.”
If I let him, he’d ruin me. But how did I protect myself from this man when all I wanted was to be here with him?
“Talk to me. I used to not be able to get you to shut up.” He smirked as the corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement.
“I don’t…” I stopped. God, how did I say this? “It’s just…I…I don’t do that. I mean…I don’t enjoy it anymore. It…it wasn’t something I did.”
Talking about the intimacy I had shared with Eamon felt so forbidden that I couldn’t say any more. It felt like I was betraying someone who had loved me, sacrificed for me, and accepted that I gave him what I could of myself while he gave me all of him.
Rome’s eyes narrowed, and I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. He shifted and settled between my legs. The hard length of his erection pressed against my clit, causing me to gasp loudly. If he was trying to distract me, then this would work.
“You telling me your husband didn’t eat your pussy?”
Not exactly.
I shook my head. “No, he did, but…I just didn’t enjoy it. We stopped doing that.”
The challenge that lit his eyes made me tense. Even with his body covering me and his heat seeping into me. I hadn’t meant to toss down some weird competition. I simply no longer enjoyed oral sex.
He continued to hold my gaze as he moved back, then grabbed my ankles, jerking my legs open and bending my knees so that I was completely open to him. His eyes drifted down my body, making me once again self-conscious, before they stopped and focused on the area between my legs. I trembled as he licked his lips. My clit began to ache.
“For someone who doesn’t enjoy it, the thought of it has you aroused. I can smell it. Still smells like fucking heaven.”
“Oh God,” I whispered, closing my eyes.
“Eyes on me,” he snarled, and I opened them again to see him scowling. “When my mouth is making you scream out your orgasm, I want you to know who the fuck is doing it. Whose goddamn mouth it is.”
That was laughable. No one had ever made me orgasm but him. My body only came alive when it was Rome touching it. I’d thought he had broken me. That I no longer enjoyed sexual things. I relied on my vibrator to get me off after sex with Eamon.
He held my gaze as he lowered his head.
The first swipe of his tongue caused my hips to buck off the mattress. The sound I made was loud, and I wasn’t sure how to describe it. His deep chuckle vibrated against my clit, only igniting more waves of euphoria to race through me. My hands fisted the sheets beneath me, and nothing else mattered. All the other thoughts or worries were gone. There was no guilt.
The addition of the metal in his tongue only heightened the experience. It had been so long since I’d felt this way—out of control, lost to my own pleasure, wanting nothing but the high that came with my release—that I wondered briefly how I’d lived without this for so many years.
Rome’s finger slid inside my opening the exact moment his tongue circled my clit. I felt like a million tiny sparks of light exploded out of me as I was catapulted into complete rapture. His name tore from my lips, and I continued to ride my release while his eyes held mine and he moved over me.
There was no pause or thought before he sank inside me with a hoarse groan. “Fuuuuck.”
My inner walls clenched tightly from the invasion. His girth was thicker than my body was accustomed to, and it had me panting as I adjusted to the size.
“Jesus, Angel Face,” he hissed. “How is this pussy so tight?”
I didn’t want to answer that. I didn’t want to think about the people we’d been with in between the before and after. This was just us. Rome and Salem. No one else would come in and ruin it.
He began to pull back, then thrust in deeper, and my eyes flew open wide as I felt something other than his cock rubbing inside me.
His lips quirked at my expression.
It rubbed again, and a low moan tore from me.
God, what was he doing?
He picked up speed on his thrusting, and the veins in his neck stood out. Whatever he was doing to me was building inside me at a frantic pace. The sensation wasn’t like anything I’d known before, and I felt tremors course through my body.
“Fuck, I love this cunt,” he panted, his eyes wild as he watched me.
It was as if I were being dangled off a cliff; adrenaline, fear, exhilaration all melded in this moment.
“Rome,” I cried, uncertain what this was, but the strength of it was already overpowering, and it hadn’t happened yet.
“That’s it,” he said through clenched teeth. “Say my name.”
“Oh God, Rome.” A franticness hit me, and I grabbed on to his arms, sinking my nails into the hard flesh when my climax slammed into me with such force that I lost my breath.
“Fuck, baby! FUCK!” Rome’s shouts sounded distant as I shook and floated off in my own release.
His fingers dug into my scalp as he yanked my hair, causing my eyes to fly back open, which I hadn’t realized I’d closed.
“Mine.” He said the singular word as I let out another moan.
Then a roar ripped out of him, and his body jerked against me. The pulse of his load began to fill me. His mouth was open slightly as his eyes, dark with pleasure, never left mine.
As we both slowly came back to earth, I noticed the dampness beneath my bottom and on my inner thighs. What was that? You couldn’t accidentally pee during an orgasm, could you? Oh God, was that something that happened when you got old?
“When the fuck did you start squirting?” he asked hoarsely.
“What?”
His nostrils flared, and his throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Squirting, Salem. When did you start doing that?”
Squirting did not sound good, and panic began to steal the joy I’d just experienced. I shook my head as my eyes stung. If I had done something gross and ruined this experience while I’d been splintering into oblivion, then I might die.
I shook my head. “I don’t. I didn’t mean to. I don’t know what it is.” I stumbled over my words.
This was what happened when you were deprived of sexual pleasure for two decades. Your body freaked out and did weird stuff.
Relief or satisfaction—I wasn’t sure which, one or maybe both—lit his eyes as he smiled. “You’ve never done that before?”
I shook my head, still not sure what that was. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
A pleased chuckle fell from his lips, and he dropped his head to kiss my neck. “You don’t feel how wet the sheets are?” He pulled my earlobe between his teeth.
Hesitantly, I nodded. I’d hoped I was imagining it.
“That’s from you squirting,” he said. “On my fucking cock.”
He seemed extremely pleased about this, but it sounded like I had bladder problems I wasn’t aware of. Why would he like that?
The tip of his nose ran along my ear, and then he pressed a kiss beneath it before nuzzling the crook of my neck and inhaling. “It was the metal in my cock, wasn’t it? You’re so damn tight that my piercing was hitting your G-spot hard. Mmm, fuck, that was hot.”
His piercing. I’d forgotten about that.
“What…what is squirting exactly?” I asked, feeling like an idiot since he seemed to think I should know.
He let out another amused chuckle as he slowly lifted his head to look down at me. “Female ejaculation.”
Oh.
Ohhh.
Oh my God!
He pinched my chin, then pressed a kiss to the corner of my mouth. “It was the hottest fuck I’ve ever had.”
Oh.
My chest warmed, and my lips stretched across my face.