Chapter 12 #2
“Black lace, hmm,” he murmured. Spinning me, he wrapped his arms around me from behind.
He cupped my breasts, hands so big and warm, massaging my nipples with his thumbs.
His mouth pressed against my neck, his tongue licking and sucking there, sending tingles into the tips of my breasts and core.
Flattening his hand against my abdomen, he shoved my butt into his groin.
He thrust against me as his fingertips teased along the edge of the waistband, then those fingers delved inside.
I gasped and arched my back as he lifted me with one arm, opening my legs with his knee so those clever fingers could find me wet and throbbing.
He circled my aching core, then slipped his long, thick fingers inside me as I uncontrollably rocked my pelvis.
Gasping on a long moan, I braced my feet against the mattress, my voice barely coherent, “Please, Ethan. Please,” I begged hoarsely, pressing against a solid wall of immovable muscle. He thrust in deep with penetrating force, and I twisted against the hard ridge under the placate of his jeans.
He lifted me again this time turning me around and setting me down on the mattress.
I reached for his jeans’ button and zipper.
He was quickly shucking out of them and rapidly pulling his shirt over his head.
I barely got a glimpse of ridged abdomen, sculpted chest, and his thick, rigid erection before that wall of muscle was on top of me.
I closed my eyes, reveling in the weight of him on me, the heady aroma of aroused male, mixed with a clean, rain-washed scent.
All that smooth, hot skin beneath my palms sent my senses reeling.
He was so big and beautiful. I wanted every inch of him. Feeling as if I had been let out of prison, I rubbed against him. The unsatisfied pounding thickened, and I found his mouth, desperate for the taste of him, wanting to center my pulsating need.
On a jagged intake of air, Ethan caught my jaw and dragged his mouth away, his breathing still raw and labored. Fighting in a lungful of air, he clamped his mouth over my nipple with a rough growl. He sucked and licked each one until I thought I would go out of my mind.
His voice was so rough, it was as if he was speaking through some unmanageable pain. “Haley,” he whispered brokenly, his breath hot against my ear. “Condoms.”
Panting, I said, “Bedside drawer.” He got to his knees, his upper body moving away from me.
I rose off the bed, pressing my mouth against him, licking and sucking his scorching skin from the hollow of this throat to his flat male nipple, hard and satisfying against my tongue.
When I bit the nub, he jerked and groaned.
“Ah, Haley. Fuck,” he said, his voice breaking. He fumbled at the side table, and I heard a foil packet rip, then he was sheathing himself.
I had never known this fever of need, this raw, urgent hunger, and I gave myself up to the frenzied sensations, knowing that Ethan would never let me down.
Roughly changing the angle of his mouth, he thrust against me, and the pulsating heaviness in my groin intensified.
Desperate for more, I sobbed and locked my legs around him, transfixed by the incredible sensations he’d set off inside me.
He moved again, and I clutched him, my senses disintegrating, desperate for more, so much more.
Blinded by sensation, I arched, expecting him to thrust into me, but instead he pressed his hard heat against my moist center.
Thrusting his hand under my head, he started to move, sensitizing me even more.
The sensations began to gather, and I stiffened, right on the edge.
So sharp. As if aware of what was happening to me, he choked out my name and thrust into me, filling me so full of him I lost myself.
Every thrust sent me higher and higher, until my whole body focused into one white hot light; then everything exploded and my orgasm pulsed untold pleasure with each beat of my heart. On a tortured groan, Ethan twisted his hips, his own release pumping into me.
Incoherent and shattered, I hung on to him for dear life—on to my lifeline, my rock, my still center.
It seemed like an eternity passed before reality filtered back in. Trembling and weak, and feeling as if every bone in my body had been liquefied, I folded around him, aware of how tightly he was holding me, aware of how badly he was trembling.
My face wet with tears I had no idea I’d even shed, I wrapped both arms around his neck and tightened my legs, an unbearable tenderness welling up in me as I cradled him against me.
I was so shattered, I was incapable of speech. But I was filled so full of emotions for him, and I gently ran my fingers through his hair, wishing I could wrap up every inch of him. He was so infinitely special, so infinitely cherished.
Ethan turned his face against my neck, delving into my hair and holding my face against his jaw. Then as if too spent to move, he tightened his hold. His voice muffled, he spoke, his tone very gruff. “How are you doing, babe?”
Moved beyond words by his concern for me, and overcome with the need to comfort him, I pressed my mouth against his dark stubbled jaw. My voice was very uneven as I whispered, “Yes, I’m doing fine, so fine. Is this what heaven feels like?”
His chest rose on a deep intake of air, then he tightened his grip on my head. He didn’t say anything but I felt him smile. And I hugged him again.
He went to pull away, and I held on. “Don’t go. Stay with me tonight.”
“I will. I just need to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back, sugar.
” He ran his hand over my hair, kissing my mouth gently.
Then he slipped to the edge of the bed and my breath caught.
A broad back and even broader shoulders tapered down to one of the finest butts I’d ever seen, his legs rippling with muscle.
His dark hair was a thick tangle against the back of his neck.
It was quite a view. I almost couldn’t wait until he came back.
He was gone for only a few minutes. Then all six foot two of him was striding back to the bed, and I caressed all of his fit body, thickly-ridged abs, his lean hips, curved with muscle and the part of him that made him male.
I sighed, swooned. “Geez, Ethan, you are freaking beautiful.”
I was rewarded with a husky chuckle. “Thanks, sugar. You’re not bad yourself.
” But, it was clear he thought the same about me as his eyes traveled over my prone shape, lingering on my full breasts that already ached and my hips.
He got back into bed, bracing his weight on one elbow, he gazed down at me, the moonlight washing his face.
Brushing back my hair, then scooping up a handful, he let it run through his fingers, a slow smile appearing.
His voice like rough velvet, he said. “I’m glad your car ran out of gas at Outlaws. So damn glad.”
I reached up and caressed his mouth unable to stop touching him. “Are you? Well, what a coincidence. I’m so damn glad my car ran out of gas at Outlaws, too.”
His smile deepened. “You’re enough to break a man in half.”
I grinned. “Did I do that to you?”
He laughed, a low throaty laugh that sent delicious shivers up my spine. “I need to pick up the pieces. I’m a little blown away here.”
Aware that we still had so much to discuss, I rose and kissed him along his jaw. We would deal with it which left me with some major decisions to make.
But it was good we weren’t going to talk until tomorrow. This was too special to be messed up with my past.
Wanting to keep that comfortable easiness between us, I knocked his elbow out from under him and climbed on his body, lying full length. “That’s much better.” I folded my arms across his chest and peered into his eyes. “So how long have you wanted to get me into bed?” I asked, provocatively.
Chuckling, lights starting to twinkle in his eyes, he wrapped his arms loosely around me. “Am I expected to actually speak with your beautiful body on top of me. I might have a cape tucked somewhere, but I do believe you’re my kryptonite.”
I reached out and toyed with his hair, then gazed down into his face. It wasn’t any hardship; he really was quite gorgeous. “Come on, concentrate.”
“Do I have to be completely honest?”
“Now, would a superhero lie?”
Chuckling he gave me such a cute little boy look. “No.” He pretended to think until I tickled his ribs, then he scrunched up and said, “Okay, okay. Geez, you little sassbucket.”
“Sassbucket?”
“Yeah, get used to it.”
“Okay. I think I like it.”
His expression altered, and even in the faint moonlight filtering in, I could see his eyes darken, his gaze going soft and tender. “From the second you revived looking like a tired, hungry little waif, you kinda stole my heart.”
My breath caught and I tried to play it off how much those words bore down into the core of me and sat there like warm sand. I wiggled my hips and he made a soft male sound.
His gaze turned hot and intimate. Gazing at me, he framed my face, then lifted up, brushing his mouth lightly against mine.
“Ooh, now you’re playing with fire, Tinkerbell,” he breathed, caressing my bottom lip.
“The first time I wanted you underneath me had to be when you saw the apartment. When you realized that it was yours and the gratitude, the way your eyes and whole face lit up. It did me in, babe, knowing that I had something to do with putting that look there.” He gave me a slight smile.
“You could have had me right then and there.”
“Is that so?” I stuck out my lip and said. “Did I lose my window of opportunity?”
He mock frowned and said, “I don’t know. Convince me.”
My heart started to hammer, and suddenly it was impossible to breathe. Leaning forward I brought his mouth into full contact with mine.
The kiss was slow, soft and so unbelievably gentle that it left me absolutely breathless, and my whole body turned to jelly.
This man…this sexy, sweet, devastating man.
A sudden urgency sizzled through me and I framed his face, moving my hips to urge him, and it didn’t take much to make him as hard as a rock between my legs.
Snagging both my wrists, he flipped me off him, holding my hands against the bed. “You ready for some more,” he whispered, moistening my bottom lip. “This time were going to take our time.”
My heart thumped hard. I didn’t think I could stand it. I really didn’t. He’d only started and it was too much already. “You really are superhuman.”
He threw back his head and laughed. When he met my eyes, I was thoroughly charmed.
“Sassbucket, indeed.”
“How many times can you do it in one night?”
He grinned. “How many condoms do we have?”
I raised my hips and rolled them against that tantalizing hard-on. “Enough to make me one satisfied sassbucket.” I loved his deep chuckle, then I really couldn’t talk anymore because of the lack of oxygen.
He did take his time—oh, my, did he. It was just like the kiss, slow, soft, gentle.
And Ethan was so thorough—inch by inch. I had no idea a man could be that dedicated to detail, and he set off reactions I’d never, ever experienced before.
Now that I knew what I was missing, I couldn’t get enough.
He took it slow and easy, he nearly drove me to insanity and my hands where grabbing anything I could to keep from coming out of my skin, the bedding, him, his hair, his slick muscles.
I was sure I was going to die when he finally thrust into me, driving me up and over into a soul-shredding release.
It was so fantastic, so explosive, it was as if I came right out of my body.
And he was the only thing that held me together.
But then I was certain Ethan was going to hold me together no matter what.
All I had to do was be brave and like that butterfly transition into the woman who was completely free. No looking over my shoulder ever again.
All it would take was finding the courage in my own heart as soon as I could get it back from Ethan.
Trouble was…I didn’t want him to let go of it.