CHAPTER FIFTEEN #3
I trail kisses across her shoulder and up her throat. My hands roam over her thighs, dragging up, up, up until they meet the slick heat at her core soaking through her thin panties.
Catherine stills for half a heartbeat beneath my touch before relaxing completely, her body yielding to mine as I stroke her slowly.
Desire crashes through me so hard it nearly steals my breath.
I want to lose myself in her.
But I rein myself in. I don’t want to rush this.
My other hand slides upward, knuckles grazing her breast through the thin fabric of her dress. I increase the pace of my strokes until she arches against me with a quiet cry, going limp in my arms.
She murmurs against my neck, her thighs tightening around me.
“What was that?”
She lifts her head, eyes glossy with want and lips swollen from our kisses.
“More,” she whispers. “I want more. I want you, Elliot.”
I don’t need to be told twice.
I scoop her into my arms and carry her into my room, yanking back the comforter before laying her down on my cream-colored Egyptian cotton sheets.
She lifts her arms, and I catch the hem of her dress, pulling it over her head as she shimmies out of her undergarments, indigo hair spilling loose from its braid across the pillowcase.
“You’re beautiful,” I breathe, climbing onto the bed above her.
“And you’re still clothed,” she grumbles, tugging at my waistband.
“Touché.” I kick out of the offending garment, reach for the bedside table, and tear open a foil packet, rolling the condom over my cock’s head and down the length before settling between her thighs. “Better?”
“Better,” she echoes, hips arching to pull me closer.
“I’ve thought about you, about this every damn hour,” I growl against her neck. “I dream about how you taste.” I position my cock at her entrance as her hands dig into the muscles of my shoulders, leaving small crescents in my flesh.
“How do you want it, little Wren?” I stare into her ocean-blue eyes, depths that seem to swirl with magical intensity waiting to be unleashed.
“Hard enough to make waves,” she says breathlessly, writhing beneath me.
“Hold on tight then.” I slowly push into her, every ounce of restraint keeping me from slamming in to the hilt. From losing myself in the sweet, tight heat of her. From savoring every inch of where we’re joined.
Her sharp intake of breath as I slide in stirs a restless storm inside me, making me want to ruin her gently.
“I’ve got you,” I murmur, my voice rough as I press my forehead to hers. “Goddess, Wren… you feel incredible.”
A shaky breath leaves her as I move with her slowly, deliberately, giving her time to adjust while my hands roam across her body like I can’t decide where to hold her. Her fingers rake lightly down my back, nails scraping just enough to make my pulse jump.
I draw back slightly before kissing her again, deep and hungry, and the soft sound she makes into my mouth nearly undoes me. Catherine arches beneath me, hips rising instinctively to meet every thrust, searching for more.
“There you go,” I whisper, dragging my lips down the curve of her throat. “Just like that.”
The room fills with uneven breaths, the rustle of tangled sheets, the quiet sounds she tries—and fails—to hold back. Every movement between us feels heated and overwhelming, like we’re both balancing on the edge of something too big to contain.
“I’ve thought about this,” I admit, brushing a kiss over her collarbone. “About holding you like this. About finally getting to kiss you without stopping. About how…”
Her hands tangle in my hair, drawing me closer.
“About how, what?” she asks breathlessly.
I lift my head just enough to look at her—flushed cheeks, swollen lips, the way she’s staring at me as though I’m something dangerous. Something she wants anyway.
“About how I’ll never get tired of you,” I say softly.
Something in her expression breaks open at that.
She trembles beneath me, breath catching sharply as I kiss her harder, slower now, drawing out every reaction I can from her. I lower my mouth to her chest, trailing kisses across her breasts, and she gasps my name, arching against me.
The sound cuts straight through me.
We move together in a rhythm that feels less frantic and more inevitable, like we were always going to end up here. Tangled together. Breathless. Unable to let go.
“Look at us,” I murmur, brushing my nose against hers. “Like we were made for this.”
“For you,” she whispers, eyes half-lidded.
That nearly wrecks me completely. If only she knew.
Tell her. Tell her she’s our mate.
I can’t. I won’t let that be the reason she stays.
I groan as she falls apart beneath me, clinging to my shoulders while pleasure ripples through her. The sight of her unraveling in my arms sends me over the edge right behind her, my name breaking from her lips as I hold her close through it.
Afterward, we collapse together in a tangle of limbs and sheets. I pull her against my chest immediately, wrapping an arm around her waist like some instinct deep inside me refuses to let her go now that I finally have her here.
I press a sleepy kiss against her shoulder and drag the comforter over us both.