Chapter 25 Grae
GRAE
Caden took my mouth with a feral need that had heat licking through my veins. It burned. But that pain only stoked the pleasure coursing through me.
His tongue stroked mine in demanding bursts, and I gave as good as I got. I nipped his bottom lip, silently asking for more. For all of him.
Caden growled into my mouth as he lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Then he was moving, striding out of the kitchen and down the hallway. I couldn’t be bothered to try to see where he was headed; I just hoped it was toward a bed.
Each step ignited delicious friction against my core. I deepened the kiss, needing to drown in the heady warmth that was Caden.
He shoved open a door, and it hit the wall. A second later, he was lowering me to the floor.
The scent of him surrounded me as my feet hit the hardwood. I’d never been able to pin down exactly what it consisted of, just that it had always felt like home. Smelling it now, after so long, had a burn flaring in the back of my throat.
Caden pulled back, his eyes locking with mine. I saw gold fire in those depths. I didn’t know how he’d kept that need hidden for all these years.
“Tell me I can have you.”
My heart thudded against my ribs. “Yes.”
Caden’s fingers were on the hem of my tank, pulling it up and over my head. Then he stilled, his gaze tracking over my skin, the swell of my breasts in my bra, my bare stomach. His hand went to my pump. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
My fingers moved to the port site, unclipping the pump tube and capping it. “You won’t.”
Caden dropped to his knees then, and his lips skimmed across my belly, making me shiver. He trailed kisses around my port. “So strong.”
That burn in my throat was back.
Caden’s fingers hooked into my shorts and underwear, pulling them down in one swift motion. A startled gasp escaped my lips as he stared at the apex of my thighs. “So damn pretty.”
He ran his thumb down my center, and my legs trembled.
He lifted one leg out of my shorts, taking my sock off at the same time, then removed the other.
“Spread your legs.”
I squirmed in place. “Caden…”
That gold fire flashed as he looked up at me. “Don’t hide from me. I want all of you.”
I swallowed hard, moving my legs farther apart.
Caden’s tongue flicked out, parting my core, and I gasped. There was no easing into things with Caden; he simply took. Each swipe of his tongue drove me higher. Two fingers slid inside me as his tongue circled my clit.
My fingers dug into his shoulders, and I worried I’d collapse. Caden’s fingers curled, pressing against a spot that had my walls clamping down around him.
“Uh-uh-uh. Not yet.” The words sent phantom vibrations across that bundle of nerves. Caden’s hand pumped in and out of me in a rhythm that had me skirting around the edges of where I wanted to be.
“Please,” I breathed.
“What do you need, Gigi?”
“More.”
He chuckled against my clit, that tongue circling but stopping just shy of where I needed him. “More of what?”
I looked down at Caden, his face between my thighs. The image had that invisible cord inside me spinning and pulling impossibly tighter. “More of you.”
His eyes flashed gold again. It was all he needed. Caden’s fingers curled again, and his lips closed around that bundle of nerves as his tongue pressed down.
Everything around me fractured in a spiral of light and color. My legs shook so hard Caden’s arm came around them, holding me up as he took and took. Wave after wave of sensation swept through me. Just as I thought I was wrung out, another crested, nearly taking me under.
Finally, Caden eased me back onto the mattress, his fingers slipping from my body. He stood, looked down at me, and licked those fingers clean.
“Can’t imagine anything sweeter.”
My eyes flared wide, and I pushed to sitting, reaching for his shirt.
Caden grinned. “Need something, Gigi?”
I yanked his button-down out of his slacks. “This. Off.”
He chuckled. “Happy to oblige.”
Caden’s fingers worked the buttons from the top, and I went from the bottom. When we met in the middle, he tore off the shirt. My hands immediately moved to his belt, unbuckling it and pulling it free.
He stepped out of my grasp, kicking off his shoes and shucking his pants and boxer briefs. And then he was standing in front of me, nothing but air between us.
I couldn’t help but drink him in. I’d imagined this moment for too long, yet it was better than anything my brain could’ve dreamed up.
Lightly tanned skin pulled taut over cut muscle.
My eyes tracked over defined shoulders to a chest with just a dusting of hair.
Then down to ridges of abdominals and a V of muscle I wanted to trace with my tongue.
Caden’s cock jerked as I stared at it. He growled. “You’re gonna make me come like a teenager.”
My gaze jumped to his face as he stalked toward me. He bent, his fingers latching onto my sports bra. “Need to feel all of you.”
Caden pulled the bra over my head, sending it flying. And then he was pushing me back to the bed, covering my body with his. “Shit. Condom.”
My fingers dug into his shoulders. “I’m on the pill.”
He stilled, his eyes searching mine. “I had a checkup right before I came back, and I haven’t been with anyone since. You’re sure?”
I nodded. I didn’t want anything between us. I had no idea what this meant for Caden and me, but if I only had this stolen moment with him, this one glimmer of everything, I wanted to experience it all. “I’m sure.”
Caden’s eyes blazed as his hand cupped my cheek, stroking along my jaw. “Gigi…”
My legs wrapped around him, and he bumped against my entrance. Everything in me cried out for him. For everything he could possibly give me.
Caden slid inside on one long glide. My mouth fell open on a silent gasp. I’d never felt fuller—and in the best way. It was just shy of pain, yet somehow perfect.
I held on to Caden as I adjusted to his size, his feel, to all of him.
“Gigi,” he whispered again.
“More.”
I didn’t have to tell Caden twice. He began moving, first in shallow, testing thrusts and then deeper. My hips rose to meet him. Something about the two of us coming together was completely unique—a path that would only ever be ours.
Our bodies spoke to each other in a secret language no one else would ever understand. With hands and mouths and so much more.
My back arched as Caden thrust deeper. My walls trembled. “Caden…”
I wasn’t sure what I was asking for or if I simply needed to call his name, to tell myself this was real.
It unleashed something otherworldly in him. He picked up speed, shifting his angle so I had no choice but to sail over the edge with him. Caden arched into me on a shout, emptying himself into me in a cascade of sensation.
I clung to him, grasped every ounce of pleasure, never wanting to let go.
Caden’s forehead came to rest against mine as we struggled for breath. “Gigi…”
Panic gripped me as he pulled back a fraction, his eyes searching mine. I braced for what might come. For him to tell me that this had been a mistake.
“I can’t stay away from you anymore. I tried. I tried so damn hard it killed something inside of me. But I can’t do it anymore.”
“Why?” I whispered.
Fear flashed in those gorgeous hazel eyes. “I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you.”
My fingers tightened around his biceps. “I’m right here. I’ve always been right here. I thought you didn’t want me.”
Caden shook his head, and I saw so much pain in his eyes. “I’ve wanted you for longer than I ever should’ve. I tried to hide it, to shove it down. But only one person has ever owned me. You.”