Chapter 30
Ransom
Ikiss her with urgency—hard, desperate, greedy.
It’s the same aching heat we shared five years ago, rekindled.
I taste the sharp tang of champagne on her tongue.
She yanks my jacket off my shoulders; the fabric falls with a soft thud. Her fingers fumble at my bow tie until the knot loosens.
She isn’t gentle. I don’t want gentleness.
She pops my shirt buttons one by one, her lips grazing my throat, each exhale warm and trembling against my skin.
“I need to do this,” she murmurs, voice raw as silk.
“Then do it.”
She gets me naked and guides me to the bed, pressing me back into the mattress.
She pulls away and sheds her clothes like she’s discarding chains.
The velvet of her dress slips down her arms and pools around her feet, a whisper of cloth sliding across polished floorboards.
Light from the fireworks filters through frosted panes, painting her skin in honeyed highlights and soft shadows.
Strands of auburn curls tumble across her shoulders, tousled from dancing and the frantic sprint to her room. She’s never looked more alive.
She straddles me, naked, her core brushing against my erection. She exults in our bodies connecting.
I let her set the pace.
My hands hover, waiting for her permission.
When she finally parts her lips and exhales my name, I trace the slender curve of her spine, memorize the gentle slope of her waist.
“I want to touch you everywhere…forever,” I confess.
Her breath catches. Tears gather at her lashes.
Softly, I brush them away with my thumb as they fall. Each drop glints in the soft glow of the sparkling lights outside.
This isn’t just flesh meeting flesh. It’s more. It’s two souls threading back together, finally unmasked.
She moves her hips against me. I moan. Her eyes light up. Her smile is one Eve would recognize.
She crawls down my body. Down. Down. Down.
Her fingers wrap around the hard length of me.
Jesus Christ. I’m throbbing, my dick slick with pre-cum.
She doesn’t hesitate. Her tongue darts out, licking a wet stripe from base to tip before she takes me deep, her lips stretching around me, her mouth hot and tight and perfect.
My head falls back on the pillows, my fingers tangle in her hair as she works me.
Her tongue swirls around the head, her cheeks hollowing as she sucks me.
I’m fucking lost.
I don’t want to come in her mouth. Not this first time. I pull her up, so she’s lying on top of me.
Then, I roll her onto her back.
My mouth crashes onto hers. I taste myself on her tongue. It’s erotic.
Her legs spread under me like an open invitation. My hands are touching her everywhere as I fuck her mouth with my tongue. Her breasts, her nipples pebbling under my touch, her soft belly, her thighs trembling as I drag my fingers through her wetness.
“My turn,” I state huskily.
“And mine, too,” she says, beatific, looking like Venus herself.
Her pussy glistens. I dip my head to lick her, taste her.
Her hips buck. I let go; I fuck her as deep as I can with my tongue, lap at her clit until she’s crying out, her legs shaking around my head.
I don’t stop. Can’t. Not until she comes on a scream, her pussy clamping down on my tongue.
I pull back, chest heaving. Her skin is flushed. She’s looking at me with eyes dark with need.
“Condom?” I ask. I have one. I bought a box in Chamonix two days ago. I threw away the ones I had brought with me from San Francisco.
She licks her lips. “You clean?”
“Always.”
She releases a deep breath. “I’m on the shot. I want…to feel you.”
Her words pierce my heart…and harden my cock.
I never took her bare.
Never took anyone bare—not even my ex-wife, because we didn’t want to risk a pregnancy.
“Have you ever….” I feel like a fool for feeling jealous. I want to be the first man she’s had inside her without a condom.
“Never.”
I line myself up, my dick pressing against her entrance. I slide home in one thrust. She gasps, her nails digging into my back as I fill her, stretch her, make her mine.
I feel like a caveman, claiming my woman.
I fuck her slow, deep.
Her legs wrap around my waist.
Every thrust hits that sweet spot inside, making her moan.
Her tight little cunt grips me like a glove.
I’m close, so Goddamn close, but I don’t want it to end, not so soon.
“Ransom,” she whimpers, her hips lifting to deepen my penetration.
My hands grip her hips as I slam into her, harder, faster—
She comes again, her pussy clenching around me like a vice.
I follow her over the edge, spilling into her with a groan, shuddering as I collapse on top of her, feeling like I am, finally, home.
As we catch our breath, she traces patterns on my back, her breathing soft and steady.
I kiss her shoulder, my lips brushing her skin.
“I love you.”
I kiss the hollow at her collarbone, the gentle swell of her shoulder.
I murmur every truth I hold.
“You’re beautiful.”
“You’re brilliant.”
“You’re mine.”
“Please never leave me.”
“Please love me.”
“I need you.”
“I don’t want to live without you.”
“Please forgive me.”
Tears leak down her cheeks. I press soft kisses and lap at each one.
When we finally rest, both of us physically and emotionally spent, intertwined—her head lolling against my chest, our limbs tangled—I trace the delicate arch of her spine with my fingertips, imprinting her into memory once more.
She lifts her head, sleep-heavy, cheeks flushed. “Why did it take you so long?” she asks in a voice thick with wonder.
I cradle her face in my palm, thumb brushing over her lips.
“I was stupid. And scared. But not anymore.”
She breathes in deeply.
I lean close and speak the only words that matter. “I love you.”
Her eyelids flutter closed as she exhales. “I love you, too.”
And in the hush of our intimacy, I vow, “I know, right now, all I have are words. But I won’t let you down. If you’re lost, I’ll be there. If you fall, I’ll catch you. I’ll wait for as long as it takes, work for as long as is needed to win your trust…and never stop.”