Chapter 14 #3
He took my hand in his, thoughtfully tracing the lines along my palm for a minute. “I would never force you to feel something you aren’t ready to feel.”
I shook my head. “That isn’t what I meant. I don’t want easy. I want to feel. I want…”
His gaze shot up to mine, the intensity of his stare making my breath catch again.
I forced myself to exhale. “You,” I finished in a whisper. “Just you.”
He went back to studying the lines of my palm, the hint of a crooked smile curving his lips again. “Is that so?”
I heaved out a sigh.
His smile inched higher. “You seem conflicted.”
“In my defense, I’m never able to think particularly clearly whenever you’re naked in front of me.”
“I know what you mean.” His gaze flicked to the shirt draped loosely around me, and his hand followed, giving the fabric a little tug. “This thin bit of cloth might be my last tether to anything resembling control.”
Untether yourself, then.
I don’t know if he’d heard those words through our connected minds, or if he sensed the desperation behind the thought, but he pressed even closer to me—as if in response.
I tensed, eyes closing, as he gathered a fistful of the shirt. He used that grip to keep me steady while his other hand slid between my legs, coaxing them farther apart.
“Open your eyes,” he said, voice low and dripping with desire, “and watch what I’m doing. No slipping away.”
I did as he’d commanded, watching his fingers drag across my inner thighs. I shivered. He cocked his head, as if questioning whether or not I was in danger of slipping away.
A divine warmth rippled and curled through my belly. It still seemed timid, afraid of unfolding into something bigger and risking an equally bigger loss, but I didn’t want him to stop what he was doing.
Again, he moved as though I’d spoken my thoughts out loud.
He didn’t stop. He confidently cupped a handful of water, drizzling it over my bare legs.
I inhaled sharply at the splash of heat against my chilled skin.
He did it again, sprinkling it higher up my legs this time.
Then again, and again, dripping the warmth closer and closer to my center.
There was no numbness, now.
And that much was obvious, judging by the knowing smile that crossed his face. “You still seem to be feeling this, at least.”
My chest rose and fell with quick, shallow breaths.
I managed a nod.
He dipped his hand back into the water, swirling it around for a few beats. Without taking his eyes from mine, he applied the warm water directly with his fingertips, tapping dampness onto my thighs with a smooth, purposeful touch. “And this?”
“All of it.”
More thoughtful taps soon turned into unhurried strokes, smooth caresses that edged closer and closer to the most sensitive parts of me.
He knew precisely where to touch. Where to tease. Where to worship. Whatever time we’d lost, whatever hell his mind had endured these past weeks, he hadn’t forgotten the maps he’d made of my body.
He undid the single button of the shirt that I’d fastened, opening it to reveal my breasts.
Cupping each one in turn, he kissed and sucked the already-stiff peaks until I was writhing beneath him, growing more and more desperate for release.
I gasped in both pleasure and pain as teeth joined tongue in a wicked fight for dominance.
At the sound, he pulled his mouth away. I started to protest but quieted as he cradled my legs and sank partially back into the pool, easing me down with him, angling his face toward the pulsing ache between my thighs.
He wasted no time before claiming me with a slow, savoring lick. My head tilted back. My vision blurred. I pressed both hands against the stone, fighting for balance as my body shook.
Once some of the dizziness subsided, I tucked my head back toward my chest, watching Aleks through eyes heavy with lust.
His gaze met mine as he came up for air just long enough to say, “I’ve missed your taste.”
Another wave of dizziness. I don’t know what my response was; something unintelligible, I’m certain. Something he understood to mean don’t stop.
Please don’t stop.
His hands gripped my knees, once again shoving them farther apart.
I shifted my hands from the stone to his head, my fingers curling, clutching into the damp waves of his hair.
At first, it was for balance, but soon I was pulling him in, driving him deeper, desperate to leave no emptiness between us.
He exhaled a soft laugh, the warmth of his breath nearly sending me over the edge. “I believe you’ve gone from numb to full participant.”
I rolled my hips in answer, which earned another breathy burst of laughter.
“Good girl,” he murmured.
I turned shameless at the praise, riding his face with reckless abandon, chasing wave after wave of my building release.
He matched my eagerness without hesitation.
His tongue was merciless, yet precise. His breath was hot.
Heavy. Hungry. His fingers clenched so tightly into my thighs they were likely leaving permanent marks—and I wanted them to.
I wanted to be able to touch those marks later, to remember what he’d done to me.
To remember the way he slipped his fingers in alongside his tongue; the way he shifted so smoothly between savoring me with reverence and claiming me with savagery; and to not forget the moment I finally shattered—how I cried out, the sound echoing off the stone walls, and the way his grip grew even tighter in response, forcing me to be still while his mouth continued to work, to wring every last drop of pleasure from my body.
I was lost for some time after that moment, spinning in a sea of color and warmth that I never wanted to leave.
With powerful ease, Aleks pulled my tingling body into his arms and down into the warm water. He didn’t say anything, but soon I heard his voice in my head again, as clearly as if he’d spoken out loud: I love you.
“…I’m not imagining it, am I? I keep hearing your voice in my thoughts.”
His head tilted, curious. You hear this?
“Yes,” I breathed.
Can you feel this? he asked, sending a wave of warmth cascading through my skull, briefly re-igniting the last embers of my orgasm.
Again, I whispered, “Yes.”
He studied me for a few moments, tucking my wet hair away from my face, his fingers thoughtfully tracing my ear and then cupping my jaw. Words brushed my mind, just as tender as his touch: Keep feeling it.
I nodded. My heart was pounding. My numbness a distant memory. I was afraid of what came next, but I was alive. More alive than I’d been in weeks.
And it was worth the fear.
So I drew closer to him. I thought the same three words he’d spoken earlier, the only belief that seemed capable of anchoring us—this is real, this is real, this is real—and I pressed my lips to his again and again, until I could think of nothing else.