Chapter 15 #2
Excitement bloomed inside me. Although I had picked up a puzzle, and Taj had made up a ticket for us to build one together, I refrained from telling him that it wasn’t the first thing I wanted to do. I’d made my own ticket, and I thought he’d like what was on that one much, much more.
Grinning, I dipped my chin. “A puzzle. Please?”
Taj touched his lips to mine in a chaste kiss. “Anything you want, baby. Buckle up.”
I buckled up. Then Taj took us back to my place.
As soon as we stepped inside, locked the door, pulled off our coats, and slipped off our shoes, I took him by the wrist and dragged him through the space to the bedroom. “The ticket is in here.”
“You don’t have to give it to me now. We can just get the puzzle and get started.”
I yanked open the drawer on the nightstand and said, “It’s okay. I’ve got it right here.” Pulling out the ticket I’d made to look just like his, I returned to where he was standing just inside the bedroom door and held it out to him.
He took it from me and put it in his pocket. “Alright. Are you ready?”
“You didn’t even look at it.”
“Do I need to?”
Offering a seductive smile, my voice dropped an octave. “You should.”
His posture was stiff, like he was holding still with hope as thoughts of why I suddenly sounded the way I did moved through him.
I could barely hear over the sound of my own heart beating like a drum.
Taj kept his eyes focused on me, something firm and intense in that eye contact, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ticket. He looked down and grew impossibly still. His knuckles had turned white from how tightly he was gripping that ticket.
Eventually, Taj lifted his chin and met my stare. “This isn’t one of my tickets.”
Tucking my chin toward my chest, I smiled. “I hope you don’t mind that I made one of my own.”
“You… Are you sure you want this?”
Without hesitation, I answered, “Yes.”
He swallowed roughly and whispered, “Olivia.”
“Please,” I begged.
I barely got the word out before the ticket went fluttering to the ground as Taj wrapped one arm around me, his other hand driving into my hair, and captured my mouth with his.
The lingering chill from being out in the cold vanished as warmth flooded my body. My stomach fluttered as my heart pounded. We were still fully clothed, but my body was tingling all over.
Taj’s tongue swept into my mouth, tangling with mine. I'd lost track of how many times we'd done this, how many times our lips brushed and tongues tasted, but every time it happened, it always got better.
Maybe it was because of the deepening feelings I had for him. Maybe it was that I hadn't ever felt for anyone what I felt for him. I’d been engaged to be married and hadn’t felt this way for my fiancé.
Taj had always left me feeling so at ease. He’d evoked such yearning and desire without needing to demand it. Perhaps that was why it had been so easy for me to fall for him.
Still holding on to me, Taj twisted his body and fell onto his back in the bed. My thighs straddled his hips, and his hand drifted down over my ass, squeezing.
A moan crawled up my throat, forcing me to tear my mouth from his. Breathless, panting, and feeling him hard beneath me, I rolled my hips over his length. Taj rewarded me with a groan and flipped me onto my back.
I melted beneath the weight of his body, loving the feel of having him over me. It was too much and not enough all at the same time.
Wanting more, needing to feel his warm skin, I clawed at his shirt. Taj lifted, tore off his clothes until he was standing in front of me with just his jeans. My mouth watered at the sight of him.
“You look even better than I imagined,” I breathed.
A cocky grin spread across his face. “You envisioned me naked?”
“Once or twice,” I confessed. It was more than that, but I saw no point in lying completely about it.
He chuckled, lowered himself over me again, and kissed my neck. “I’ve thought about you naked more times than I can count.”
A shiver ran along my spine, and my hands drove into his hair. “What was I doing when you imagined that?”
Taj’s hand drifted up my side. “You were letting me worship every inch of you.”
God, I wanted that. “And was it fun?
“Not as fun as I suspect the real thing will be.”
“Maybe we should find out.”
Taj’s lips curved into a smile. Then he got to work. Layer by layer, he removed my clothes. And every time another article was gone, he took the time to appreciate me with either gentle swipes of his fingertips or tender brushes of his lips.
When he’d stripped me down to nothing, he stood staring at me, his chest rising and falling with deep breaths. “You’re exquisite, Olivia.”
He seemed to be in no hurry while I was fighting a losing battle between wanting to savor this moment and feeling wildly impatient.
My nipples pebbled under the intense scrutiny of his gaze as a shot of desire went right between my legs. “Taj, please,” I begged.
His hands went to the fly of his jeans, and before I knew it, I wasn’t the only one who was naked. Then we were on the bed, his warm strong body wrapped around mine.
We became a mess of hands and lips and teeth and tongues.
We were desperation and want and need and desire.
He kissed my mouth, sucked on my breasts, and teased me between my legs using his fingers.
With every kiss of his lips or touch of his fingers, I shuddered and moaned. I kissed him back, gripped his hair, and begged him for more.
My body ached for this man. He’d already given me so much, and I needed more. I wanted all of him. Not just his fingers between my thighs.
“Baby,” he breathed as I rode his fingers with wild abandon.
“Please,” I whimpered.
Taj pulled his fingers from my body, rolled on a condom with expert-like swiftness, and settled himself over me. His tip pressed against me, and I held my breath as I waited. My fingernails dug into his shoulders as I tilted my hips slightly.
That was all it took. A moment later, Taj pushed inside.
The sound that came out of me was not of this world. Taj dropped his head and inhaled deeply, his body remaining still. When he pulled back to look at me, he rasped, “The real thing is so much better.”
I smiled just before he started to move. Then, my lips parted as Taj thrust his hips. He went slowly at first, giving us both the opportunity to savor every inch. But eventually, the tingling, pleasure, and weeks of sexual longing took hold.
We both became a frenzied mess of entwined limbs. Touching. Tasting. Burning with want.
Never.
Not once in my whole life had I ever wanted to explore and enjoy anyone like I did Taj. My hands ached with the need to touch him. To please him.
Thrust after thrust, he powered into me. And each stroke, every whiff of his scent, took me higher and higher.
Until I was there, on the edge, about to tumble over that cliff. “Taj,” I whispered my warning, throbbing between my legs.
“Fuck, Olivia. Say it again,” he demanded. “Say my name again.”
“Taj.”
I couldn’t say any more than that because it happened. Like a bullet, it ripped through me, leaving my body a quivering and satisfied mass of heated flesh.
Only after he’d seen me through to the other side did Taj find his own release. Then he collapsed on top of me before rolling onto his back and taking me with him.
And as I worked to regain control of my breath, my cheek pressed against his chest, it hit me. I’d only been here for just over a month, had only known Taj that long, and he felt precisely like what I’d been missing and needed all my life.