Chapter 23
“Rhode,” I gasped.
“Give it.”
The vibration of his growl against my clit shot through me and my head fell forward.
Rhode was on his back on the bed in the guest bedroom, my knees on the mattress on either side of his head, my hands on the headboard, and he was eating me.
I knew what he wanted me to give. I just didn’t want to.
“More,” I begged.
His hands on the back of my thighs tightened and he pulled me down, spearing me with his tongue.
No. I had no choice to give him what he wanted.
He was taking it and I couldn’t stop the rush of pleasure as my climax washed over me.
I tried to pull up but Rhode was of a different mind and held me where he wanted.
He stopped fucking me with his tongue and I breathed a sigh of relief.
But that was short-lived when his teeth grazed my sensitive clit right before he drew it in his mouth and sucked.
“Too much.”
He sucked harder.
“Rhode.”
His mouth released and I groaned at the reprieve.
“Don’t move.”
I didn’t move but I shivered at the sex-induced rumble of his voice.
I felt him slide out from underneath me, then I felt a hand on my back glide up my spine gathering my hair as it went.
There was more movement behind me, none of which was worth my attention now that Rhode had a fistful of my hair, using it to turn my head.
With his big, powerful frame curled over me, his mouth crashed onto mine.
But instead of the kiss being wild it was slow.
It was also the first time he’d kissed me on the lips since he pulled me into the room, ordered me to take off my clothes, and pulled his off.
Oh, he’d kissed me other places. My neck, shoulders, chest, breasts, stomach, thighs.
And that was before he’d put me on my knees and kissed me between my legs, though that had quickly turned into other things that required the use of his tongue and lips but it couldn’t be described as kissing.
He devoured me; he liked what he was doing and it showed by ending spectacularly.
Rhode was good with his mouth; wherever he used it he excelled.
But his slow, drugging, languid kisses were my favorite.
With every stroke of his tongue he tasted, he savored, he controlled and cherished.
I was so lost in the kiss I jolted when I felt the broad head of his dick slip inside me.
Slow, so slow like he had all the time in the world and he was determined to use it. He pushed in.
Inch by inch.
God.
Lazy. Gentle. Unhurried.
That was what Rhode was giving me with his mouth and his cock. After our fevered start, he was giving me this. Sweet. Achingly sweet. Beautiful. So damn beautiful my heart swelled.
My whole body quivered as he sank all the way inside. Fully connected. His chest pressed to my back, our mouths fused, his cock deep.
Slow ins and outs, his tongue matched the pace, driving me crazy for more. This lasted until I groaned and Rhode’s hand went from my hip around to my stomach before he dipped lower and cupped my sex.
The kiss broke but not our connection. Rhode stayed bent, his face in my neck, his breath gliding over my heated skin when he said, “Fuck, you feel good.”
“I was thinking the same about you.”
His hand between my legs started moving and I knew he was feeling himself as he glided out of me.
“Feels like a lifetime,” he whispered. “Dreamed of this, wanted it so fucking bad and I could never figure out why. Now I remember.”
“What do you remember?” I moaned.
“Never forgot the feel of you wrapped around me. Never forgot what you tasted like. Never forgot the look on your face when I was giving you something you liked. Never forgot your beautiful eyes or your body. I wanted all of that back, I wanted you back.” Rhode slid out and I pushed back, wanting more.
“But I forgot why. Forgot the way you make me feel.”
I wanted to know how I made him feel but my body’s need won out when he drove in hard and my pussy spasmed.
“Tip your ass up, Sugar.”
I tipped and his fingers worked their way up to my clit. With no warning, no gentle lead-in, Rhode went to work—hard and fast he rubbed, slow and deep he stroked his cock through my wet until I was panting on the edge of orgasm.
“Christ, that pussy,” he groaned, bringing me closer.
“Harder.”
“Wanna watch you when you come, Sugar.”
“Okay.”
He could watch all he wanted if he didn’t stop.
But he did stop. He pulled out, I lost his hand, then his warmth when he straightened, then all of him when he moved to the bed beside me.
He patted my hip and ordered, “Get on.”
Though Rhode’s directions were clear he didn’t wait for me to comply; his hands went to my hips and he lifted me up and shifted his body under mine.
I would’ve been impressed he could pull that off if he hadn’t continued to prove he had some seriously good moves and perfect aim when he slammed me down on his cock.
“Jesus,” he gritted out.
I on the other hand couldn’t speak because I was breathless. I couldn’t even groan as all the air left my lungs and the orgasm I thought I’d lost sparked back to life.
“Ride, baby.”
I could do that so I rocked forward and ground down, but that was as far as I got before Rhode’s hand between my shoulder blades kept me still and his head lifted off the pillow and his tongue circled one nipple before it moved to the other.
With a minimum amount of space to move since he was holding me where he wanted me, I lifted up the few inches I could and slid back down.
“More’a that, Sugar. If you need your hand, use it.”
“I don’t,” I mewed, telling the truth.
I was so close, a few more strokes and I’d be done.
“Eyes on me when you come.”
I lowered my gaze. His dark brown eyes tipped up, I watched him draw my nipple into his mouth, and I couldn’t hold back.
I’d waited five long years to have him. I’d known from the start who Rhode was.
Not his name, not what he did for a living, not where he lived, but I knew he was meant to be mine.
I knew I was born to be his. I was so certain I ran scared so I wouldn’t know the pain of losing him.
Which meant I lost him. It made no sense. I let my fear blind me.
But not this time.
This time, I was holding on.
I wasn’t going to ever let go.
With my thighs as tight as I could get them against his hips and my hands on his chest for leverage, I let go. No thoughts, no worries. Just me and him and everything he was making me feel. It was better than perfect. Better than my dream. Way better than my memories.
“Come with me, Brooklyn,” he grunted and thrust up.
Try as I might to focus, he was hazy. Try as I might to concentrate on how he looked as his cock pulsed inside of me, I couldn’t.
I was a ball of nerves and they were unraveling, every part of me sensitized.
And when it finally broke, my muscles seized, my back arched, and my mouth opened in a silent scream.
Pleasure was still rippling through me when Rhode flipped us over, his mouth came down on mine, and I moaned my orgasm down his throat.
This was good, because he repaid the favor and he tasted phenomenal.
But I’d bet mine was better.
It must have been minutes later when Rhode broke the kiss and my eyes opened. It took a few moments before my vision cleared. And when it did I found Rhode smiling down at me.
“God, you’re handsome.”
His smile widened and I didn’t give one single shit I’d blurted that out. Hell, if he smiled at me like that every time I said that I’d tell him fifty times a day.
“Ocean blue,” he whispered and my body locked.
He’d said that before.
Right before I walked out the hotel room door.
“What?” I wheezed.
“Never seen more beautiful eyes. The color of the ocean—clear, blue, warm, and welcoming. They haunted my dreams,” Rhode finished on a whisper.
Like it was a confession.
And I didn’t understand.
“What’d you mean when you said you forgot the way I made you feel?”
“All these years I was thinking about you and how good you felt in my arms and I didn’t remember why it felt so good. How I felt when I was holding you.”
“How did you feel?”
“Invincible. At peace. Home. Like I was where I was supposed to be. Like I was yours.”
I sucked in a breath and I watched his eyes warm.
“As smart as I think I am I can be pretty damn stupid. I just didn’t understand what I was feeling until I watched you walk away and I knew it was wrong.
Everything about letting you leave was all kinds of dumb.
I regretted closing the door. I regretted getting dressed that morning and leaving the hotel.
I need you to get that. This is about Remington but it’s also not.
I had feelings for you first. I started falling in love with you without knowing I was doing it.
I regretted you walking away long before I knew about Remy.
And when I saw you again, I made the decision not to let you go and that was before I knew about him.
He’s not the reason I’m staying, he’s the icing.
” Rhode stopped. With his forehead scrunched and his brows pulled tight he said, “Though that’s the last we talk about my boy while I’m still hard inside of you. ”
Rhode looked positively horrified and there was something so cute, so funny seeing his forehead furrowed that way I couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up. I also couldn’t stop all the hope I’d kept bottled up from bursting free.
I was so right.
“Now before I get up so can I toss this condom and get you cleaned up I wanna hear about your new tats. I saw them earlier but I was too distracted to ask what they meant.”
He hadn’t been too distracted to trace them with his tongue.
“The orchids are for you—rare beauty and strength.” Rhode’s body went solid above me and I quickly rushed out, “The ancient Greeks believe orchids are a sign of virility and masculinity.”
“And the red tulip?” he asked, his voice unusually gruff.
“It’s for Remington. It means perfect love.”
“And the numbers? One-one-zero.” Still his voice was a little hoarse with a sharp edge to it and I was worried he thought it was weird I’d tattooed flowers along my ribs in almost the same spot he had. Only, mine curled around to my back whereas his slanted to the front and ended on his chest.
“Room one-ten,” I whispered.
And if it was possible, Rhode stiffened more and I felt the muscles under my palms twitch right before he dropped his head and muttered, “Fuck.”
There was a beat of silence then, “Fucking Goddammit. Fucked up so bad letting you walk away. Five fucking years we lost because I was too goddamn weak to ask you to stay. Too fucking scared at the enormity of what I was feeling. All this time, so close. Total fucking waste.”
“Maybe we needed—”
Rhode’s head shot up. Fire was dancing behind his brown eyes, his big body still hard and pinning me to the bed. What came next burned my soul.
“Don’t, Sugar. It was a fucking waste and you know it.
You admitted it, you knew. You felt it same as me.
You told me you were in deep and asked me to have a mind to that.
And that started five fucking years ago and not a day since then has that feeling gone away.
Not for you, not for me. I told you; I see you in my dreams, those blue eyes haunting me, begging me not to let you leave. We could’ve—”
“Stop, honey. You’re right; it was a waste.
But you know what would be a bigger waste?
No, not a waste, a travesty. If we let those five years eat at us.
Look where we are, Rhode. We’re here, together.
We’re not wasting any more time. As a matter of fact, we’re on the super-speed-highway.
Stay on that path with me. The rest of the years, we can’t get them back.
They’re gone but look what’s in front of us.
” I stopped to draw in a breath and with it the courage to finish.
“I want this, Rhode. I’ve waited so long for you, honey.
So, so long. Please give this to me. Please don’t look back with guilt and regret.
That night, for six hours in that room I had you, all of you.
You teased me, you laughed with me, you made me feel more beautiful than I’d ever felt. ”
“Jesus.”
I was looking up at him while he was looking down at me and there was still fire burning in his eyes, only now it held more warmth than I’d ever seen.
Then I lost sight of his beautiful eyes.
But I wasn’t complaining at the loss because what I gained was his lips on mine.
He gave me more when he whispered “mine” right before he kissed me.
That sent a thrill racing over me.
I was his.