Chapter 20 #3
She laughed, but it turned into a gasp when I kissed the inside of her thigh.
My hands held her open with care. My mouth found her. She jerked at the first touch, fingers diving into my hair.
“Sal.”
“Tell me.”
“Just like that.”
So I did.
My tongue worked over her while two fingers pressed slowly inside her. I moved only when she moved. I listened to every change in her breathing. When she tightened, I slowed. When she pulled me closer, I gave her more.
“That,” she whispered. “More. Please.”
“Yes.”
Her hips rose from the bed. I held her through it, one arm across her waist, mouth never leaving her until she came with a broken cry and my name in it.
I stayed close while she shook.
I did not ask for anything.
I only kissed her stomach. Her hip. The trembling inside of her thigh.
When her breathing steadied, she reached down and caught my face.
“Come here.”
I went.
She pulled me over her. Her hand found me between us.
“I want you inside me.”
She straddled my hips before I could move. Her hand guided me to her entrance. Then she lowered herself inch by inch.
We both stopped breathing.
When she was fully seated, Yelena spread her ringed hand against my chest.
The sapphire flashed pale blue between us.
She looked down at me. Mine to love, I thought.
Yelena moved slowly.
Her hands rested on my chest. Her hair fell forward around her face. Every time she lifted herself and came down again, my breath left me in a different shape.
I held her waist.
“Is this good?” she asked.
“Lena.” My fingers tightened at her hips. “You are making it difficult to speak.”
“Good.”
She moved again.
I watched the sapphire rise and fall against my chest. Watched her mouth part. Watched the tension begin to gather between her brows as pleasure sharpened.
My hands moved everywhere I could reach. Her breasts, soft and sensitive beneath my palms. Her waist. Her thighs. The place where we joined.
She made a small sound when my thumb found her clit.
“That?” I asked.
“Yes, Daddy, fuck, Daddy!”
I gave her more, but I did not take the rhythm from her. She decided how fast we moved. She decided how deep. I followed her body like I had spent my whole life learning its language.
Her control lasted a short while, then her movements began to falter.
She leaned forward, palms braced beside my shoulders. Her breath came in short, uneven pulls against my mouth.
I kissed her ,then rolled us carefully, making sure to keep the connection between us. I kept one arm around her. Kept my body close. When her back met the mattress, I threaded my fingers through hers and lifted our joined hands above her head.
Not pinning her.
Holding her.
I began to move. Slowly first.
Each thrust reached deeper, and I watched her face, watched how her eyes closed, how she lost herself in pleasure. I felt the changes in her body around me. When she tensed, I paused. When she pulled at our joined hands, I kissed her and gave her what she asked for.
My free hand found her between us.
She gasped.
“There,” she said.
I touched her exactly there. My thumb circled. My hips moved in a steady rhythm beneath her. Her fingers clutched mine hard enough that the sapphire pressed into my skin.
“Please. Don’t stop.”
“I’ll never fucking stop.”
Her head turned into the pillow. My mouth found her throat. I kissed the pulse there as her body tightened beneath mine.
“Come for me, Lena.”
Her eyes flew open.
“Yes,” she breathed.
Then she did.
Her body clenched around me. Her cry broke across my name. I held her through every tremor, forehead pressed to hers, our hands locked together above her head.
She was shaking.
I wanted to stay there forever.
But she looked at me through wet lashes and pulled me down for a kiss.
“Come with me,” she whispered.
That was all it took.
The last of my restraint went with a sound I did not recognize as my own. I buried my face against her neck and came hard, my whole body breaking open around her.
Yelena held me.
For a while, there was only breathing.
Then I moved carefully. Cleaned her gently. Brought water from the bathroom. Made sure she drank before I drank myself.
She watched me over the rim of the glass.
“You are still bossy after sex,”she said.
“It’s the best time to be bossy,” I replied. “So long as I’ve done a good job, you’re always ok with it.”
She handed me the glass. I set it aside, then gathered her beneath the sheet.
No alarms.
No phones.
No men waiting outside a door.
Only the lake beyond the window. The warmth of her body against mine. The ringed hand resting on my chest.
After several minutes, Yelena reached toward the nightstand.
“The notebook.”
I gave it to her.
She opened it on her stomach. The pen shook slightly in her fingers as she wrote.
I want every morning with you.
My chest tightened.
“We can do it,” I said. “We can give it to each other.”
“Every morning,” she said, “we will choose each other.”
I found her lips and she sighed. The kiss continued, even after we’d moved apart, our love for each other tenderly holding us together for the rest of our lives.