Chapter 11
BEAU
I shoulder the bedroom door closed with Coco in my arms, still laughing from the sprint up the porch. I place her on the edge of the bed, flushed, eyes shining, hair wild with a few silver sparkles. I hook a strand with my finger.
“Still sparkling,” I murmur. She smiles, stealing the ground from under my boots.
Clothes come off without ceremony, just quick work from eager hands. Her sweater slides overhead, her jeans down silken thighs. She giggles when my fingers fiddle too long with her bra clasp. But everything pays off when she lets out a soft gasp when my lips find the curve of her neck.
The lamplight turns her skin the color of summer and I have to press my palm to the mattress to steady the rush of emotion flooding my chest.
I kiss the places that learned to trust me today: the tense line of her shoulders, the hollow of her throat where her pulse is quick as a drum, the scarred map running the length of her thigh and calf that causes something fierce and protective to rise up in me.
She threads her fingers into my hair and breathes my name like a whispered plea.
The bed sighs as I cage her with my body. Her hands skate along my back, and every arena, every bright light, every crowd roar, pales in comparison to her.
I find her mouth again, and she opens for me as if we’ve been practicing for this all our lives. She arches into me, deepening the kiss. My body roars and pulses until we’re both gasping, clinging to each other.
I pause to read her expression, making sure she’s okay.
Her palm slides to my jaw, her thumb brushes my lower lip.
She nods as if she reads my thoughts. Her foot slides up my calf until her knee rests on my hip, opening herself to me.
And I make a solemn, silent vow to love and protect this woman for the rest of my life.
She reaches between our bodies and holds the weight of my throbbing cock in her palm. I groan into her mouth and feel her smile on my lips. She guides me to her center where she’s hot, slick, and damp.
I sink into her, testing and stretching.
The first thrust is sheer heat as she welcomes my solid length.
A low sound I hardly recognize slips from my throat.
She shivers as I breathe her name in whispers.
Her breath catches as I tilt into her with long, even strokes.
I change the angle and her knees tip into me, edging me closer, deeper like a gatekeeper opening the doors of heaven.
I keep one hand tangled with hers, our fingers threaded in an unbreakable bond. The other finds her hip, learning her curves by heart. I set a slow rhythm and stay with her until her body answers mine—hips rising, a broken murmur on her lips.
When her breath stutters, I slow, then thrust again, patient yet greedy.
She arches into me, her cry desperate as her nails scrape my ass, urging me to thrust deeper, harder.
I give her everything I’ve got, willing myself to hold onto the thread of restraint that keeps me from tipping over the edge before her.
She comes hard, her body pulsing around my cock, her pleasure rippling through my body.
Her brow slicks with sweat as her body trembles.
Her lips part as if she’ll scream, but the tremors steal her breath.
I follow after, my body shuddering as a flood of warmth flows between us.
My arms shake, my head buzzes, and my heart thunders as I collapse against her.
We lie tangled, panting like we’ve run a marathon. I’m not a prayin’ man, but I send something out into the quiet—a promise to do right by the gift I’ve been given.
I roll to my side and pull her with me; my hand stretches over the small of her back. Her leg hooks around mine, like a cat finding a warm patch of sun. I kiss her temple and memorize the rise and fall of her breath, the contour of her body.
Her fingers trace idle circles on my chest. The heat hasn’t gone so much as it’s simmering, banked like fire waiting to be stoked. When she shifts, my cock yawns and stretches. But I wait, letting the moment teach me how to be quiet with what I want most—her.
She snuggles closer, tired and satisfied, her breaths becoming deeper, softer as she drifts to sleep. A single filament of tinsel tangles in my fingers as I stroke her hair. I grin in the dark as I pull the silver thread free.
Everything about this woman sparkles like pure magic.