Chapter 23 #2
“Kiss me, cowboy.” She rolled her knees side to side as she looked at me, running her gaze over my body. The intensity in her eyes made my cock grow even harder.
I kneeled beside the bed and took a moment to study her. Blue eyes watched me with equal parts trust and desire. Her perfect breasts rose and fell with her breathing.
“What are you doing?” She giggled.
“Just checking you’re real.”
She reached for me, driving her fingers through my hair. “I’m real, babe.”
“I like it when you call me that.”
“Hmmm, then kiss me, babe.”
I leaned down and kissed her hip, then her flat belly, supporting my weight on my good arm. “What’s your hurry? I’ve been dreaming of this for a very long time.”
“Me, too.” Her fingers scraped across my scalp, sending delicious shivers down my neck. “Too long.”
I kissed down her jaw, her neck, to the hollow of her throat. Taking my time. Relearning every inch of her. When I reached her breasts, I circled one nipple with my tongue, and she arched into me with a gasp.
“Kayden ...”
“Hmmm.” I lavished attention on her breasts, switching between them, relearning what made her gasp and what made her moan. Her hands tangled in my hair, holding me close, wordlessly begging for more.
I kissed lower, across her ribs, her stomach, and the jut of her hipbones.
When I settled between her thighs, she tensed. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t you remember?” I looked up at her, making sure she could see the truth in my eyes. “I want to taste you again.”
“Oh, God,” she breathed. Closing her eyes, she lay her head back, and then she parted her legs for me.
I lowered my mouth to her.
The first taste of her made my head spin. Salt and musk and a sweetness that was uniquely Sapphire. I worked her slowly, carefully, paying attention to every hitch in her breathing, every shift of her hips. Learning what she liked now, at thirty-two, compared to what she’d liked at twenty.
Some things were the same. She still buried her hands in my hair when she was close. Still made these breathy little sounds that drove me crazy. Still tensed right before she came, every muscle going rigid.
But there were new things, too. The way she rolled her hips against my mouth, confident in asking for what she wanted. The way she whispered “oh, babe” when I found the right rhythm. The way she came apart with her back arched and her thighs trembling around my ears.
I worked her through every tremor until she pushed weakly at my shoulders.
“Too much.” She gasped. “Kayden, I can’t ...”
I kissed back up her body, taking my time, letting her come down slowly. When I reached her mouth, she kissed me hungrily, tasting herself on my lips.
“I need you inside me,” she whispered against my mouth. “Please.”
I positioned myself at her entrance, supporting my weight on my good arm. The wet bandage on my left arm pulled slightly, but I ignored it. This was more important. Way more.
“Look at me,” I said softly.
Her eyes met mine, dark and full of everything we’d both been missing.
I pushed inside slowly, watching her face. Her eyes fluttered closed, and her mouth fell open on a silent gasp. She was hot, tight, and perfect, and it took every ounce of self-control I had not to drive in hard and fast.
But I forced myself to go slow. To let her adjust. To give her time.
When I was fully seated, I paused, both of us breathing hard. She felt like home. Like every place I’d ever wanted to be.
“Okay?” I managed.
“More than okay.” She wrapped her legs around my waist, heels digging into my ass. “Move. Please move.”
So I did, starting with slow, deep strokes that had her gasping beneath me. Her hands roamed my back, my shoulders, my chest. And I couldn’t stop kissing her mouth, her jaw, her neck, and her shoulders. Like I needed to memorize the taste of her skin.
“Harder,” she breathed after a few minutes. “Kayden, please ...”
I obliged, picking up the pace, driving into her with more force. The bed creaked beneath us, and she moaned loud enough that everyone at the homestead probably heard it. But then she clenched around me, and all thoughts fled.
“God, Fire.” I buried my face in her neck, fighting to hold on. “You feel so good.”
“Don’t stop.” Her nails raked down my back. “Please, don’t stop.”
I had no intention of stopping. I shifted the angle slightly, hitting that spot inside her that made her cry out. I did it again. And again. Until she was writhing beneath me, incoherent with pleasure.
“Come for me, babe,” I said roughly. “I want to feel you come around me.”
Within seconds, she was tensing, her inner walls clenching around me. Then she came with a broken cry, gripping my waist hard.
The sensation of her orgasm triggered mine. I thrust deep one last time and came apart with her, thrusting hard until I had nothing left to give.
We stayed like that for a long moment, both of us trembling and gasping for air. My arm shook from holding myself up, and finally, I pulled out and rolled to the side, taking her with me so she ended up sprawled across my chest. Her heart raced against my ribs, matching my own thundering pulse.
“Wow,” she said.
I huffed a laugh. “Yeah. Wow.”
She traced lazy patterns on my chest, her touch gentle. “That was ...”
“Better than you remembered?”
“Different than I remembered.” She propped herself up on one elbow to look at me. “Better. More intense. But also ... I don’t know …” She circled my nipple. “It felt right. Like this was always supposed to happen.”
I tucked a strand of damp hair behind her ear. “I feel it, too, Fire.”
“I love how you call me that.” She smiled.
“It suits you.”
Her smile grew bigger, transforming her face and making her look younger, less burdened.
My stomach growled loud enough that we both laughed. “Sex makes me hungry,” I said.
“Really?” She rolled her eyes. “I remember you were always hungry.”
“Hmmm, what else do you remember?”
A cheeky smile crossed her lips as she brushed her hand over my arm. “Oh shit, Kayden. You still have that wet bandage on.”
“Hey, don’t change the subject.”
“Come on.” She slipped off the bed and walked naked to her backpack on the floor. I curled onto my side, watching her dress in shorts and a T-shirt, but wishing she wouldn’t. She strode back to me and smacked my bare butt. “Get up.”
“Bloody hell, I don’t remember you being this bossy.”
She raised her hand again.
I rolled my ass toward her. “Go on, smack me again.”
She giggled. “You’re impossible.” She strode to the table where the first aid kit was still there from last night. Was that just last night?
Reluctantly, I crawled out of bed and tugged on a pair of jeans.
“Sit,” she demanded, pulling out a chair. “Let me see.”
She carefully unwound the wet bandage. The angry red wound across my upper arm was starting to scab over, and I sucked in air as she pulled off the last bit.
“Shit. Shit. Sorry.”
I reached for her hand. “It’s okay. I’ve had worse.”
She kissed my forehead. “So you keep saying.”
As she cleaned the wound, I watched her work, enjoying the way her brow furrowed in concentration, the way she bit her lower lip, and the way she’d quickly become the most important person in my world again.
“There.” She smoothed a new bandage in place and met my gaze. “All patched up.”
“Thanks.” My stomach growled again.
“Let’s go eat before you implode.”
“I’ll need to check on Comet before we go to dinner.”
“I’ll come with you.”
We finished dressing, and it was fully dark by the time we stepped back outside. Stars blazed overhead in the clear Outback sky, so many and so bright it almost hurt to look at them.
“Wow, look at that sky. It’s so beautiful.” Sapphire tilted her head back, showing me the line of her neck.
“Not as beautiful as you.”
She lowered her gaze, and her eyes filled with sadness. “Kayden.”
I pressed my finger to her lips. “Shhh. Let’s not ruin a perfect night.”
She nodded.
But it was too late. The sadness she’d put into just saying my name had been enough.