Chapter 13 #2
“I like this,” she replies. “Everything you’re doing. But I want to see you. Those muscles I’ve been thinking about.” She splays her hand over my stomach. “I want to know if you have a six-pack or an eight. I want to see if you have any tattoos—”
“Two,” I tell her. Then I rock back on my heels.
In one move, I yank off my shirt and throw it aside.
As Melissa’s eyes roam across my chest, I continue, “First, I have the Blade and Arrow insignia.” Turning, I show her the tattoo of two arrows crossing over a blade on my upper back.
“And this one.” I angle my chin at Kaia’s name written in script just above my heart.
Melissa stares at Kaia’s name long enough for me to wonder if it upsets her. I’m sure it’s not what a woman wants to see when she’s about to have sex with her boyfriend—another woman’s name tattooed on his body.
But I should have known Melissa would understand.
“I never got any tattoos,” she finally says. “I thought about it. But I guess I was too much of a chicken.”
“You’re not a chicken,” I reply. Then I lean down to kiss her again. “You’re the furthest thing from it.”
Mel kisses me back. When she pulls away, she holds my gaze. “You make me feel brave.”
My heart tugs. “You make me feel brave, too.”
Her expression softens. “Tyler.”
“It’s true.” I hadn’t thought about it like that before, but it is. All the things I’ve done since meeting Melissa—sharing dinner with her in Long Lake, flying across the country to help her, opening up about my past, kissing her, dating her, and now this—happened because of her.
And that’s what gives me the courage to do the thing I’ve been dreading.
“Stay here,” I tell her. “Just give me one second.”
Then I move to the edge of the bed so I can take off my prosthetic.
And shit, am I scared. But I do it, anyway.
I do it so Mel can see. So she knows.
First, I take off my shoes and pants and set them aside. Then I release the locking mechanism and carefully pull the prosthetic off. After that, it’s the nylon sock I use to protect my skin; the last layer that covers the scars underneath.
Once I have everything off, I turn back around. Melissa is still laying there, just as I left her. When I inspect her face, searching for her reaction, there’s no sign of disappointment. No sign of sympathy or disgust. All I see is quiet acceptance.
“So,” I say, “That’s it. I have to do that every night. I don’t know if it’s—”
“It’s about time,” she interrupts. Then she sits up, grabs hold of me with her good hand, and tugs me down on top of her.
I catch myself with my other arm, so I’m braced above her. “About time for what?”
“For you to get your clothes off,” she replies with a smile. “Or at least, most of them.” Her gaze dips to my briefs. “It looks like we still have a few things to take care of.”
Intense relief floods through me.
She doesn’t care.
I didn’t think she would. But I wasn’t sure until now.
“Well,” I reply as confidence shoves aside the last of my fears. “I guess we should do something about that, shouldn’t we?”
Mel looks up at me and smiles. “I think we should.”
So we do. Or rather, I do. Because I’ve been waiting a long time to see Melissa fully naked, and I don’t want to wait another second for it.
First, I lift her hips so I can slide her panties off, then bring my mouth to the junction of her thighs so I can taste her excitement.
I lap at her slick skin, using my tongue and fingers to build her arousal.
I work at her sensitive bud until her thighs are quivering and her fingers are clutching the sheets.
Then I take her bra off, revealing those luscious nipples in all their glory. They’re a rosy pink, just perfect to fit in my mouth, and possibly the prettiest things I’ve ever seen.
Once I have Mel laid out, naked before me, I just take a second to look at her, memorizing everything.
The sexy curve of her hips.
The little triangle of freckles just above her right hip.
Her plump breasts, faintly marked by my kisses and flushed with arousal.
The obvious desire in her gaze, dilating her pupils until her eyes are nearly black with just a thin ring of blue.
“Do I look okay?” she asks. Her cheeks flush that sweet shade of pink again. Seeing her blush brings out the fierce protector inside me, determined not to allow Mel one moment of discomfort.
“You look amazing,” I reply. Then I slide out of my briefs and move back over her. “I can’t believe how beautiful you are, Mel. That’s why I keep looking at you.”
“Tyler.”
“You are,” I insist. “But.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “But?”
“But now I want to do something other than look at you.”
“Oh?” Her lips twitch up. “Like?”
I lean over her to grab the handle of the nightstand drawer.
Inside, I catch the strip of condoms I put inside the other day, just in case.
Pulling them out, I hold them up for display before tearing one of the packages off and opening it.
“They’re new,” I explain. “I got them last week when I went into Williston. Not that I was expecting anything. But just in case.”
Mel takes the condom from me and puts it on, rolling it carefully from root to tip. “Better to be prepared, right?”
I smile at her. “That’s what I thought.”
Reaching between us, I sink one finger back inside her, then a second. She’s still tight, but not as much as before. As I start pumping my fingers inside her again, her inner walls squeeze at me. The tiny muscles tremble.
“Tyler,” Mel moans. “That feels… Oh.”
Her legs fall open.
Her eyelids drop to half-mast.
As I move my fingers in and out of her slick heat, faster and faster, I can feel Mel’s body coming close to the edge. Her stomach muscles are taut. The tendons in her neck are pulled tight. Her breaths are coming fast and uneven.
Finding that sensitive bud again, I rub it gently, then flick it hard. I work at the little nub while thrusting my fingers into her, faster and faster.
My body is aching, begging to be inside her, but Mel is far more important than my own needs. I want this to be good for her. I want to make sure I don’t cause her any pain. And if she decides this is all she wants for now, that’s okay.
Concentrating on Melissa’s needs, her desire, I watch her face as I bring her closer to the edge. Her expression is one of sheer pleasure. In her eyes is pure bliss.
And then, with one final curve of my fingers, she comes. And I think it just might be the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen.
As the aftershocks are still rippling through her body, she guides me between her legs and notches me at her center. Her eyes seek out mine, still dark with desire. “Now it’s your turn,” she says.
“We don’t have to,” I reply. “If you want to stop now, that’s okay. I don’t expect—”
Melissa lifts her hips, taking me partly inside her. “I don’t want to stop.” Then she wraps her legs around my waist, taking me further. “What you did was incredible. It felt…” She bites her lip. “It was magic, Tyler. But now… I want to feel you come apart just like I did.”
Well. When she puts it that way, I’m not about to argue.
Instead, I let myself sink the rest of the way into her.
And oh, how it feels.
It doesn’t just feel amazing. It feels like coming home.
“Mel,” I breathe. “You feel… Shit. I don’t have the words.”
The emotion in her eyes makes my heart tug again. “I know,” she replies. “I know.”
Then her hands come to my ass, and she lets out a light laugh.
“What?” I ask.
“I’ve thought about doing this,” she answers. “Seeing you in those mesh pants you work out in…”
I pull slightly out of Mel, then sink back in. “What about my workout pants?”
“They’re really sexy. The way they cling to your butt and all. They make me think about all the things I want to do to you.”
“Oh?” My voice dips. “What sort of things were you thinking about?”
“Not just things I want to do to you,” Mel explains. “But things I’ve imagined you doing to me, too.”
My dick twitches inside her. “Like what?”
Mel stares at me for a second. “Making you come with my mouth. And you doing the same. Having you restrain me. And maybe…” She blushes. “I could try doing it to you, too.”
Ah, shit.
My plan was to last until Mel comes again. But now, with her fantasies fresh in my mind, I’m not sure.
No. I will. And then…
“We’ll do all of it,” I tell her. “Anything you want to try, we’ll do it.”