Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Noah
You.
I let the word register. One word, three little letters that have so much power they shatter my resolve and change my world.
She wants me. I have been waiting for what feels like a lifetime for her to say those words.
I crash my mouth down on hers and devour her, taking every piece she’s willing to give me and savoring it in case she runs again or the guilt gets to us both.
It should feel wrong, but when I lift her into my arms, her slender legs wrap around my waist, and I carry her to the bed, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.
I can’t fuck this up, I can’t rush this. She’s been through enough. If this is what she needs, I’ll give it all to her. I’ll worry about my guilt tomorrow. I think I’d do just about anything to make her happy, even if it meant hurting myself in the process. She is worth it. She is worth all of it.
I place her down at the foot of the bed.
“Are you sure you want this?” I ask breathlessly.
She nods.
“I need to hear you say it, Tor.”
“Yes, I want this.”
My shoulders sag in relief, and I kiss her again.
She pulls back and places her palms on my chest, and I tense. This is where we stop; this is where this ends. She regrets it already.
“Just, please, be gentle with me,” she pleads.
My heart flutters. How could she think I’d ever hurt her?
“Darlin’, I’ll take care of you, I promise.”
I reach for the hem of my shirt, pull it up over my head, and let it fall to the floor, then slide off my boots and socks so I’m left standing in my jeans.
I take her hands and lift her arms above her head, smoothing over the curves of her body. Reaching for the hem of her dress, I pull it up over her head and toss it aside.
Her long dark hair hangs around her shoulders, and I whimper, fucking whimper when I take her in.
Standing there in a matching white lace bra and panties set, her body glows under the moonlight that streams in through the window.
She looks like an angel sent from heaven, and this moment is better than any of my dreams about her.
Her eyes focus on the dog tags that hang around my neck.
I usually take them off once I’m back from a deployment, but I was in such a hurry to get to her, I forgot.
She strokes the embossed letters that read JONES and then traces over the ink that covers my heart with her index finger, sending a shiver of desire through me, desire for this woman I have dreamed of for years.
The same words that are engraved into the necklace that hangs around her neck, the words that remind us to live, and that’s exactly what we were doing.
Memento vivere.
She takes her time, outlining every letter that brands my skin. It feels intimate and special, we aren’t rushing, just savoring every second that hopefully we have both been longing for.
“You’re so beautiful, Tor.” She chews on the inside of her cheek, and I brush the pad of my thumb across her bottom lip.
“You don’t need to be nervous, baby. I’ve got you.
” I ease her back onto the bed gently. I climb over her and lower my body in between her open legs as we melt into another kiss.
Her fingers weave into my hair, and she tugs a little harder with every stroke of our tongues.
This feels different; this feels like more.
I don’t want to rush. I’m not thinking about my next move, and I don’t want to reach the finish line.
I have never felt so deeply connected to someone.
I could stay lost in this moment with her for the rest of my days.
I roll us onto our sides, never breaking our kiss, needing to just hold her.
I’ve thought about this moment more times than I should.
What it would be like to have her as mine.
My fingers stroke through her silky hair, and I deepen the kiss, which earns me a moan from her that only amplifies my need for her.
My hands still as I think to unhook her bra, but I wait a beat, knowing the gravity of this moment. We’ll never be the same if we do this. I’m good with that, but is she? But I get my answer when she pleads with me, “Please, don’t stop. Don’t you dare stop.”
My fingers pinch the clasp of her bra, pulling the fabric away from her delicate skin, and I take a second to soak her in.
“You’re perfect,” I murmur as my eyes trail every inch of her toned body.
She reaches for the button on my jeans and begins to unfasten it.
I work with her to remove my jeans and boxers and then hook my fingers into her panties and take my time sliding them down her legs.
Every layer we remove feels monumental, like we are stripping the final parts of each other we have kept hidden for so long, and now we are bearing it all.
My gaze scans both of us, now fully naked, nothing left to hide. This is it. This is the moment that will change everything.
“Are you sure you wanna do this, darlin’?”
She nods and bites down on her lower lip. “I’ve never been surer of anything.”
I cup her face and press a light kiss to her lips. “We’ll take it slow,” and I think I say that not just for her, but for me too. I’ve never been so nervous to sleep with a woman, and I think that’s how you know they are the one. She isn’t a quick fuck to scratch an itch.
She’s Tori.
I kiss her just to make sure she is really here, and this isn’t a dream. My hands glide down her body, and I pepper kisses along her jaw, neck, and find her pulse point and suck just as the pads of my fingers find her clit.
She moans in pleasure, her breathing becoming short and choppy with every circle of my fingers.
Her legs fall open wider, and I take that as my sign to move further.
Palming her bare thighs, I push a finger inside her, and fuck, she feels like hot silk.
Her back arches off the bed, and I capture her lips with mine as she moans into them.
I quicken my pace. Her walls tighten, making my cock leak with need for her, the need to take her and claim her how I want.
Rough and messy, just like our relationship.
I groan, pressing my face into her neck as she rides my fingers, and I nearly come on the spot when she chants my name.
“Noah, oh God… Noah, more.”
I want to be inside her, but I need to make sure she’s ready.
I add a second finger, gliding them in and out of her, and rub her clit with my thumb. Her body quivers, the sound of her arousal echoing around the space, but I worry she’s holding back when she squeezes her thighs, restricting my access.
“Relax for me, baby. I’ve got you. Open up for me,” I whisper into her ear, and that’s all she needs. Her thighs hit the mattress, and I glance down where my fingers pulse in and out of her.
“Come for me, darlin’,” I coax. “ Make a mess all over my fingers.”
“Oh fuck.” She cries out, and I watch in awe as her body convulses beneath my touch, eyes fluttering closed as she bites down on her lower lip and rides the wave of her orgasm.
When it slows, I remove my fingers and look at the evidence of her pleasure, of what my touch did to her, slides down my fingers.
“Oh, baby, you did make a mess, didn’t you?”
She stares up at me, flushed cheeks, mouth open in a perfect O shape, and her thick lashes flutter in surprise. When I take my fingers that are covered in her cum into my mouth and suck.
She’s warm and sweet, and I think I could get drunk off the taste of Tori Walker.
She gasps as she watches me, and I reach for my pants and pull out my wallet, saying a silent prayer of relief that I have always carried a condom in there.
I rip open the packet with my teeth and roll the rubber over my throbbing cock, then settle between her legs, and take a moment to take her in.
My eyes graze over her body, my hands wander over the curve of her hips.
She’s here, I can see her, I can feel her, and yet somewhere in my mind, this still doesn’t feel real because she looks like a dream.
I brush my nose with hers. “You’re so fucking beautiful when you come.”
A giggle escapes her lips, and I kiss her.
I break the kiss and look at her, but her eyes remain closed.
“Tori, look at me. I wanna see those beautiful eyes when we do this.”
When they open, her hooded eyes are full of something I haven’t seen before, but I’m confident they match the look that’s in mine, that we know this changes everything. We’ll never be what we were, but maybe we’ll be something greater after.
I line up my cock against her entrance and push inside, causing us both to moan at the same time. I give her a moment to adjust to my size, and the way she clenches around me, I’m already close to the edge. But I’m nowhere near ready for this to be over.
When she places a hand to the back of my neck, pulling me closer, I brush my lips with hers, and begin moving inside her.
We fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces.
We move in tandem, our breathing erratic yet perfectly matched.
This is more than I dreamed of, and now I know what it’s like to be inside her, I selfishly want the rest of her.
I want to be the only one she wants, I want her heart to beat only for me, I want her to choose me.
I lean back on my knees, lifting her with me and settling her in my lap, wrapping my arms around her waist as I guide her up and down my cock. When she holds onto my shoulders for leverage and tilts her head back, exposing her neck and pushing her bouncing breasts towards me, I’m gone.
“Fuck, Tori,” I growl out as run my tongue along her neck and down the valley between her breasts, taking her nipple and sucking.
She whimpers and rotates her hips down on my cock, changing the angle for both of us, and my core tightens.
Her nails dig into the skin on my back, and I welcome the sting. I want her to mark me and make me hers. Our sweat-soaked skin pressed together as we both work to reach our climax. She wraps her arms tightly around my neck, pressing her forehead to mine.
“Noah, oh God, this is…”
“I know, baby, I know,” I pant, not needing her to finish. This is so much more than I could have imagined.
“Yes, yes, I’m…” she cries breathlessly as she tightens around me.
The pressure makes my balls pull, heat blazing through my thighs, and we both come together.
I capture her mouth with mine and swallow her cries.
We hold each other as we ride the wave, the moment intimate and truly perfect.
I feel everything, her, me, us. We are tethered to one another and for just one perfect moment, she feels like she’s all mine.
She shivers when I press a kiss to her shoulder, and when she buries her face into my neck, and she sags in my arms, I lie back, still inside her.
I don’t want to break the contact or the moment.
I want to stay in this bubble with her, laid inside my arms, because when we move, the reality of what we have just done will hit, and I don’t think either of us is ready for it.