Let Go
The room had gone quiet enough for Natalie to hear the stove ticking as it heated.
Eli released her wrist.
She wrapped the gauze around his hand, keeping the pressure firm and even. Her fingers no longer shook.
His arousal remained obvious beneath his jeans.
He watched her as though he knew exactly how much courage she had taken from it.
Neither mentioned it.
Natalie secured the wrap.
“You should eat.”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Earlier.”
His gaze moved over her face.
“You’ve recovered.”
“Yes.”
“No dizziness?”
“No.”
“Breathing?”
“Normal.”
“Any worsening pain from the seat belt?”
“No.”
He was assessing her again.
Natalie set his hand on his thigh.
“You don’t get to turn this back on me.”
“I’m making sure you’re all right.”
“I am.”
“Good.”
Eli stood.
The movement brought him close enough that the front of his body nearly touched hers. Natalie had to lift her chin to keep looking at him.
He reached for a dry shirt draped over the back of the couch.
She caught his uninjured hand.
Eli stopped.
Her pulse leaped, but she didn’t release him.
“You’re pretending nothing is happening.”
His expression remained still.
“I’m trying not to make something happen.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“I know you rescued me.”
“You’re here because the roads are closed.”
“I didn’t ask why I’m here.”
His jaw tightened.
Natalie felt the first tremor in her courage. She held on to his hand.
“Tell me.”
“You had a panic attack in a wrecked car six hours ago.”
“I am aware.”
“You’re exhausted and away from home. I’m responsible for your safety until you can leave.”
“That doesn’t make me incapable of knowing what I want.”
“No.”
“Then stop treating me like it does.”
His eyes met hers.
“I’m treating you like someone I won’t take advantage of.”
“You haven’t.”
“I haven’t touched you because I wanted to.”
The admission struck low in her body.
Natalie stepped closer.
“Did you want to?”
Eli said nothing.
She glanced deliberately toward the evidence still straining his jeans.
“You’re not hiding it very well.”
His breath changed.
“No.”
That single word gave her more confidence than denial could have.
Natalie put her hand against his bare chest.
His skin was hot now, the muscles beneath it rigid.
“I’m not panicking.”
“No.”
“I’m not confused.”
“No.”
Eli’s gaze dropped to her mouth.
“Natalie.”
“I want you.”
“You’ve known me six hours.”
“I knew I wanted you before I knew where you slept.”
“That doesn’t make this wise.”
Despite his words, his hand came to her waist. The grip was firm enough to pull a breath from her, but he didn’t bring her closer. His slow loss of control made her feel more empowered.
“What are you asking?”
She understood what he needed. Not implication. Not flirtation he could dismiss as adrenaline.
“You.”
His thumb pressed into the curve above her hip.
“Say the rest.”
Natalie’s heart hammered, but this time she knew why.
“I want you to touch me because you want to. Not because I’m cold or hurt. I want you to stop standing three inches away and pretending you don’t.”
For one suspended moment Eli remained still.
Then he released her.
The loss of contact stunned her.
He stepped back.
Natalie stared at him.
His face had closed again, but the effort showed now. In the tightness around his mouth. In his hands opening and closing at his sides.
“Do you want me to leave you alone?” she asked.
“No.”
“Do you want me?”
“Yes.”
The word came without hesitation.
Her fear of rejection dissolved.
“Then why are you pulling me away?”
“Because wanting you doesn’t make this right.”
Natalie crossed the distance between them.
She slid her hands over his chest, felt his muscles tense, and rose onto her toes.
Eli did not bend.
She kissed the corner of his mouth.
His fingers closed around her hips.
Natalie kissed him again, fully this time.
For a second his lips remained still beneath hers.
Then he kissed her back.
The restraint in him did not disappear. It fractured.
His mouth opened over hers, deep and controlled at first, then harder when she pressed against him. One hand spread across her lower back. The other slid into her hair, holding her head at the angle he wanted.
The force of his desire made her knees weaken.
Eli felt it.
He broke the kiss and held her upright.
“You’re unsteady.”
“You’re doing that.”
His forehead rested against hers.
“Tell me to stop.”
“No.”
“Tell me now.”
“I don’t want you to stop.”
His eyes searched hers.
Natalie touched the line beside his mouth. She’d never felt so confident, so in control. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Let go, Eli.” She pressed her upper thigh against his erection. His body jolted slightly. His grip tightened.
She kissed him and this time she took control of it.
She pushed the dry shirt from his hand and moved her mouth down his jaw to his throat. His pulse beat hard beneath her lips.
Eli made a low sound that seemed dragged from him.
Natalie’s courage expanded.
All day he had known what her body was doing before she did. Now she could feel what his refused to conceal.
She kissed his chest, following the dark hair downward.
His hand closed around the back of her neck.
“Natalie.”
She sank to her knees between his boots.
The look on his face nearly stopped her heart.
He was no longer the calm man beside the wrecked car. His eyes were full of need, his mouth parted, every muscle in his body held under visible strain.
Natalie ran her hands along his thighs.
The denim beneath her palms was rough and damp.
“You don’t have to prove anything,” he said.
She held his gaze and undid his belt.
His hand gripped her hair, then released.
Natalie lowered the zipper and freed him from his jeans.
He was thick and fully hard. The sight of him sent a sharp ache through her.
Eli drew in a breath when she wrapped her hand around him.
“Still think this is gratitude?”
His eyes closed briefly.
“No.”
She stroked him once, feeling the weight and heat of him.
He gripped the edge of the table.
The bandage she had placed around his knuckles made the surrender more visible. This man, who had controlled every moment since finding her, now held himself still. She was the one on her knees, but he was the one at her mercy. The feeling made her dizzy with desire.
Natalie leaned forward and took him into her mouth.
His breath broke.
She tasted him, slippery and full of heat. Her hand moved with her lips, slow at first, then deeper when his hips shifted involuntarily toward her.
Eli’s uninjured hand gripped her hair and held her.
“Natalie.”
She looked up at him.
The rawness in his face sent desire through her so intensely that she had to press her thighs together.
“Come here.”
She drew back.
Eli pulled her to her feet and kissed her hard enough to make her forget the room.
His hands slid beneath the thermal shirt. He found bare skin and moved upward along her back.
Natalie lifted her arms.
He stripped the shirt over her head.
Cold air touched her breasts for only a moment before his palms covered them.
His touch was different now.
Still skilled. Still attentive. Nothing clinical remained.
He held her breasts in his hands, thumbs brushing across her nipples until they tightened. His mouth followed, closing around one.
Natalie gripped his shoulders.
Pleasure moved through her in a slow, deep pull.
He switched to the other breast, then kissed the bruised line above it with a tenderness that hurt more than the injury.
“Tell me if anything hurts.”
“It doesn’t.”
“I mean it.”
His fingers hooked into the waistband of the sweatpants.
He looked up at her.
Natalie nodded.
Eli pushed the pants and her underwear down together. She stepped out of them, standing naked between his knees while he remained seated.
His gaze moved over her without apology.
Natalie had never felt so exposed.
She had also never felt so deliberately seen.
Eli ran both hands from her ankles to her thighs, rough palms tracing upward. When he reached the inside of her legs, he pressed them apart.
His thumb touched her.
Natalie gasped.
“You’re wet.”
The blunt observation made her flush.
“You knew I wanted you.”
His thumb moved again, spreading the moisture across her.
“This tells me something else.”
She braced one hand on his shoulder.
Eli watched her face as he found the sensitive point above her entrance. He circled it slowly, using no more pressure than necessary.
Natalie’s hips shifted toward him.
“More.”
He obeyed.
The pleasure intensified. Her fingers dug into his shoulder.
Eli inserted one finger into her, then a second when her body opened.
Natalie bent over him, forehead against his.
“Still want me to stop holding back?” he asked.
“Yes.”
His fingers curved inside her.
She cried out.
The sound seemed to break the last of his restraint.
Eli stood, lifting her with him. Natalie wrapped her legs around his waist, and his mouth took hers as he carried her down the short hallway.
He entered the bedroom and set her on the edge of the bed.
He reached toward the drawer beside the bed.
Natalie caught his wrist.
“Condom?”
“Yes.”
“I have an implant. I was tested after my last relationship. No partners since.”
His gaze held hers.
“I’m clean. No partners in more than a year.”
“I want to feel you.”
The words emerged more boldly than she felt.
Eli took her face between his hands.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her once, slower now.
Then he lowered her onto the bed.
Natalie reached for him, but he caught her wrists and held them lightly beside her head.
“Let me.”
The phrase echoed everything that had passed between them.
This time she surrendered without resistance.
Eli kissed down her body. His beard scraped across her skin, leaving sensation behind it. He avoided the bruise and moved lower, spreading her thighs with both hands.
Natalie let out a shocked sound when his mouth touched her.
His tongue moved slowly at first, learning her. Then with the same concentration he had given the cut near her temple, the cold in her feet, the pulse beneath her wrist.
Natalie gripped the quilt.
He held her hips when she began to move, keeping her exactly where he wanted her while his tongue worked against her.
Pleasure gathered fast.
She tried to warn him, but her voice dissolved into a gasp.
Eli did not stop.
The climax broke through her in hard waves, drawing her body tight before releasing it.
He stayed with her until the last tremor passed.
When he rose, his control was gone from his face.
He positioned himself between her legs.
Natalie reached down and wrapped her hand around him.
“Let me start.”
Eli’s eyes narrowed.
She guided him toward her and shifted upward, taking the broad head inside.
The stretch made her inhale sharply.
He stopped immediately.
“Pain?”
“No. Slow.”
He held himself still while she adjusted.
Natalie pushed against him, taking more. His hands gripped her thighs.
When he was fully inside her, she closed her eyes.
The fullness felt almost overwhelming.
Eli bent over her, bracing his weight on one forearm.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Still with me?”
Instead of responding, she pulled him sideways, rolling him so he landed on his back with her astride him.
Surprise flickered across his face.
She placed her hands against his chest and began to move.
The angle took him deeper. Natalie found a rhythm slowly, watching his composure erode beneath her.
His hands settled on her hips but let her control the pace.
She rode him harder.
Eli’s head pressed into the pillow. His jaw tightened.
“You can let go,” she said.
His eyes opened.
“Careful.”
“I mean it.”
She leaned over him.
“I don’t want the part of you everyone else gets.”
His hands tightened.
“What part do you want?”
“The one you keep under control.”
Eli sat up beneath her.
His arm locked around her waist, and his mouth closed over hers.
Natalie moaned into the kiss.
He held her still and thrust upward once.
The force of it pulled a cry from her.
“That part?” he asked against her mouth.
“Yes.”
He moved again.
Natalie clung to his shoulders as the rhythm changed. He was no longer letting her lead, but neither had he taken her choice away. She had opened the door, and he was finally walking through it.
Eli turned them, lowering her onto her back without leaving her body.
He drew one of her legs around his hip and drove into her with deep, measured strokes.
The bed moved beneath them.
His mouth stayed near hers. His breath came rough now, no longer controlled.
Natalie felt another climax building.
“Eli.”
“I know.”
He reached between them.
His thumb found her, matching the rhythm of his body.
The pleasure tightened until she could not hold it. She raised her legs, wrapping them tightly around his lower back. She pulled him tighter as her head tipped back and she came.
Eli buried his face against her neck and thrust harder, once, twice, then held deep as he followed her.
For several seconds neither moved.
Natalie heard his heart pounding against her chest.
The sound satisfied something she had not known she needed.
He could lose control.
He had trusted her enough to do it.
Eli lifted his head and searched her face.
“You all right?”
Natalie touched his cheek.
“Yes.”
He started to withdraw.
She tightened her leg around him.
“Stay.”
His eyes changed.
Eli lowered himself carefully, keeping most of his weight from her. He pulled the quilt over them and gathered her against his chest.
Natalie rested her head beneath his chin.
The sex had required courage from both of them, yet somehow this felt more dangerous.
She felt the blissful hum of their bodies together and closed her eyes.