Chapter 39 #3
Esther lay before him completely bare. His gaze travelled over her breasts, the curve of her waist and the soft fullness of her hips. The desire upon his face was so naked and intense that Esther forgot every instinct to conceal herself.
No man had ever looked at Esther that way. His gaze made her feel hot, powerful and devastatingly beautiful. Every insecurity her family had placed inside her weakened beneath the force of his desire.
“My God,” Ian whispered. “You are perfect.”
He lowered himself over her and took one aching breast into his mouth.
Esther cried out.
His tongue circled the sensitive peak before he drew it between his lips. Pleasure shot from her breast to the place pulsing between her thighs. She arched against him, her fingers sinking into his hair as he sucked harder.
“Ian.”
He moved to her other breast, giving it the same devoted attention.
One hand travelled along the uninjured curve of her waist, its touch deliberately light wherever her body remained tender.
His palm continued lower, following the generous shape of her hip before closing around the soft flesh of her behind.
The intimate touch made Esther shudder.
Ian caressed the soft flesh while his mouth continued tormenting her breast. His hand then travelled down the outside of her thigh before returning slowly along the sensitive inner skin.
He guided her knee gently away from the other and the hard length of him pressed against her, making the ache inside her nearly unbearable.
His fingers travelled slowly up her inner thigh.
Every inch he crossed increased her anticipation. Esther opened her legs wider without being asked, abandoning the last of her shyness. Ian lifted his head from her breast and watched her face as his fingertips reached the wet heat at her center.
The first delicate stroke made her gasp.
“Is this what you want?” he asked quietly.
“Yes.”
His fingers parted her slick folds and explored her with slow strokes that left her trembling. Esther’s hips rose from the bed, seeking greater pressure. Ian found the sensitive place that made her entire body tighten and circled it with the pad of his thumb.
Her thighs trembled around his hand, and she clutched his shoulders as he continued the slow, deliberate caress.
“Ian, please.”
“What do you need, my love?”
She could barely form an answer. His fingers slid lower and entered her carefully while his thumb continued moving over the swollen peak above.
“More,” she gasped.
His gaze held hers as he continued. The wet sounds of his touch filled the room and Esther could no longer keep still beneath him. Her hips moved against his hand without shame.
Then he withdrew his fingers, settled between her open thighs and kissed her tenderly.
“This may hurt at first,” he whispered.
Esther wrapped her arms around his neck as Ian positioned himself at her entrance and pushed forward slowly.
The pressure was intense. Esther’s lips parted as her body stretched around him. A brief sharp pain made her fingers tighten against his back, and Ian instantly stopped.
“Esther?”
“Do not stop.” She drew him closer. “I want all of you.”
He pressed deeper.
The sting faded beneath the extraordinary sensation of being filled. Ian continued until his hips rested against hers and he was buried completely inside her.
Esther released a trembling breath.
She had never felt so close to another person. He surrounded her and filled her until there seemed to be no distance left between them, no secret or unspoken fear capable of separating them again.
Ian withdrew carefully before entering her again.
The slow movement created a delicious friction that made Esther moan into his mouth. He repeated it, allowing her body to adjust. Each deep stroke brought greater pleasure until the last trace of discomfort disappeared.
Esther tightened instinctively around him and whispered his name.
Ian groaned at the helpless response of her body and entered her more deeply, still holding every ounce of his weight away from her.
The careful rhythm began to break. His movements grew faster, driven by the desire both of them had restrained for too long. The bed moved beneath them. Esther’s breasts pressed against his chest while his mouth devoured hers.
She wrapped both legs around his waist, drawing him deeper.
Ian moaned her name against her neck. The sound shattered the last of her control. Esther’s nails dragged down his back as she clung to him. Every thrust sent a fierce wave through her body. The tension inside her tightened until she could barely breathe beneath its force.
“Do not stop,” she begged. “Ian, please do not stop.”
His free hand slipped between their joined bodies and found the sensitive peak once more.
He stroked it in time with each deep thrust. Esther’s breath broke into helpless gasps.
Her thighs trembled against the mattress, and every muscle low in her body drew tighter until Ian’s face, his voice and the exquisite pressure of him were all she could comprehend.
“I love you,” he groaned into her ear. “God, Esther, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The unbearable pressure reached its height and shattered.
Esther cried out his name as her body clenched around him in fierce, helpless pulses.
Pleasure rushed from the place where his hand touched her through every part of her, leaving her thighs trembling and her fingers locked around his shoulder.
She could scarcely draw breath while the waves continued, one following another as Ian moved inside her.
Ian’s rhythm faltered. He buried his face against her neck and entered her once more, deep and controlled despite the tremor that passed through his body.
A rough moan escaped him as he held himself inside her and surrendered to his own release.
Esther held him tightly while the tremors slowly faded. Their hearts pounded together, and their damp skin remained pressed close. Ian lifted his head after a moment and looked down at her with love shining openly in his hazel eyes.
He kissed her with exquisite tenderness.
Esther smiled against his lips.
For the first time in her life, she did not feel plain, overlooked or merely convenient. Ian had seen every part of her, the wounded parts she kept hidden and the body she had been taught to doubt, and he loved her completely.
At that moment, Esther knew that no matter what had happened between them in the past, nothing and no one could deny that they were meant for one another. There really was no going back. He was hers, and she was his, forever.