Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
N oelle woke to the most wonderful sensation. She opened her eyes and fell into the blue of a Grecian sea. She felt like she was drowning, but in a good way. The sea was taking her breath, but giving her life. Every single cell in her body was buoyant, tingling, and alive . . . all from the soft lips resting on hers.
“Ellie,” those lips whispered before they parted and she was consumed by lush, wet heat.
No one kissed like Casey kissed. If he wasn’t flambéing her with devouring lips and hungry licks, he was simmering her over low heat with slow, mind-altering sips.
Like now.
There was no rush. He kissed her like they had all the time in the world—like it was the only thing he wanted to do . . . forever. Every pull of his lips and sweet stroke of his tongue was leisurely and intoxicating. Like sipping a fine wine and then suddenly realizing you were drunk.
Noelle was drunk on Casey’s kisses.
She couldn’t put one thought together besides Please don’t stop.
To ensure that he didn’t, she slid her hands into the thick waves of his hair. His hair felt like corn silk slipping through her fingers. If her body hadn’t started making demands, she might have been able to stay right there, playing with his hair and kissing him for the rest of her life. But the simmer he’d started was quickly turning into a rolling boil. If she just had this one night, she wanted to experience everything.
She drew away from his lips. When they chased hers, she fisted his hair and tugged him back. “I want to see you naked.”
His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before heat darkened them. “I think that can be arranged.”
He leaned in and gave her a deep, lush kiss before he rolled to his feet. His gaze held hers as he slowly unbuttoned his flannel shirt. Beneath, he wore an off-white Henley that hugged his shoulders and muscled chest. But it only gave a peek at what lay beneath. When he stripped the shirt over his head, Noelle felt like she’d been slapped right in the lady parts.
Casey had one of those runners’ bodies that made women veer off the road. His muscles were long and lean and . . . everywhere. There wasn’t a tiny little speck of fat on him. Which wasn’t good because Noelle had more than just a speck. Her sudden fear about Casey seeing her body had her mouth working without her brain.
“It’s just not fair.”
“Excuse me?”
She sat up. “It’s not fair that a man who eats sweets like you do can have a body like . . .” She waved a hand at his chest. “That!”
If he had laughed, she would have gotten up and socked him. But he didn’t laugh. He didn’t even smile. Instead, he said something that made her heart feel like it was floating.
“I’m sure everyone thinks the same thing about you. Which is why I’m really looking forward to seeing all those luscious curves stripped bare so I can give them the attention they deserve. So you want me to continue? Or should we start working on that cute little cherry dress you have on?” His gaze raked over her in a heated slide that made her tingle from head to toe. “I love that dress.”
She tried to calm all the tiny tingles his gaze made her feel and leaned back on the pillows. “Continue . . . please.”
This time, he did smile before his hand went to the button of his jeans. She had been so busy looking at all the naked muscles in his upper body that she hadn’t paid much attention to his lower. There was an impressive bulge lifting the zipper of his fly. When that zipper slowly inched down, black boxer briefs—the same briefs Noelle had washed and folded—were revealed. Of course, they looked much different on Casey than they did in a laundry basket. They sat low on his tight stomach, hugged his hips and muscled thighs, and gaped open in the front to reveal a tempting peek of something hard and smooth.
“You want to unwrap me, Ellie?”
The words were spoken in a low, husky voice that made her insides feel like heated honey. She realized she did want to unwrap him. She wanted it in a bad way.
She sat up on the edge of the bed as he moved closer. She hesitated. Would this end like her night with Kenny? Would she mess it up somehow and embarrass herself?
“Just do what you feel like doing, Ellie,” Casey said. “There are no rules.”
His words released some of her fears. This wasn’t Kenny. She looked at Casey’s impressive erection. Nope, nothing like Kenny. She, tentatively, reached out and slid a finger down the hard ridge beneath the soft cotton. It must have been the right thing to do because he groaned. Feeling braver, she outlined the shape of him before she took him in hand and gripped him through his briefs. The sound that came out of his mouth was more of a growl than a groan, but it spurred her on enough to hook her fingers in the elastic waistband and tug it down.
What sprang out was definitely XL.
It was extra long and extra virile and extra . . . extra. She felt lightheaded just looking at it. Not only from lust, but also fear. How was this going to fit? Especially when Kenny had been half this size and had struggled to get it in. Her fear must have shown because Casey slipped a hand along her jaw and lifted her face until her gaze met his. She saw desire, but she also saw understanding and some other emotion that instantly calmed her.
“Ellie. We’re only going to do what you want to do. You want to touch me. Touch me. If you want me to only do what I did yesterday. That’s all we’ll do.” He hesitated. “But if you want more, I’ll give you more. I’ll make it good, Elle. I promise I’ll make it good.”
She believed him, but there was more to it than that. “Don’t you see? I want to make it good for you too and I don’t know how to do that.”
He glanced down at his erection and back at her. “I think you’re doing just fine. And this isn’t a test. You’re not being graded. The first time two people are together, it’s always a learning experience. We’re learning together, Ellie.” He smiled. “Just like we did from kindergarten through high school. If I remember correctly, you were always a faster learner than I was.”
“Because I paid attention while you were busy messing around—usually coming up with something to tease me.”
His eyes sparkled with deviltry. “Because it was so much fun.” His eyes darkened. “You want me to prove it?” He lowered to his knees, his thick erection brushing her calf. His gaze locked with hers as he placed his hands on her bare thighs just below the hem of her cherry dress. He squeezed ever so slightly, his calloused fingers like brands that took her breath away. “You want me to show you how much fun teasing can be, Ellie?”
His hot fingers inched up, pushing her dress as they went and leaving behind a trail of fire. “You want me to tease you until you scream?” When her dress was all the way to the top of her thighs, he stopped and sucked in a breath. “Oh, Ellie, you naughty little girl. Talk about a tease.” His gaze lifted to hers and the heat she saw in his eyes made her feel weak and strong all at the same time. “You don’t have on any panties.”
She had spent a good hour deliberating on whether or not to wear them. Now, looking into his darkened eyes and feeling the hard length of him twitching against the inside of her leg, she knew she’d made the right decision. His hands slid to her knees and he gently spread her legs, exposing her to his hungry gaze.
His chest rose and fell as he heavily inhaled and then exhaled. “Oh, Ellie, please let me tease you.”
She never thought she would say her next words. “Tease me, Case. Please tease me.”
He did. He teased her with an expertise that completely rocked her world. Starting with soft butterfly kisses on the inside of her knee, he moved toward the juncture of her legs, the kisses becoming longer and including wet flicks of his tongue.
Between each kiss, he spoke. “Your skin—tastes so—fuckin’ sweet. It’s like—licking sugar—off a muffin. Of course—I can’t wait—to eat the muffin.”
Noelle couldn’t wait either. She was soaked and throbbing and needed release in a bad way. But Casey hadn’t been kidding when he said he was going to tease her until she screamed. When he hit the spot where thigh met pelvis, he completely bypassed the place she needed him the most and kissed his way down her other leg.
“Casey!” She slipped her fingers through his hair and tugged him where she wanted him.
He chuckled. “Such a greedy girl. What am I going to do with you?” He sighed, his warm breath falling against her wet center in a puff of heated air that had her hips bucking. “I guess I’ll just have to give you what you want.” He hooked his hands beneath her knees and lifted her legs, pushing her back on the bed until her thighs touched her chest. Talk about exposed. But she didn’t feel more than a moment’s embarrassment when his mouth settled on her, his tongue brushing close, but never exactly where she wanted it.
She tugged on his hair and wiggled her hips, trying to get him to the spot, but he evaded her attempts and kept right on circling until she quivered with need and throbbed with an ache that made her scream out in frustration.
“Casey!”
A second later, his mouth hit the spot, his tongue flicking in just the right way to send her flying.
It was like being struck by lightning and becoming part of the charged current. She felt bright and electric and powerful. Tightening her fists in his hair and her thighs around his head, she rode out the perfect storm.
He brought her back with light brushes of his tongue. When she had her wits enough about her to glance down, she found him watching her, his blue eyes intense and holding the same emotion she’d seen earlier. But this time it didn’t fill her with calm. It filled her with a need to touch him like he had touched her.
“I want you inside me.”
He drew back, releasing her legs. “You sure?”
She sat up and smoothed his hair that she’d messed. “I’m sure.” She unzipped the side zipper before pulling her dress over her head. Once it was off, she wondered if maybe she should have worn a bra. Her breasts were a lot to take in all at once and Casey did seem a little stunned. After a few awkward seconds, she started to cross her arms, but Casey stopped her by cradling both breasts in his hands.
“Oh, no. I’m not done admiring these sweet . . .” He gently kissed one nipple. “Perfect . . .” He kissed the other nipple. “Glorious beauties.” Moving from one to the other, he lavished them with open-mouthed kisses and hot sweeps of his tongue that had Noelle’s insides melting and her head lolling back. His fingers found their way between her legs and before she knew it, he had her close to another orgasm.
But she didn’t want to fall alone.
“No,” she croaked out.
He drew back immediately, his eyes confused. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head. “No. I just want you with me this time.”
He smiled. “I’d like that too.” He got to his feet and finished removing his boxers. She scooted back on the bed as he took the wallet from his jeans’ pocket and removed a condom. This part had been just another awkward moment with Kenny. But with Casey, it wasn’t awkward. It was sexy.
The way he tore the package open with his teeth. The way he wrapped his hand around his shaft and held it steady as he expertly rolled it on. When he lifted his gaze and caught her watching, he tipped his head.
“You okay?”
She nodded. “I like the way you do that.”
His eyes darkened and he moved toward her like the blatantly masculine male he was. She expected him to climb on and get straight to business—it wasn’t like he hadn’t spent plenty of time getting her ready. But instead, he slipped next to her, lying on his side and bracing his head in his hand as his gaze slid over her.
“If I had known what you were hiding under those cute little aprons, Noelle Holiday, I would have worked much harder at getting them off.” His fingers traced over her breast, circling her nipple and making it tight and achy.
“No, you wouldn’t have. You didn’t like me, remember?”
“You didn’t like me first.”
“That’s not true. I liked you from the first time I saw you strutting down the street after your daddy and brother. I said hi , and if I remember correctly, you stuck your tongue out at me.”
He stopped tracing her nipple and looked stunned. “I did not.”
“You did too. I was crushed.”
He studied her for a long moment before he spoke. “Girls used to scare me. I guess it had to do with living in an all-male house. And you scared me the most because I thought you were as pretty as the picture I had of my mama.” He hesitated. “I wasn’t enough for her so I guess I thought I wouldn’t be enough for you.”
The raw truth he’d just handed her made her heart feel like a cracked sphere of blown sugar. For the first time, she looked into his ocean-blue eyes and saw all the hurt and pain. Hurt and pain she wanted to heal. She rolled to her side and cradled his face in her hand.
“You’re enough, Casey. You’re more than enough.”
She kissed him.
She kissed the determined little boy who had been trying so hard to keep up with his daddy and big brother—was still trying so hard. She kissed the insecure teenager who had chased after every girl—searching for the love his mama couldn’t give him. And she kissed the hopeful man who just wanted to be enough.
When kissing couldn’t express all the emotions his words had brought to the surface, she made love to him.