After the Ashes(74)
He felt pinned by her gaze, slugged by her words.
“I’ll wait for you.”
“No,” he managed to squeeze past his tight throat.
“Yes. I’m going to. At least for a while. And if you don’t come back, I’ll have to accept your decision. I can’t say I’ll marry. I can’t say I won’t. I can’t say what I’ll do, but I’ll go on. But if you feel half of what I do, Christopher, you’ll come back.”
He bowed his head and stared at their joined hands. “You have too much faith in me, Lorelei. You have too much faith in everything.”
She turned his hands over and rubbed her thumbs across his callused palms. “I have enough for both of us, if you’d only give me a chance.”
He gazed at her, unable to say anything. What he wanted to say was yes, to put himself in her hands, to give up trying to know everything—but he couldn’t. So instead he pulled her against him. He brushed her long hair with his palm, the sensation flowing up his arm like a warm river.
The heat of her body teased him through her nightgown. The arousal he’d struggled with since she walked in the room became uncontrollable, but the urge to make love to her was wrapped up with so many tangled emotions, he felt tied. He feared making a move would strangle him.
She snuggled against him until she lay across his lap. If she moved one knee, she’d be straddling him. The way she arched her hips into his sang a blatant invitation.
“Lorelei, I want to make love to you,” he finally said.
She slid her palms up his bare chest to cup his face. She kissed him softly, her mouth pliant and parted. “I want that too.”
He greedily kissed her again, opening his mouth wider to taste her before he said what he had to say. She responded so eagerly. Her body would be just as open, just as sweet. He pulled his mouth away from hers and swallowed hard.
“I can’t promise you anything. This doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind.”
She smiled as if he had said something amusing. “I didn’t come here for a promise. I came here to feel you, if only for one last time. If this is the only way you can let me get close to you, then I’ll take it.” She slid her hand between them and gripped him through his wool trousers. “This is why I came into your room into the middle of the night, silly.”
The feel of her fingers circling him, teasing his rigid flesh with the rough cloth, made him buck slightly. Much more of that and he’d never make it inside her. He pulled her against him fiercely, forcing her to straddle him. He’d never been so glad to be called silly. In fact, that was something he’d never been called, but, God, he liked it.
He slid his hands up her thighs, bunching her gown past her hips and cupping her bare bottom as he arched against her. She unbuttoned his pants, then eased the flaps aside. Eagerly she slid against his length. Her warmth seared away all conscious thoughts except one. He pulled his mind away from surging into her. They were going too fast and he wanted his time with Lorelei to last.
When he grabbed the hem of her gown and drew it over her head, she lifted her arms to help him. Shadows wrapped around her feminine curves, but he saw every one with a second sight. Her high, full breasts, the dip of her waist, the flare of her hips, and most especially the secret cleft between her thighs, all burned into his senses. He gripped her hips and nudged her against him in a rocking motion. His eyes grew heavy, but he kept them open. Watching her was as pleasurable as the feel of her warm, wet opening riding him, tempting him beyond endurance.
She looked so perfect, as if she were created for him. Her dark hair flowed over her shoulders. A single lock fell over one breast, emphasizing the red, aroused nipple peeking through. He brushed her hair aside, sitting up to take that teasing flesh into his mouth.
She writhed as he sucked her, keeping the rocking connection of their bodies a spiraling pleasure and a constant torture. The taste of her skin intoxicated him to the point of dizziness. She gripped his shoulders and leaned her head back while she arched her hips forward.
The urge to shift her, to penetrate her, was too strong. He slid from beneath her to halt his body’s imminent insubordination. She made a soft sound in the back of her throat, letting him know she didn’t like the change. He maneuvered her to her back and got off the bed to work his pants the rest of the way off. She propped herself up on her elbows and watched him.
Liking her gaze on him, he slowed his movements. After he shucked his pants, he straightened. He stood before her, his chest heaving, his breath coming fast. A smile curled her lips. He smiled too. He’d never get tired of that bold stare. He crawled onto the bed, feeling more intimidated by her blatant appraisal than he’d like to admit. “Like what you see?”