Burn for Me(30)

“Darlin’, I have always been all in, and I could not be happier to give this a go for real,” he said, then pulled her in for a deep and devouring kiss that blotted out the whole wide world and turned her knees weak. Exactly as a kiss should do. “And incidentally, that was four adjectives rather than one for our second date tomorrow.”

“Then let’s make it four times as good,” she said.

“We will.”





Chapter Thirteen

Their first real date was better than the last one, and that had been a damn good one. This time, they’d gone bowling, drank beers, and laughed the whole time. He beat her in one game, and she beat him in the next, and then he’d finished off the final round with several strikes. She didn’t mind losing to him, because she knew she was winning being with him, and she was glad they were all in.

Now, they were at her house. She shut and locked her front door, took his hand, and led him back to her bedroom for the first time.

She turned on the light and watched him as he took in her room. The dark red comforter on her king-size bed, because she liked to sleep splayed out like a starfish, the well-worn books on her nightstand. Then the framed pictures of her and her parents, her sister, and Tennyson. Finally, there was the note card he’d given her, lying on her nightstand.

Another time.

“You kept it,” he remarked, with wonder in his voice.

“I did. Because it was from you. ‘The promise of another time, and that time is now.’” She reached for the bottom of his shirt and tugged it off. She’d seen him shirtless plenty of times, but now, here, in her bedroom, the sight of his naked torso—so muscular and cut—was a heady one.

He kicked off his shoes. She unzipped his jeans and let them fall to the floor. She’d seen him naked before but she didn’t think she’d tire of the sight. Every inch of him, every ounce, was the embodiment of masculine perfection. Strong arms, broad chest, abs she wanted to lick, fabulous legs, and then the pièce de résistance—that perfect cock, long, thick, and hard as a rock for her.

But he was more than just a beautiful body now. More than merely the man she’d lusted after for months, and then slept with on a whim one heady night in a bar. He was the man she’d let into her life, her family, her home. And though they’d had sex several times already, this time felt different.

“I kind of feel like this is our first time,” she said, whispering it like an admission.

“I feel the same,” he said, as he gently stripped off her sweater and unhooked her bra. She shimmied out of her skirt. He stepped back to look at her, taking her in, his eyes roaming every inch of her, and the look in them was heated and full of something more too. The more that she’d once tried to deny. But now wanted to embrace.

He’d spent so much time telling her nice things, sweet things, pretty things, and now she wanted to return his affection. To let him know this had never been a one-way street. She trailed her fingertips down his chest, watching as he hitched in a breath. “You’re beautiful to me,” she said. “All of you.”

His chest rose and fell, and his lips curved up. He closed his eyes briefly as she traced a line from his hip to his butt. “I love the way you touch me,” he said in a hot, hoarse voice, and though she loved his dirty mouth, she loved this part too—the one that was patently honest. “And I need you now.”

She held up her index finger, raced into the bathroom, found a condom packet under the sink, and returned with it.

She pushed him gently onto the bed, then ran her hand over him, and his cock twitched against her as she rolled on the condom. She straddled him and he placed his hands on her hips as she lowered onto him, his eyes closing in pleasure.

…

She felt amazing. So wet, so warm, so tight as she surrounded him. She tensed briefly as she took him all the way in, then exhaled and sank farther down. He held her hips, moving her slowly on him. He wanted to savor the feeling of being inside her like this. The first time after admitting they were something more. He kept his gaze on her as she rode him, her long hair falling against her back, making her look even sexier, if that were possible. He hadn’t thought it was, but now he knew he’d been wrong. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and she was his. The look in her eyes was one of desire, but he saw her vulnerability, too, the way she’d stripped bare her fears, finally letting him in. And he felt even more for her because of that. Because she trusted him, and he was never going to hurt her.

He was only ever going to make her feel good.

He held onto her hips, matching her rhythm, but he needed her body against his completely. “I want to feel you against me as you ride me.”