Divine Phoenix(Divine Creek Ranch 10)(45)

He sat up and growled in a way that sounded triumphant and fucked her in that position until her tension coiled so tight she thought she might explode.

She panted loudly, threw back her head, and screamed as her pussy convulsed in orgasmic spasms. Flashes of light burst behind her eyelids again as she held on to his rock-hard thighs.

His grip tightened on her hips, and he lowered his chest to hers as he thrust with powerful, animalistic strokes. His breath rushed against her shoulder, and each exhalation sounded almost pained as his climax approached.

She knew the moment it hit because his whole body clenched into a powerful, tight, muscular knot and he howled in ecstasy. Lily could feel the pulse of his cock with each ejaculation and held on to him tightly because she felt like she might just shake apart.

Never. Never in all her life had sex felt this intimate. Not once. Clay braced his upper body on his elbows so he didn’t crush her beneath him and dragged air into his lungs, trying to catch his breath. His sweat-soaked chest pressed lightly against hers, and she could feel the reverberation of his pounding heart. Cupping her cheek, Clay pressed a kiss to her forehead and drew another ragged breath.

“Are you okay?” he asked, and she could plainly hear the concern in his voice. “That was really intense.”

“I’ll say,” she breathed out. “I’m fine.” Lightning flickered in the windows, but she didn’t concern herself with it as she took in another deep breath. “That was…” Beautiful. Perfect.

Clay lightly laved the perspiration from the dip above her collarbone. “Yeah. I agree.” His voice was so faint she almost didn’t hear him over the rain outside. “Stay in my bed tonight, Lily. Sleep with me.”

Refusing his sexy, husky request was impossible. “If that’s what you want, sure, but I have to get up early in the morning. I’ve got to study some more.”

She wished she could sleep the whole night through with him, but she couldn’t. What if he woke before her and saw her naked? He’d be repulsed by the tattoo and never be able to look at her again.

Either option she chose for dealing with the tattoo was going to be expensive, according to her research. So she’d put off deciding which procedure to have done—laser tattoo removal that might not be one hundred percent effective or to simply have it redone and commit to a possible larger tattoo. It also gave her pause that the new tattoo might only serve as a remembrance of the trouble she’d gone to getting every reminder of JT out of her life.

Maybe she was waiting for the right frame of mind in which to make the decision. If the only reason she did the redo was to give JT a big “fuck you” to his claims of ownership, she wanted to wait. Somehow, she knew it needed to be strictly for her that she had the tattoo redone.

In the short-term at least, she knew what this meant for them. Clay would get suspicious about why she wouldn’t allow him to see her naked while making love, in the morning upon waking, or at other times like in the shower. She never, ever wanted him to see it or even know about it. The image was just too shameful to her. She needed to back away from this new physical relationship with him. It hurt to think of that, and the burning lump in her throat grew at the thought of hurting him.

Clay withdrew his softening cock. “I’ll be right back.” He disposed of the condom and crawled back into bed. In the dark, Lily smiled as she snuggled up to him, wishing it could be like this every night.

“Lily?”

“Hmm?”

“You know this wasn’t a one-night stand, right?”

Lily stroked his chest as she curled closer, a lump forming in her throat. “I know, Clay. It’s going to take me some time. I need to put my failed marriage behind me. There are…” It hurt to keep the truth from him, but she had no choice. “There are things I need to take care of. Things I need to do, before…”

“I know. Take your time, Lily. Can you sleep?” Thunder rumbled, this time in the distance.

She sniffled and her laugh was a little broken sounding. “After that? Try to stop me.”

The concern in his voice was clear as he lifted his head to look at her. “Lily? You want to talk about it? Did I hurt you?”

Shaking her head, Lily replied, “You didn’t hurt me, Clay. I promise. That was the most beautiful lovemaking I’ve ever experienced.” And I have to pull away from doing it again. The thought made her heart ache. But not until the morning. “I’m confused by how I feel and I’m not sure talking would help right now. You need your sleep.” She knew if she kept talking she would cry again.