I arched into him, spreading my thighs wider.
I gasped as he trailed two fingers through my wetness and spread it around. I squeezed my eyes closed, dug my fingers into his back.
“Yes,” I whispered, already feeling my clit begin to pulse. I was swollen and hot and wet, and so much more turned on than I could remember being before, or at least, for years.
I needed this. I needed the physical release as well as the emotional one.
I was cheating on a husband I’d left only weeks earlier, but this didn’t feel wrong.
It felt nothing less than perfect. As Declan’s fingers continued sliding through me, dipping inside me and teasing me, pulling out and running over my clit, perfection continued to increase until I felt ready to explode.
“Declan,” I gasped again, pushing my head into the mattress. My head began to thrash from his light ministrations, and my breath came too quick and harsh to continue kissing him. Fire burned along my inner thighs and a shiver rolled through my entire body. “I’m so close.”
“Let me see you,” he whispered, dipping down and pressing his lips against the column of my throat. “Let me see what I do to you.”
I shattered immediately, my entire body going up in flames as the climax he’d so quickly pulled from my body rolled through me, making me lose the control I so desperately clung to.
While I shouted his name and chanted “Oh my God” repeatedly, I swooned at his praise, his compliments, as he called me beautiful, perfect, so soft…so hot and wet.
As my breathing returned to normal, Declan was already reaching down to the floor beside the bed and digging in his discarded jeans from the night before. He came back with a condom in his hand, not wasting time before he ditched his boxers and wrapped his hand around his length.
He was beautiful everywhere. Thick and veined, his erection was just as large as the rest of him.
I sat up and took the condom out of his hand, then took it from the wrapper and rolled it down his length.
His shaft jerked in my hand, hot silk over steel. I had a vision of my mouth wrapping around his erection sometime soon. I had never wanted to taste a man before.
I wanted to know what every single inch of Declan felt and tasted like.
He undid me in ways I never thought possible, and it wasn’t because he knew how to expertly use his hands on my most sensitive areas.
“Stroke me again,” he grunted, and I looked at his face to see him concentrating on my small fingers sliding up and down his shaft. “Harder.” I listened. I squeezed him tight, following his commands until his hand covered mine. Then his hands went to my hips and he rolled onto his back and pulled me over him. “I want you to ride me. Take what you need from me.”
My lips parted.
He’d already given me everything I needed. Somehow, the last few weeks with Declan had returned my confidence. I felt stronger. I felt more like a woman than I had in years.
It had nothing to do with this moment in bed.
Everything I needed, Declan had already provided with his respect and his kindness and his patience.
Tears pricked my eyes. He had come to mean so much to me in such a short time.
I didn’t want it to end.
But I listened.
I climbed on top of Declan, wrapped my hand around his erection, and slowly began to ease it into me.
And then I showed Declan with my actions what my overwhelmed self couldn’t express with my words.
I began to tremble on top of him, our hips meeting in perfect rhythm, and as he took me to the precipice again, we came together, chest to chest, our hands entwined, my heart beating against his and his against mine.
I knew in that moment that nothing would ever be the same again.
I didn’t want it to be. I wanted to hold on to this incredible man for as long as he’d let me.
The fall air was brisk as the ferry pushed through the swells of Lake Michigan. I didn’t know what to expect when Declan first brought up the idea of this trip ending with a ferry ride across one of the Great Lakes.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been nervous. The idea of being on a boat on a huge lake was more than a bit frightening for someone who wasn’t all that thrilled with large bodies of water.
This was more than cool, though. The ship was large, and seemed to be three stories high. Below the passenger decks, my new-to-me, but older-than-dirt Ford Explorer safely sat with dozens of other cars and trucks.
We’d done it. We hadn’t heard from Tyson if he’d been able to find any information about Kevin yet, but I was choosing not to think about that today.
Not after the incredible morning Declan and I had.
A smile formed on my lips as the wind whipped my hair behind my shoulders.
“You still grinning about getting your way with the Ford?” Declan wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me toward him.
I turned to him, putting the boat’s railing behind me, and faced him fully.
My smile widened. “I wasn’t. But I am now.”
He shook his head and I couldn’t help but laugh again. I’d been laughing about our argument at the dealership for the last several hours. When we pulled into another run-down dealership’s parking lot early this morning, after we’d finally untangled ourselves from the sheets of our bed, caught the train from Chicago, and then took a taxi, my eyes immediately fell on a gray Ford Explorer.
It was basic and nondescript, and would blend in easily, because I always saw Explorers on the road. It was also cheap enough that I still had a couple of grand left over from the check from the sale of my convertible, which Declan had deposited late last night.
Declan immediately steered me toward a newer Tahoe.
I dragged him back to the Explorer.
Thus a tug-of-war over two different vehicles began in the parking lot, leaving the salesman more than a little frustrated with the way Declan and I bickered like an old married couple.
But it had felt good, knowing I could speak my mind and fight for what I wanted and not worry about consequences. A part of me still wondered if that was why Declan allowed the ridiculous argument to continue for as long as it did.
Just to prove I was safe with him.
Eventually, he sighed and looked at the sky. With an exaggerated eye roll, he then said, “Your money, your car, but it’ll be in my garage getting fixed and repaired more than it’ll be on the road taking you where you need to go.”
I didn’t think the idea of having my car in his garage, which would mean spending more time with him, was such a bad thing.
“You’ll fall in love with Betsy someday.” I tipped my head back so I could look Declan in the eyes. Taking one hand from the rail, I pressed it against his chest.
“Christ.” He looked down at me. “You’ve named that hunk of junk Betsy? She’ll break down on the side of the road and leave you stranded.”
My fingers curled into his shirt and I pulled him forward. After making love to Declan this morning, I couldn’t keep my hands off of him. In one way or another, we’d been touching since we walked out of the hotel room. I liked that he seemed to feel the need to touch me just as often as I wanted to touch him. His hand settled on my waist and his fingers curled into the thin fabric of my tie-dyed maxi dress. “Then you’ll just have to save me.”
His eyes darkened and he licked his lips. “Speaking of that”
“I don’t want to talk about it today,” I said, interrupting him.
His thick, dark brows came together. “Trina, we have to.”
“Did Tyson find anything yet?”
The way he glanced at the water behind me told me everything I needed to know.
“Then there’s nothing to talk about.” My fingers curled into his shirt harder and I tugged him toward me until his attention was focused on me again. I could see the blue water and the bright sun reflecting in his concerned eyes. “We’ll figure it out, but I’m not going to run from Kevin anymore. I’ve been thinking that as soon as I get back, I should find an attorney, or make some calls to Kentucky, so I can figure out how to start the divorce process.”
A muscle jumped in his cheek and his gaze narrowed. “You sure you want to do that?”
I had to. Leaving Kevin officially wasn’t just an option, but a necessity. “At the very least, once he hears that I’m doing this, it will bring him out of the woodwork. Until then, though, I’d like to not talk about him. Spend more time thinking about us.”
“Us?” His eyebrow rose, along with one side of his lips.
The anticipation in his deep voice erased any nervousness I might have had, which was minimal anyway. Declan made it clear this morning that he wanted me. “I’ve been thinking that maybe heading to Canada isn’t such a great idea.”
His shoulders fell, and I knew he’d been worried about this, about me still choosing to leave him.
Instead of answering with words, his forehead dropped to mine and his hands squeezed both my hips, pulling me as close to his body as I could get. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my cheek to his chest.
“I’ll keep you safe, Trina. I swear it.”
I didn’t have to respond. I already knew he would. So I answered him much the same way he had answered me. I pulled him close, held him tight, and hoped like the dickens that we figured out a way to get me free and clear of Kevin before he found me.
Chapter 14
Declan