Chapter Eleven
KORY KNEW IT was going to sound irrational, but she had to push through the bullshit, the pain, the stupidity. “Please, Stone, make love to me.”
“But—”
“I know it’s weird, but please. I need you now.”
She knew he could see the need, the desperation in her eyes, and he kissed her. Ah, yes, that was what she required. She needed Stone to overwrite her faulty memories with good ones. She craved something to cover up all the pain and ache and misery in her head, and she needed it now. Yeah, she could stand more therapy, but she couldn’t call up her old psychologist tonight…and, even if she did, she’d probably be able to kiss Stone goodbye with her little psycho act. No, she had to push through it and experience something beautiful with him.
It was the only way.
He still needed convincing. Even though he was kissing her, he was almost at a standstill, so she caressed the front of his jeans. She knew he had to have been hard earlier, so it shouldn’t take much to get him back there. She massaged the bulge she found and he responded, not only with an erection but with a groan against her mouth. Oh, yes, that was it.
He was having a hard time maintaining then, but he pulled away from her and said, “How can you be so sure this is what you want?”
Why was he being so difficult to persuade? She brought her other hand down to the button on his pants and undid it, working on the zipper right after. She growled. “I need you to fuck me, Stone, more than I’ve ever needed anything in my life.” She searched his eyes. “Please,” she begged.
He acted like he was going to say something, but she worked her hands inside his jeans and grabbed his cock. He responded by consuming her mouth with his. She spread her legs around him, trying to force him inside her. “Wait,” he said, reaching behind him. She could see the look in his eyes, the one that told her he was beginning to feel as frantic as she did, but he was managing to keep it together. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and threw it on the comforter where it got swallowed up, but he steadied himself and opened the wallet, pulling a condom out. In seconds, he had it out and sat up on his knees to roll it over his erection. Kory sat up, wanting to help him, to hurry him, because she felt like her life depended on him now…on this.
The condom on, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her face up close to his. He touched her forehead with his and asked, one last time, “You sure about this?”
“Fuck, yes.”
With an unexpected gentleness, he lay her back on the bed and kissed her—softly, sweetly. She melted into the bed and then he entered her and she cried out. Somehow, she’d managed to push the violent, nasty images out of her head and her tears had dried as she’d pleaded with Stone to take her. Those horrible thoughts still lingered, but with each thrust, she was able to push them back further, further, until they were distant. Then she was able to focus on the feel of Stone’s hard shoulders as she held onto them for dear life. She managed to loosen her grip and let her hands skim his back, feeling down to his ass. God, he was hard all over, and she wondered how many tattoos her hands had touched on their journey down his back.
Somehow, she felt a stirring in her loins once more, something she hadn’t expected since breaking down. She tilted her pelvis, needing to feel him at a different angle and she gasped. “Oh, God,” she said, amazed at how he was managing to clear her mind, restore peace to her shattered psyche with such a primal act.
But he was.
“Feel okay?” he asked.
Oh, why was he unsure? He should know, right? Couldn’t he tell that he was exactly what she needed? “You’re perfect,” she whispered, hoping it was enough to assure him, and then her thigh muscles contracted, signaling to her how close she was. She gulped down a few breaths as far as she could until she hit that impossible peak and cried out, her thighs pulsating against his hips.
He moaned against her neck, continuing to drive into her until there was nothing left to give, and then they collapsed in each other’s arms, having experienced some sort of miracle.
She had no idea how long they lay in each other’s arms, but she hadn’t been able to sleep. Stone had been barely able to stir after, but he’d had the presence of mind to pull back the comforter and urge her underneath it where she’d curled up beside him. He’d pushed a button on a remote control next to the lamp on the nightstand and dimmed the lights in the room before closing his eyes.
Minutes earlier, his little dog had come into the bedroom, apparently tired of waiting for Stone to fulfill his promise to her. She’d put her paws on the side of the bed and looked up at them, and Kory reached over and patted the soft dog on the head. She saw the sweet little thing, now satisfied that she’d been acknowledged, curl up in a dog bed next to the dresser. Stone mumbled and rolled on his side toward Kory, pulling her closer, and she rolled over as well so her back was up against his chest.