Causes me to permit her what no other person has ever had from me.
I don’t close my eyes; I can’t. It’s too late for that. Too late for me. And though I’ve lived thirty-three years and have seen more than most people should, this is something brand-new. And I don’t want to miss a second of it. The press of her mouth to mine? It shudders through me like an earthquake, reconstructing my very foundation.
Eshe pulls back, studies me for a long moment; then whatever she sees has her eyes flaring brighter. With only the rushed, jagged rasp of our breath punctuating the room, she leans forward once more and takes my mouth again.
Takes.
Claims.
Fucks.
This mouth is hers, and I open under the thrust of her tongue, surrendering to the hungry demand in it. Surrendering to the ravenous greed snarling and snapping inside me.
Yeah, I’m not ashamed to admit this is my first kiss, but I’m a quick study. I don’t need a tutorial in how to meet her lick for lick, suck for suck. Desire is the best teacher. My grip tightens on the back of her neck, holding her firmly in place as I mimic the glide of her tongue against mine, follow every twist and flick over the roof of my mouth. And soon it’s me who’s pushing inside her mouth, chasing her moans with my tongue, sinking my teeth into the damn-near-indecent curve of her bottom lip.
I can’t get enough.
Not of her taste. Of the texture. Of the little catches of breath and needy groans.
I. Can’t. Fucking. Get. Enough.
The fingers of my other hand lift to tunnel through her thick, dark amber curls, fist them, and drag her head back so I can fuck that mouth harder, faster.
One hit. That’s all I needed, and now she’s an addiction, a craving in my veins.
“Fuck,” I grunt. Lifting my other hand to her head and tangling my fingers in the red-and-brown curls, I tip her head back and press my forehead to hers, closing my eyes so I’m not staring at that pretty, damp temptation of a mouth. “There’s something else you don’t know about me.”
“Doubtful. Go ahead though.” She rubs the pad of her thumb over my bottom lip, then slides it between hers, slightly moaning, her lashes fluttering. “What is it?”
“I’ve never kissed a person on the mouth. You were my first. Youaremy first,” I say, a low, gravelly admission.
She blinks, her bright gaze roaming my face as if searching for a sign that I’m joking as she slowly leans back. “No. That’s not true. You just snatched my soul through my pussy earlier tonight. And I’veseenthe people you’ve fucked—”
“I never said I haven’t fucked. I said ‘kissed.’”
What seems like… horror spasms across her expression. A chilly, bony fist seizes my heart and squeezes. The fuck? What the hell was that about? Did the thought of being—
“God, Malachi, I’m sorry.” Her pained, fervent voice snatches me out of the angry, humiliated spiral I was edging toward. “I didn’t know.”
The apology is so out of left field, I can’t reply or stir when she cups my jaw.
“I shouldn’t have taken that from you without your permission. So much has been taken from you—you should’ve been free to offer that to me or whoever you chose to be your first. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have—”
I quiet her with another kiss.
As fast and brutal as our first was, this one… this one is a seeking, almost-tender thing that asks questions as much as it demands everything. The languid roll and lick of my tongue is an incongruent dichotomy to the rock-hard length of my dick.
I would’ve never believed myself capable of gentle. Of tender. And shit, I’m not. This is Eshe.
Sliding one of my hands to the front of her throat, I circle it, relish the quick throb of her pulse. From one instant to the next, the kiss shifts into a hotter, wetter mating. A wilder one. I tighten my grip, hoping against hope that I leave bruises. That I’ll look down and find this lovely, smooth skin bearing my personal brand. The thought has me growing harder, and I squeeze her neck. She arches into my hand and moans, encouraging me, goading me.
Goddamn, she’s going to be the end of me.
And I’m going to let her be. I’m going to let her be my destruction and enjoy every fucking second of it.
As soon as the thought passes through my head, I wrench my mouth away from hers, shooting to my feet, bringing her with me. In one motion, I haul her over my shoulder and stalk from the living room toward the stairs and the bedroom above.
The one thing on my mind? Theonlything?
