That simple statement sends another wave of pleasure through me. He works me through it, gentling his touches as I come down, until I'm boneless and satisfied.
And then he draws his hand away. I want to grab it back, pull him to me, but I feel him moving away from me, sliding off of the bed.
"Where are you going?" I ask, suddenly alarmed that he’s leaving. I push up partway on my elbow before he responds.
"Bathroom." His voice is strained. "I'll be back."
I understand, and heat floods my face in the darkness. He's going to take care of himself. The thought of it sends a charge ofarousal through me again, and I bite my lip to force myself not to say what I want to. To beg him to come back to bed and let me do it for him.
I hear him walk across the room, down the hall. I hear the soft echo of the bathroom door closing. For several long minutes, I lie there in the dark, throbbing with need all over again at the thought of Elio down the hall, his hand wrapped around his cock, stroking himself roughly to the thought of me. I imagine him licking my arousal off his fingers, sucking the taste of my orgasm off of them as he comes, spattering the sink with his cum, groaning my name.
I squeeze my thighs together at the thought, tempted to reach down and try to give myself a second orgasm. But before I can make up my mind, I hear his footsteps, and another jolt runs through me at the realization that it didn’t take him long.
He must have wanted me badly.
When he comes back, he climbs back onto the bed, but this time he doesn't keep his distance. He pulls me against his chest, wrapping his arms around me.
"Sleep," he murmurs into my hair. "I've got you."
And surrounded by his warmth, feeling safe for the first time since before last night, I do.
16
ELIO
Iwake to the feeling of Annie's body pressed against mine, her back curved into my chest, my arm wrapped around her waist like I have every right to hold her this way. For a moment, in the hazy space between sleep and consciousness, I let myself pretend that this is normal—that waking up with Annie in my arms is something I do every morning instead of a dangerous line I've crossed.
Then reality crashes back. The safe house. Desmond's assault. The lies I'm telling Ronan. And beneath it all, the memory of last night—the feeling of her skin, the sound she made when she came apart in my hands, the trust in her eyes as she asked me to remind her of the difference between wanted and unwanted touch.
Christ, what have I done?
The memory takes my half-hard cock to fully erect in seconds, my morning wood painful as I suck in a soft breath through my teeth. Annie stirs against me, making a soft sound of contentment that shoots straight to my groin. I should move away, put distance between us before she wakes up and we have to acknowledge what happened. But her body fits against minelike it was made for this, and the part of me that's wanted her for eleven years refuses to let go.
She rolls over suddenly, curving the front of her against me, her breasts against my side, her breath on my neck, her leg hooking over my calf. My cock throbs painfully, and I close my eyes, fighting every instinct that screams for me to roll her onto her back and wake her in all the ways I dreamed of for years.
Her hand is on my chest. It slides down, and before I can catch her wrist, before I can think clearly enough to realize what she’s doing in her sleep. Her hand grazes my cock through my sleep pants, just that sensation enough to make me pulse, pre-cum dripping from my tip as my cock jerks against her palm. I reach down and grab her wrist gently, and her eyes fly open, meeting mine as I fight to find the will to pull her hand away from my cock.
"Annie," I start, but she silences me by pressing her finger to my lips.
"Let me touch you," she whispers. "Like you touched me. I want to make you feel good too."
Her fingers brush the length of my cock again, her wrist still caught in my hand. She turns her wrist in my hand, her brilliant blue eyes hazy with desire, and my breath catches. Every rational thought in my head is screaming at me to stop this, to remind her of all the reasons why this is a terrible idea. But with her hand so close to where I desperately want her to touch me, it feels impossible to think clearly.
"You don't have to do this," I manage, though my hips betray me by pressing into her touch. "Last night wasn't about reciprocation?—"
"I know." She bites her lip, andgod, I want to kiss her again. "I want to do this. I want to touch you. I want to feel you again. I want to feel you come for me, too.”
Fuck. I let out a shuddering breath. Just those few words, and I’m already far too close. I close my eyes, swallowing hard as I let go of her wrist, my body throbbing with the awareness of what I’m about to let happen. I’m going to let Annie touch me. She’s going to make me come. Christ, I don’t care that it’s only her hand, I’m on the verge of losing control just at the thought.
"We can't have sex," I choke out. "Annie, you have to understand—Ronan would kill me for even going this far with you. If he found out—" I suck in a breath as her fingers graze the edge of my waistband, fingertips tracing my skin. “We have to stop at this. No further than we went before?—”
"He won't find out," she interrupts, her fingers dipping below my waistband. "This is between us. Just us."
I want to tell her it's not that simple, that secrets this big have a way of coming out, that if Ronan ever learns I touched his sister while lying to his face about her safety, there won't be enough left of me to scrape off the walls. But her hand slips inside my boxer briefs then, wrapping around me skin to skin, and coherent thought becomes impossible.
"Fuck," I breathe, my head falling back against the pillow as she grazes her fingertips against the bare, hot, throbbing skin of my cock.
Annie reaches down, tugging at my pants and boxers to free me, and I lift my hips, letting her move my clothing around however it suits her. Every spare thought I have is focused on her fingers sliding along the velvet skin of my cock, my erection straining into her palm as she frees me, pushing the sheets back so that she can see every inch of my throbbing arousal.
