“Say it, Caro. Let me hear it.”
I hesitated. It wasn’t because I wanted him to suffer,but I needed him to feel the words, know how serious and honest they were. AndI hadn’t said them in a while. I was rusty. They were difficult words to say.They were all of my trust and hope and fears and insecurities and future andpast and dreams and goals and aspirations all in one little sentence. They wereeverything and all of me and both of those things at once.
It wasn’t something I wanted to say flippantly or oncommand. I wanted to mean it. I wanted to swear it.
I wanted it to be my oath and creed and life’spurpose.
“I love you, Sayer Wesley. I never stopped loving you.I will never stop loving you.”
His hands cradled my face, gentle and unyielding. “Iwent through the seven circles of hell to hear you say that, Six. It was worthit. Every damn minute.”
Tears pricked at my eyes again, but when his mouthconnected with mine, I forgot all about them or about the sorrow, theheartbreak and years apart. Everything became about this moment, this touch,this man with his hands on me and his mouth on me and what he was doing to me.
With one hand, he managed to finally undo his buckle.My jeans were gone next, ripped off my legs and turned inside out. And thenhis, so that we were finally stripped down to only underwear.
I’d seen him naked recently, but not like this. Notwhen his muscles were flexed and rippling because of how he had to lean overme. Not when his corded strength was coiled for me. Not when his rough handscaressed my thighs and my breasts and parted my legs so he could explore thecenter of me.
Yet while I was ogling him, I was highlyself-conscious of how I looked as well. While all of his changes were for thebetter, mine were not as kind. He had bigger, stronger arms. I had stretchmarks on my abdomen and wider, childbearing hips. He had turned his body intomuscle. Mine had gone soft from too many pizza Friday nights and ice creamswith Juliet and not enough time found to exercise. And yet next to him, Ididn’t hate my rounder body or matured features. Next to him they felt right,designed to be this way, complements of each other in a way that I would neverhave expected.
Neither of us were the same, but I preferred it thatway. We weren’t the same as before. We had changed and grown and suffered andhurt and faced this world and all its hardships. So it was okay that we weren’tthe same naïve kids. It was okay that we weren’t kissing as those people weused to be. We weren’t them anymore.
We were new versions of us kissing in a new version ofpassion.
And to be honest, I preferred this one.
His fingers circled and coaxed and created a deliciousache that was soul deep. It spread through me like ripples on water, making mylimbs tingle and my core tighten. It had been so long since my body had beenbrought to this point by someone else.
I had been asleep for the past five years and Sayerwas determined to wake me up.
He leaned over me, swiping everything off the deskbehind me and leveraged my body so his fingers could reach deeper. I gasped atthe sensation, the fulfilling feeling of him finding the most sensitive part ofme.
“Fucking missed this,” he murmured against my temple.He trailed kisses down the side of my face, the corner of my eye, my jawline,the column of my throat. His lips caressed the top of my breast, and with hisfree hand, he nudged my bra to the side so he could close his mouth around mynipple and suck.
I let out a gasp of pleasure, encouraging him to suckharder, longer. His tongue flicked and swirled and then his teeth scraped in away that drove me crazy.
Squirming, I tried to sit up straighter, tried to findsome position in which I had more control, but with clever pressure from thefingers still moving inside me, he coaxed me to lean back further, dominatingmy body and my senses and my desire.
“Let go, Caro,” he ordered in that deep, growly voice.“Give in.”
I leaned back on my hands, spreading my legs wider,tilting my hips for his benefit. His fingers moved in and out slowly, pressingdeeper each time, bringing me closer and closer each time. Then his thumbpressed that sensitive bud right where I needed him the most, right when Ineeded him the most, and he gave my nipple another long suck, letting me feelhis teeth and tongue and all the wicked heat of his mouth.
And there was nothing left for me to do other thanobey his command to let go. Lights burst behind my eyes and my entire bodyarched and tightened and became something else entirely. He didn’t stop movinghis fingers or driving me wild with what he was doing to my breasts. I was athis complete mercy, totally and completely his.
When I came back to myself, my appendages were warm,limp with satisfaction, but still his fingers moved, refusing to let my desirego to sleep. I reached forward, wrapping my hand around him, caressing the hardlength I had missed for far too long. He shivered at my touch, a full bodytremble that revealed his own need.
“Better not,” he murmured with a wicked half smile.“It’s been a while.”
I nibbled on my bottom lip, wondering just how long.He tugged my underwear off and stepped between my thighs.
“Are you clean?” he asked, his voice only slightlymore coherent than before.
“There’s been nobody since you,” I promised him.
His eyes darkened and his hands landed on the insidesof my thighs, spreading my legs wider. “No one?”
I shook my head. “I couldn’t.” Looking down, unable tostand the intensity in his gaze or the fear that swallowed my heart whole, Isaid, “It’s only ever been you, Sayer.”
He nudged my head up with a hand under my chin.“There’s been no one for me either. No one has even entered my thoughts sinceyou.”
