He ravished her. Every stroke of his tongue savouring, every flicker meant to entice, every pull of his lips pushing her higher and higher, inch by inch.
Nina hadn’t known that her body could feel so many sensations at once. Her bones were heavy, her heartbeat light and quick. Her heart at peace, her blood at war as it pumped fire through her.
Her hips moved with him, grinding in the tiniest of thrusts as if begging for more even as he tore her apart. Her legs trembled violently. Her hands in his hair tightened, holding him to her even though she knew he wouldn’t be the one to leave.
The orgasm rose in her like a massive ocean wave, collecting size and momentum as it approached. She held her breath as the wave pummelled her, taking her under. And when Maverick sensed the change and gently slid his tongue deep inside of her instead of using his fingers, her back arched off the bed. She closed her eyes as that wave mercilessly tore through her, tumbling everything she’d thought she’d known and rearranging it into something entirely new.
And when she couldn’t stop the loud moan that tore from her lips, she slapped her own hand over her mouth, muffling it against her palm as she rocked against Maverick’s tongue, riding out the pleasure until she collapsed back onto the bed, exhausted.
She stared up at the plain white ceiling in stunned disbelief as the little aftershocks left her body in ripples of awareness. Her legs fell open as her muscles slackened. Nina might have been embarrassed had she even been aware of doing it.
Maverick shifted, trailing his lips from one thigh to the other and leaving little fires everywhere.
She shivered and closed her eyes as she tried to sear the moment to memory, because right then, basking in the afterglow of her first orgasm that hadn’t come from a vibrator, she understood that she had been acting passion wrong this whole time too. It wasn’t frantic and rushed and scary. It was heavy and huge and so, so consuming.
Nobody had ever told her that you weren’t supposed to feel alone afterwards … But now, with Maverick, she didn’t – feel alone. She felt entwined. As if they were the only two people in the ether of the universe.
When the first tear fell, Nina hurriedly swiped it away, embarrassed.
Maverick didn’t ask her what was wrong, he only crawled up the bed to her and, propping himself up on one elbow, brushed them away himself. He touched his lips to hers, whispered, ‘I’m here.’
Nina was old enough, and had been in therapy long enough, to understand that she had some major trust and intimacy issues. Her mother’s numerous betrayals throughout her childhood had made her suspicious of everyone, but especially of men. She didn’t welcome people into her life. In fact, she consciously avoided it, knowing the pain and uncertainty they came with.
The three times she had taken a man to her bed she hadn’t felt anything except vaguely scared, and then disappointed when the experience had left her feeling more lonely, more lacking.
But here, now, with Mav, she finally understood what she had been missing, and it was so simple, so obvious. It wastrust. And it was the loveliest realization to know that she wasn’t damaged beyond repair, that someone – Maverick – fit, like a key in a lock, opening that part of herself she had kept sealed away from everyone else.
Wanting to share it with him, wanting to keep trusting him, she snuggled back into him, pressing her bare butt up against the soft fabric of his sweatpants and his hard length beneath them.
He nuzzled that delicate spot behind her ear. ‘I wasn’t prepared,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ll go into town tomorrow.’ But he rolled her onto her back, lowered his mouth to her breast.
He pulled her nipple into his mouth and swirled his tongue around the sensitized peak.
Nina arched into him as that need started building again. But it wasn’t enough. ‘Mav …’
His big palm rose to stroke her hair immediately. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I haven’t had sex in four years,’ Nina said. ‘I’m clean. And I’m already on the pill – to time my periods for filming.’
‘I don’t mind waiting,’ he assured her. ‘This …’ He lowered his head to lavish her other breast with attention. ‘This is still the best fucking night of my life.’
She loved that he genuinely would have waited, even as she hated how her body ached to be filled. Unsure of herself, unsure of him, she ran her hands through his hair, pulling his gaze to hers. ‘Are you worried? That what happened to Shannon might happen to me?’
‘No.’ He shook his head vehemently. Then stilled. Paled.
‘What?’ she whispered, alarmed by the shock on his face.
He slowly met her eyes again. ‘I don’t want to scare you.’
‘You won’t.’
Taking her hand in his he placed it over the impossibly hard ridge in his sweatpants and pressed her palm down. ‘It turns me on,’ he said gravely. ‘It’s new, but yeah … Fuck.’
He expelled a huge breath and buried his face in his comforter.
She heard his muffled groan. But Nina knew he wasn’t lying. She had felt him twitch beneath her palm as the words had left his mouth.
It shocked her, and it scared her a little. But only because it excited her so much too.
