When she didn’t let go of him, Sean readjusted his position over her, bracing on his elbows on either side of her head. She had prepared herself for some kind of unease having him cover her like this, but none came. There was only warmth, need, and impatient desire.
“I could never take advantage of you,” he stared at her intently. “And I’ve never done this without a condom. Never even considered it.”
“Would you consider it now?” The words were out before she even knew she was thinking them. But as soon as she said them, she knew she wanted this experience with him.
But maybe she was on that page alone, because above her, Sean just blinked.
Worrying about his silence, she reminded him hesitantly, “I’m on the pill.”
Had she overstepped? Was it too soon to take such a big leap? Maybe he wasn’t ready? Then a terrible thought formed. What if the condom was more to protect him than her? What if he was worried that she had something, because of what happened?
Dirty,the devil whispered. Vicious feelings of shame and self-doubt attacked, replacing the warmth she’d been feeling with the cold chill of panic.
“Never mind, you don’t—”
Sean cut her off with a kiss, hungry and demanding, and immediately her panic eased.
“Ivy.” He kissed her, sucking at her lower lip. “You kill me, you know that? Every time,” he muttered, almost to himself, before bending his head to her breasts, drawing in a nipple, pulling and rolling it with his tongue, inviting pleasure to shoot through her. After a few moments of the blissful torture, he lifted his head again, his eyes burning with sincerity. “Yourtrustfucking kills me.” He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, her nose, then her mouth before returning his gaze to hers. He looked solemn. Devoted. “There’s no one on the planet I’d consider this with but you.”
Dipping his head, he began a slow worship of her body, pausing at all the places he now knew drove her wild. Everywhere he touched sent tremors of sensation shooting through her until her body was like a live wire.
When his tongue flicked over the very center of her, she cried out his name. Her hips bucked up off the bed, and he stilled them by holding them in place as he lapped and sucked on her sensitive flesh. Her hands clawed wildly at the covers of her bed, fistfuls of fabric giving her a false sense of purchase. But there was nothing to tether her, and when he added the firm strokes of his fingers inside her, she nearly came right off the mattress altogether.
The pent-up emotional energy from the past hours poured out of her, her body shuddering with the force of her release. Pleasure and relief rolled over her in waves until eventually, the tsunami subsided, leaving her limp and weightless. But despite having had the orgasm to end all orgasms, Ivy had renewed intent for one thing.
She wanted him buried inside her, while she ran her hands over the hard, sculpted muscles of his back. And she wanted it. Right. Now.
Greedily, Ivy pulled at his shoulders until he was over her. “More,” she begged, wriggling into position beneath him. “Now, Sean. Let me feel you. All of you, over all of me.”
There was a grunt. Then he spread her legs wider than he ever had before to make room for himself between them. His face was pulled tight, like it was taking every last ounce of his willpower to hold on to his restraint. His passion fed hers, and she reveled in the erotic scene unfolding: Sean, huge and powerful, moving between her legs, gripping his massive, straining erection in his hands as he positioned himself at her entrance, giving it one firm stroke from base to tip.
He flicked his gaze to hers. “Eyes stay on me, Ivy,” he commanded, his voice rough and deep.
She nodded, though she couldn’t have averted her eyes even if she’d wanted to. The pull between them was that strong, that invisible string pulled so taut it was unbreakable. And then, in one long thrust, he entered her, simultaneously falling over her, his massive chest covering hers.
Solid and heavy. Warm and responsive. Even as his body pumped rhythmically against her, the force of his thrusts pushing her up the mattress, there was no roughness. No unease, no fear. There was no room for it in her mind.
Not when every part of her was bursting with fulfillment and, oh, so much love. Love for this man who had held her tenderly. This man whose relentless patience had led her to this moment where, for the first time in years, the stirrings of true healing rippled inside her. This man who’d given her the hope that one day, with work and him at her side, enough time might pass that she could have the future she dreamed of. A future free of her haunted past.
Floating on gratitude, love, and passion, her body built to another tipping point.
Sean’s grunts of pleasure fell hot and rough against her ear, and she could tell by the way all his muscles were growing tenser around her that he was as close as she was. When he lifted his head, his eyes burned into hers.
“Look at me, Ivy,” he growled, hovering over her. “You’re about to make me come, sweetheart, and I need you looking at me when I do.”
His words, his deep voice, the pressure he was creating where their bodies were joined, set off a domino effect of release in her body. Ivy wrapped her legs tightly around his torso so that this time she’d be tethered to something. To him.
His name detonated off her lips. Desperate but ready.
He increased his tempo in response, reaching between them, spreading her more intimately, and pressing his fingers against her. It was like a trigger going off. Her hoarse cries of release filled the room. The effort of keeping her eyes open through the blinding passion caused tears to stream down her cheeks. His name fell like a litany from her mouth. Over and over.
Around the roaring in her head and the endless flames of climax engulfing her body, Sean went still above her, a final groan escaping him, and then a rush of moisture. His. Hers. Melding together, becoming one.
Long moments they lay together, still joined. Breathless.
“Ivy.” He said her voice almost like a question. Like he was as stunned as she was by what had happened.
“I know.” She panted. “Do people really have sex like this?” She didn’t realize she’d said her question out loud until Sean spoke into the quiet room.
