His jaw tightened. “This isnae about lies.”
“It is,” she said, quiet and steady. “Ye keep telling yerself rules will save ye. Have they?”
He took a step as if to end it, then stopped.
The room waited, and the fire burned even lower. Her face stayed calm, her hands at her sides, her shoulders squared as if braced for a blow that would not come.
Alex felt the fight in him turn into heat and loss and burning desire.
“Erica,” he warned one last time.
“Alex,” she answered, and the way she said his name burned through every line he had set.
The space between them closed. It was not a rush. It was breath and the sound of cloth and the press of her mouth. His hand found the back of her neck, not to hold her, only to be sure she was real. She rose into him.
Their argument fell away. Heat took its place. Her fingers slid over the laces of his shirt. He found the end of her corset tie.
The kiss turned fierce and more certain, and the world narrowed to the room and the floor and the small sounds between them as they grew even more frantic.
Her clothes fell behind her, and he couldn’t look away. His eyes roamed over her, nothing but sheer hunger and desire in them.
“Christ, ye look breathtaking.”
He stepped closer to her, before shrugging off his shirt. He strained against his trousers as he leaned in and pressed into her, the friction maddening.
Her hips shifted almost with instinct, and the heat between them grew even through the thin fabric. The floor felt cold beneath his feet, even though every other part of his body burned hotter than the sun.
He gritted his teeth and suppressed a groan. Her skin smelled of rosemary and soap and the sweat that was just beginning to gather on her neck.
Then, before he could do anything, her hand dipped between them. His heart skipped a beat. He felt his whole body lock into place as her warm fingers wrapped around him.
The wave of pleasure that shot through him at that moment was almost disorienting. His hips jerked, then his jaw clenched so hard he could have sworn he heard a tooth crack.
“Erica…” he grunted into her neck, reaching for her wrist right on time. “If ye keep doing that, I daenae think I can?—”
He pulled her hand away and pinned it to the wall above her head, while his other hand cupped her jaw and tilted her head up. Then he trailed his fingers down her throat, across her chest, and buried his face in her breasts.
“Alex,” she groaned and rocked into him, almost reflexively.
His tongue flicked against her right nipple, her reaction spurring him even further. His tongue trailed lower and stopped right at the heat between her thighs.
The feel of her shuddering against him almost sent him over the edge. His fingers slid through her folds easily, and the slickness almost made him lose his balance.
She was hot. And wet.
It drove himmad.
His lips remained locked on hers as he worked his finger inside her slowly. He kept the pace slow because he wanted this moment to linger in his head. He wanted to remember everything. How she moved, how she arched against him, and how she moaned into his mouth when he curled his finger.
He found a rhythm and started to ride her through it, quickening the pace as slowly as it would take. He felt it in the way she gasped against his lips and pressed tighter against his chest. He added a second finger, and her body tightened even further.
He didn’t slow down. His fingers moved faster instead, and soon, he could feel the exact moment she climaxed.
He kissed her harder as she clenched around his fingers and shook almost violently against him. He felt her breath break, and she was almost unable to make any noise at all. When she grew sensitive and started trembling, he broke the kiss.
Without waiting for the other to speak, they both collapsed onto the floor.
Later, the stones were cool under his shoulder blades. The fire had died to a red bed. They lay side by side, eyes on the ceiling, breath evening out in the tense and rather rigid silence.
