“Oh…yes,” she says, her voice breathy as goosebumps prickle all along her arms.
“And this?” Continuing my exploration down the curve of her neck, I scrape my teeth over the sensitive tendon there, biting down gently until a little gasp escapes her lips. A burst of her scent—of her arousal—washes over me, and then she draws in a sharp breath and her entire body goes still.
“Joey? What’s wrong?” Concerned I pushed her too far, I sit up and rest my hands on her shoulders. “Talk to me, buttercup.”
A slow smile spreads across her lips. “I wasn’t sure…I didn’t think I’d ever be able to again…”
“I don’t understand.”
Urging me to lie back down, Joey gazes up at me, love darkening the blue of her eyes. “You will. Keep going.”
I’ll give her anything she wants. She’s my entire world. Running my finger under the strap of her tank, I arch a brow. “May I?”
She bites her lip, but nods, and when I strip off the dark material, leaving her in just her bra, she frowns.
“What is it?”
“The bra too.” The boldness in her words shocks me, but I do as she asks, reaching behind her to unsnap the hooks. Her breasts spill out of the black cotton, her nipples already hardened into tight nubs.
My dick aches, and damn. If she even touches me, I’m afraid I’ll explode. I never told her—she’s not the only one who hasn’t had sex in fucking forever. I’ve fooled around, sure. Had a few girlfriends I went down on. And hand jobs in the shower? I’m a damn expert. But actual sex? I could never bring myself to that point. It felt like a betrayal.
“Ford?” The whispered word brings me back from my own momentary reverie, and I meet her gaze. “Touch me.”
Cupping her breast, I take one taut nub between my lips, and she arches her back, moaning softly. “Oh God. I’d forgotten…”
“What?” I say after laving my tongue over the peak again and again, delighting in her quick pants, the way her hands fist in the sheets, and the blush breaking out over her dewy skin.
“How to feel…”
I pinch the other nipple, and Joey shudders, clamping her hand over her mouth to contain the constant little whimpers and gasps she makes as I kiss, suck, and nip my way lower. She smells like the sea after a storm, her arousal wrapping around me like a cloak, and when my lips brush the waistband of her panties, I stop, gazing up at her from between her legs.
“We can stop, baby. Nothing else has to happen.” My hands are clamped around her hips, my cock threatening to break free from my briefs. I want her so badly. Want to bury myself deep inside her and feel her clench around me.
Our last night together before the end plays over and over in my mind.
“I like you balls-deep in me.”
God. She was so…direct. Still is, when she’s not scared of saying the wrong thing or doing something that will trigger bad memories. She’s still my warrior. It’s still inside her. Buried under all that pain.
Joey takes one of my hands and threads her fingers with mine. Slowly, she guides me under the hem of her panties and over her mound.
“Fuck, baby. You’re so wet,” I whisper, and then look up to see her eyes shining and her lower lip caught between her teeth. Fear snakes its cold tendrils around my heart, and I freeze until she releases her lip and smiles.
“I didn’t think I would ever want this again,” she says, her voice halting and rough. “Or be able to do this. I’ve kissed other guys. I tried vibrators. Even watched porn. Nothing. I felt…nothing. I thought…I thought that part of me died twenty years ago. But…it hasn’t. It was just…waiting for you.”
Pride puffs out my chest—both for being the one to reintroduce her to herself, and for being with someone who’s so brave, who can fight her way back from so much pain to let me touch her. To even let me hold her.
I watch her face carefully as I slide the panties down her hips, and fuck, the scent of her, the way her dark blond curls glisten, the shift of her hips as I position myself between her thighs…I’ll be lucky if I don’t lose control the second I taste her.
“We can stop—”
“Shhh. Trust me, Ford. And…make me come. Please.” A tear slips down her cheek, and I reach up and flick it away.
“As you wish.”
Joey
I never imagined it would be this easy. Every time I tried to fool around with a guy, it always ended in panic, tears, and shame. But with Ford…there’s none of that. Only tenderness and love and a need so great, I feel like I’m about to come out of my skin.
