My gaze locks on his, and I nod again as my body trembles.
“Words, Noah.” His hand cups my cheek, warm and sure as he stares into my eyes. “I need them.”
Touching the place over his heart, I feel the sure, steady thrum under my fingertips. It’s grounding. “I trust you. I always have.”
His breath hitches as he lowers his face to mine, and a groan rumbles in his chest. “Listen to me, okay?” Conviction laces his words, but then he lets me feel them, too, his lips brushing over mine as he speaks. “I understandwanting to forget. But I think Ineedyou to remember.The way I touched you. Held you. Loved you.”
“I want that, too.”
And then, he’s moving, getting up from the bed and rummaging for something in the chest of drawers. “What are you doing?” My brows crash together as I watch the determination in his actions.
He’s back a moment later, standing at the foot of the bed and raking a hand through his hair. Under the growth of his beard, I can tell there’s a muscle twitching at the back of his jaw. He studies me, and my eyes flick down to his other hand. I have faith that whatever he has in mind is something he thinks I need. “Are you with me?” he grits out, and I nod, never in my life having questioned Rhett’s intentions. “Lie in the center of the bed.”
Moving quickly, he climbs onto the mattress at my side and while I watch with curious eyes, he holds a silky piece of fabric up and tilts his head, asking for permission. “I want you to use all your senses. Trust that I can remind you how we were together.”
I let out a stuttered breath, nodding. “Okay.”
He straddles my waist and reaches forward, unlooping a length of rope from his bedpost. My eyes widen, but he sets it aside with a tiny smirk lifting the corner of his mouth. One second, I can see his facialfeatures as he moves in the shadows of the dark room, and the next, he’s secured the blindfold around my head, and my world becomes one void of sight.
Cupping my face with strong hands, his touch is loving. Reverent. “I’m going to talk you through it. All you have to do is listen to my voice. Feel my warmth and the pressure of my touch.” My heart stutters as he continues, “Remember the scent of my skin. The taste of me on your tongue.”
His hands smooth along my neck, and fingertips dance over my shoulders before continuing downward until they reach my hands. He squeezes them briefly. “Tell me if anything I do is too much.” My brow furrows under the blindfold, and for a moment, all I can concentrate on is the steady thrum of my heart. Then, he’s shifting over me, and I listen to the rustle of movement as he takes me by the wrist, bringing my arm over my head. “For now, I just want you to concentrate on touch.” He uses the rope to tie one wrist to the bedpost, then quickly fastens the other.
I inhale deeply, my chest rising with it. The material of his jersey teases over my skin as he drags it upward, exposing my breasts to his view. I jerk, gasping as his warm breath fans over one nipple. “I’m here. Just looking at you.” His voice is smoother than whiskey. “I remember how you like to be teased.” His rough swallow meets my ears. “Is that okay?”
A swarm of memories infiltrates my thoughts. Days we’d ridden out into one of the pastures on our horses. Had lazy sex in the shade of a tree. Countless occasions when we’d secretly met in his barn or he’d snuck into my room at my parents’ home. Long nights spent in each other’s arms, satisfying a craving we could never quite seem to quench. More than anything, I’m overwhelmed remembering the headiness of those days and nights and how we’d learned to love each other.
“Gonna touch you now. We’ll start slow,” he grits out. I squirm, not knowing where he’ll begin. “It’s just you and me here.”
His fingertips trail over my stomach, and it dips as an involuntary gasp pulls from my throat.
I’m able to imagine the way his hot gaze slides over my body, those dark, knowing eyes following the movement of his hands along every curve as they roam skin that has been aching for his touch.
The mattress shifts as he moves, and a shudder rocks me. His beard tickles the side of my neck. Warm lips send tingles of pleasure down my spine.
I tug at my bonds, chest dipping with a small laugh. “Patience, Noah.” His breath cascades over my lips. He nips at the lower swell, and I tremble, waiting for the next touch.Need him.Need more.My lower body twists under him, and the movement brings my stomach intocontact with his groin, only the thin material of cotton boxers between us.
I don’t have much time to think about it, though, because a second later, he readjusts, and his palms tease my breasts. “It’smyhands touching you.” He groans, and my breath gets caught as I wait. My back arches, straining—I know he’s there, hovering over me—and my nipples grow taut with want.
“Please, Rhett.”
“Anything you need, baby.”
My breathing is erratic, and I thrash, wanting so badly to put my hands in his hair and hold him to me. I can sense his broad body looming over mine, and I tilt my pelvis, hooking a leg behind his ass and bringing him closer.
And then, his mouth is drawing my hardened peaks deep. His tongue flicks over me as his fingers pinch at the other. Teeth scrape over my nipple, and I nearly burst from my skin. “Oh god,” I cry out, pleasure circulating through me at every point of contact. He keeps moving, pressing open-mouthed kisses more urgently over my skin.
He has me reeling. I never know where he’s going next, but it doesn’t matter. All of it has my blood burning hot in my veins.
Rhett’s labored breaths coast over my jawline as he licks at my skin, growling deep in his chest. “It’smymouth on you, teasing you. Tempting you. Mine alone.” His tongue slips between my lips, seeking. My heart explodes as I return the kiss. I ache with the knowledge of a million such moments I’ve missed out on, and vow never to let him go again. With every wicked nip and lick, we sink deeper, until I hardly know what to do with myself—or where I end and he begins.
He lets out a heady groan. “And when you’re ready, Noah? It’ll bemycock inside you. Pleasing you. Making you feel good. Giving you what you need.” At those words, my body riots, desperate for him. His hand skates over my stomach, fingers inching lower so slowly I think I might lose it. “Tell me if this isn’t okay.”
“Fuck.” Desire rushes in and takes over every thought in my head. “Don’t stop. Please touch me,” I whisper raggedly. “Make me remember, Rhett.” His beard rasps over my cheek, as he shifts, lips grazing my earlobe before he sucks it into his mouth.
Full vibrant colors flash behind my eyelids as sensation riots low in my abdomen. He fingers the hem of my panties and peels them slowly from my body. I lift my hips, hardly able to tell which end is up as they slip down my legs. He shifts, jostling the mattress with his movements. I may not be able to see him yet, but I burn with the knowledge that he’s now completely bare too.
In the quiet of the room where only he and I exist, he swallows hard. “Are you ready for more, Noah?”Those work-rough hands I know so well land on my knees. I know no fear, only the fiercest longing for him.
