I move Knox’s hands up and under my dress, guiding them to the frilly hem of my underwear and letting his knuckles brush against the flat plane of my stomach. A rumble shimmies up his throat—a man warring with his baser instincts, trying to balance the scales of restraint and losing against a rigged game.
I squeeze my thighs together in hopes of shunting the pain. “Yes. I want, I need…”
“You don’t have to say another word. Just let me take care of my girl.”
Effortlessly, he picks me up yet again—a position we’re both too comfortable with—and carries me to his bedroom, setting me on the bed with a gentleness that blares respect rather than caution. An arctic cold flowers inside of me the same way it runs through crystalline ice and compacted sediment.
I help him slip out of his jacket and shirt, running my hands over his defined abs that I’ve seen on far too many occasions with a DO NOT TOUCH sign splayed on the front. Except this time, I no longer defer from the invisible line that was once drawn in the sand.
There’s a drum beating in my ears, and it spells sin with each drawn-out note, prophesizing the demise of my virginity as I know it.
“God, you’re freakishly fit,” I blurt out, dragging my finger through the divide in his stomach, all the way down to the happy trail that takes on an exceedingly darker color than the brown of his hair.
“That’s all for you. Gotta keep my stamina up if I’m going to last through the night.”
I give him a once-over. “I, uh, don’t think you’ll have that problem.”
“With you? I’ll be lucky if I last three minutes.”
Is he serious?
“Yes, I’m serious,” he insists, a paroxysm of heavy-lidded devotion flitting over his face.
Shit. Was that not an inside thought?
“No, it wasn’t.”
Oh, my poor, poor vagina. She doesn’t stand a chance.
Knox grabs my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “We don’t have to go any further, Staten. You—we fuckingkissedtonight. Do you know how long I’ve been dreaming of this moment? I don’t care if a kiss is all that happens. It’s enough for me. I just want you to be as comfortable as possible.”
“I am comfortable!” I exclaim a little too enthusiastically. “It’s just—my body isn’t used to this much…”
His chuckle—the one dipped in gravel—is so deep it could rend bone. “Stimulation?”
Ironically enough, his voice is just proving my point. I trust Knox. I know that he’s going to take care of me no matter what happens.
“Yeah.”
“Let’s take it slow then. You tell me exactly how you want me to touch you, okay? What feels good, what doesn’t. You run the ship, and I’m just the lucky bastard that gets to hitch a ride.”
I hook my fingers through his belt loop—situating us closer to the headboard so I have a place to rest my head on the pillows—and Knox Mulligan fuckingcrawlsafter me. On all fours, want lurking in the near-black depths of his eyes, the front of his crotch saturated with an abundant spurt of pre-cum.
Knox’s prowess needs to be studied—the way he switches between dominant and submissive is seamless, and he knows when to lean into which to pet the ill-contented beast inside of me.
“Can you spread your legs for me, baby?”
Thick-tongued, my resolve sanded down, I do as he says,showing him the pathetic state of my cum-drenched underwear, my cunt begging for friction that isn’t supplied by breathable cotton.
His words sew themselves into a curse. “Fuck, that’s such a pretty sight. A pretty sight from my pretty girl. You’re already wet and I’ve barely even touched you.”
I buck my hips like a cat in heat, needing release more than I need my next breath of air, and everything suddenly feels too tight, too suffocating. I’m balancing on a knife’s edge of patience, but the burn in my abdomen is veering into unbearable.
“I need you, Knox. Please. Please make the ache go away.”
“I’m never going to deny you, Staten.Ever,” he promises, getting a stable hold on my knees and pushing them far apart, fingers dimpling the skin and communicating the heft of his hunger.
He pushes my dress up before administering a series of kisses to the inside of my thigh, biting hard enough on the fat to brand, then chasing the sting with his tongue. He’s so close to my pussy. He’s not teasing me—not in the heartless sense. He’s cherishing me, and with that comes an unhurried exploration of a body that was once sealed behind closure signs.
