The tension wound tightly inside eased a little. I needed her understanding.
Beyond that, I just needed this connection. I needed her. She dropped my hand, placing her palm right in the center of my chest. I felt my heart lurch forward, as if her touch itself was tugging it closer.
She dipped her head and pressed her lips into the hollow at the base of my throat—just like she had the night we first kissed. The heat of her kiss radiated outward, like slow ripples from a small pebble dropped into water. I was wordless, caught in a maelstrom of need and emotion.
Without saying a word, she stepped back and reached for my hand. I followed her up the stairs, onto the landing, and into her bedroom. She stopped, turning to face me.
“I probably smell like food,” she said with a low, sheepish laugh.
I chuckled. “Well, the food there is really good,” I offered.
The sound of her throaty laugh was like champagne fizzing inside of me. “It is good,” she agreed.
All rational thought dissolved in the heat of our connection when she stepped closer again. In a matter of seconds, we were plastered together. I needed to feel her, needed to be grounded in our connection. As the moments unfolded, second by second, each a tick of the metronome, the need between us burned hot and fast. There was almost a wildness to it whenever we were close.
In spite of the wild edge, or perhaps because of it, it was also grounding for me. Because I could forget everything else but sensation. Her silky hands mapping my body. The feel of her lips underneath mine. Claiming her mouth with kiss after kiss. The sound of her breath rasping with mine. The feel of her soft curves. The contrast to my hardness. The press of her nipples. The flush of her skin. The way desire unfurled between us. The push and pull of our connection. When I teased my fingers into her slippery folds. The sound of her soft sigh. The way her breath hitched in her throat. The way she nipped the side of my neck. Her touch was sure as her palms slid over my chest and abs to curl around my length. The way her eyes met mine in the dim light.
When she rose up over me and said, “This right here,” I was so lost in the moment that I forgot to put a condom on.
Just as she slid over the underside of my cock, and I almost came instantly, I belatedly choked out, “Condom.”
Tori’s eyes widened slightly. I felt a jolt of relief to not be alone in the rushing force of our connection. My lips kicked up, my voice husky. “Almost forgot, but didn’t.”
After fetching a condom, I rolled it on in record time. I savored the way she slid down over me, sheathing me in her channel. Settling herself, she rocked her hips slightly, a tiny smile curling her lips. “There,” she whispered.
I shifted back into the pillows. I felt the brush of her nipples against my chest as we began to rock together. My hand laced in her hair as her forehead fell to mine. With that familiar push and pull, the clenching of her core around me, everything spun tight inside. It felt like a storm gathering force.
Her name was a chant on my lips as I reached between us. I knew her body now, knew when she was chasing her release. She cried out, her voice ragged, as she came. Her pussy clamped more tightly, as she trembled around me and over me. My own release, finally, broke loose.
I held her tight and close, savoring the feel of her going soft against me as the storm abated. When she lifted her head a few moments later and her eyes locked with mine, the resounding thump of my heart was definitive. I knew I was in love with her.
I hadn’t expected any of this.
Chapter Twenty
Tori
I stared into Kincaid’s eyes, lost in the blur. This moment felt startlingly intense and intimate. I knew I was in love with him, and it terrified me.
My body felt sated, as I always did, when I was with him. Meanwhile, my insecurity clamored, as if scrambling to make its voice known, to remind me of all the reasons I couldn’t trust anyone. And yet, my body knew a different story. I knew that I felt safe with him.
His hand loosened in my hair, his touch sliding down in an easy pass along the center of my back to rest on my hip. “Tori.” His voice was gruff.
My heart felt cracked wide open. I had to clear my throat. “Yeah?”
His lips twitched, just barely, at the corners. “I just wanted to say your name,” he added before leaning forward and giving me a lingering kiss.
My mouth opened easily under his because, with him, I always wanted more. On the heels of that kiss, when I saw the flicker of something in his gaze, I wanted to comfort him. This was an unfamiliar feeling. When he leaned back slightly, I lifted my hand, trailing my fingertips, along his stubbled jaw. Kincaid was handsome, but when he had that five o’clock shadow, I just loved it.
I cupped his cheek lightly, my thumb tracing along his bottom lip. “Are you okay?” I asked.
His eyes widened slightly. “Of course, I’m okay. I’m more than okay, I mean—” He gestured between us. “It’s always incredible when I’m with you.”
All of a sudden, emotion rushed through me, like an unexpected fierce wind whipping something loose. It almost overwhelmed me, and I had to blink away the prick of tears.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked softly.
I cleared my throat, swallowing before I nodded. “Yeah,” was all I could manage.
