“Just so we’re clear,” she said, “you took my shoes off.”
“Yes.”
“You took my shoes off because you want me to stay.”
“Yes.”
“For sex.”
His throat rippled as he swallowed. “If that’s what you want, yes.”
His strangled response made her grin. “Okay then. Well, that’s awesome because I very much want to do bad things to allthis.” She waved a hand from the top of his dark blond head down to the tips of his cordovan shoes.
“I’m good with that,” he deadpanned.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” She grinned saucily at him as the tension drained from her body.
He rewarded her by literally, physically upending her over his shoulder and giving her ass a light slap. “Josie Ryan, I’m taking you to bed so I can fuck you properly, and you don’t get to leave until I say you can. How’s that for direct?”
She almost burst into flames at his words. “It’s good. It’s so good.”Tell me you don’t ever want me to leave, she wanted to add, but even she wasn’tthathonest. Instead, she dug her fingers into his back as he carried her to the bedroom. If she wasn’t careful, she’d get addicted to being hauled around like a sack of flour.
When they reached his bed, he tossed her onto the center of it, where she bounced up to a kneeling position.
“Fair warning, I’m planning to destroy this piece of furniture too.”
A smile spread across his face as he gazed down at her. “You can certainly try. Take that off.” He lifted his chin to her dress.
“So bossy,” she murmured, unzipping her dress and pulling it over her head to send it sailing into a corner. It was the kind with a built-in bra, which barely provided enough support for someone with her “ample endowments,” as her mother once phrased it. And while she’d been slightly concerned that she might burst through the seams during that afternoon’s ceremony, every second of worry was worth it to be instantly naked under Erik’s gaze right now. His chest expanded as he sucked in a giant breath, and when she gave a little stretch, causing her breasts to shift, his eyes tracked their movement. To test just how carefully he was watching her, she leaned back on her left arm, her breasts swaying with her. A millisecond later, Erik’s eyes followed the same path.
Oh, this was fun. Actually maybetoofun. Although she was tempted to abuse her power over the poor boob-drunk male, she redirected his focus. “Man Bun. Off with it,” she ordered, twirling a finger in his direction.
And Erik being Erik, he lifted a brow and wordlessly followed her directions. Of course, he did it in his own Erik way, taking his sweet time to peel off the jacket and kick off his shoes before slowly pulling off his shirt. Her eyes followed his hands as they moved to his pants; and the clink of his belt buckle, the rustle of fabric, the slide and tug as he pulled them off launched her anticipation into overdrive. His movements were sure and unhurried, and it was all a special kind of torture that had her running her tongue over her lower lip in her eagerness.
Once he was naked, she leaned back and looked her fill at his body: powerful, tense, seemingly carved of stone. “That’s it. You should never be allowed to wear clothes again.”
“Health code violation,” he replied as he joined her on the bed.
She reached for him with grabby hands and pushed him on his back, following him down to kiss him until they were both gasping for air. Only then did she allow herself to explore the rest of his body with her hands and mouth and tongue, revealing details he’d kept hidden: the freckled skin of his shoulders, the faded scar bisecting his ribs, the lion tattoo on his chest. She wanted to own all his stories, to know what sun under what sky had kissed those tan specks into his skin, to identify the sharp objects that had pierced him and dared to leave their marks on his body. At the reception, he’d promised her time, and she planned to take everything that he’d give her.
She moved lower and ran the tip of her finger down his cock, which she hadn’t gotten a satisfying glimpse of before. “Oh, thank God. You’re proportionate,” she said rapturously.
His hips twitched forward, and he gave a strained laugh.
“What?” she asked. “It’s a compliment! Everything about you is big, and now I know for a fact that it’sev-uh-ree-thing.”
Then she wiped away his laughter by stroking her hand down the whole glorious length of him, which was hot and hard and ready for her. She punctuated the motion with quick pulses of her fist that had him arching his back with a strained grimace.
When she leaned closer, he spoke through gritted teeth. “Wait. Stop.”
She paused with her mouth inches from the tip of his cock, which looked to her like it would welcome the flat of her tongue running across it. “No?” She spoke in a challenging voice but backed away when he shook his head.
“Condoms. In the drawer.” He gasped the words, and this time she didn’t argue, instead reaching over to fish around in the bedside table drawer until she found a packet.
“Let me guess.” She quirked a smile up at him, loving the flush on his cheekbones. “Even though you already got off once, the sight of my mouth on you would’ve been too much and you would’ve embarrassed yourself?”
The instant she finished rolling the condom on, he surged up and reversed their positions, rolling her onto her back and using his knee to push her legs apart. “Essentially.”
Heat bloomed in her center at his honesty, and she offered the best smug smile she was capable of. Then he reached for her, and all teasing fell away when she realized what was finally happening between them. But there was something else. She needed something else…
