“Wait. Stop.”
He froze, his forehead knotted in concern.
“This first.” She reached up and released his hair from its elastic. At last. Months of dreaming about those golden-brown curls, and she was finally tangling her fingers in all that softness.
Her fantasies hadn’t come close to the real deal. His hair was thick and warm, and her fingers tightened at howrightit felt to hold him in place like this, his eyes burning into hers. She used her grip to pull him down until his scruff tickled her chin and his hair caressed her cheeks.
“Now you can go,” she whispered.
He didn’t need to be asked twice, barely even waiting for her to finish her command before he slid into her in one swift motion, stretching her with a sweet burn.
“You,” he murmured into her ear. Her hands fell away as he pulled back and surged forward to claim her again. “You’re perfect.”
“You’re pretty okay too,” she panted as he started to move even faster.
Her hips rose to meet each of his thrusts. His big body was hot and heavy against her, but instead of feeling crushed, she was consumed, like he’d absorbed her and had taken control of both their bodies. And in a way, he had. He set the pace, and he wrapped his arms around her back to lift her off the mattress, bringing her breasts to his waiting mouth. It thrilled her to let him move her body where he wanted it; each new position brought a new wave of sensation, all of it adding to the growing wave of pleasure building deep inside her. She loved his stubbled jaw scratching against her breasts almost as much as she’d loved it abrading her thighs earlier.
With one last swipe of his tongue across her nipples, he lowered her carefully to the mattress and wrapped his big hands around her thighs, spreading her wider, and just the sight of his blunt fingers digging into her skin almost sent her over the edge completely. Oh, she loved watching this powerful man keep his strength in check, giving her just as much as she could handle.
He must have noticed the stutter in her breathing because he reached down and pressed his thumb just above where they were joined. The thickness of him moving inside her combined with the steady pressure he was applying outside caused white-hot static to crackle through her brain, and before she could process it, she was shuddering and pulsing and grabbing his shoulders.
Then she witnessed something incredible: Erik, the most self-contained person she’d ever met, coming apart molecule by molecule. He buried his hands in her hair and filled her ear with the sound of his broken breaths until he drove into her with final, frantic thrusts, pulling back at the last moment to hold her gaze as he came with a groan. Then he collapsed onto the mattress next to her and dropped his head onto her shoulder until their breathing returned to normal. Afterward he disappeared into the bathroom briefly and returned without the condom, dropping heavily onto the mattress and pulling her against his chest.
“The bed survived,” he said into her hair.
“We’ll get it next time.” She burrowed against him. It had to be well after midnight at the end of a crazy busy day, and she was about to pass out. “You’re okay if I stay the night?”
“I didn’t say you could leave yet, did I?” He nipped at her ear, and she realized that those tiny bites were his way of disciplining her for minor insubordination. She’d simply have to increase her backtalk a thousandfold, if only to keep the soft little reprimands coming.
“Oh fine,” she said on a yawn. “But I’m only staying because I’ve discovered your twin superpowers.”
His arms tightened around her. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Making cakes and making women come.” She snuggled into his broad chest, which shifted under her cheek as he laughed softly.
“Should’ve putthaton my business card.”
She placed a kiss over his heart and murmured, “I’ll redesign it in the morning.”
Twenty-Three
Erik woke up braced for a freak-out, although he wasn’t sure whose was more likely. Josie was a woman already given to high emotions, and he had no idea how adding sex to the mix would affect her. And then there was him, with his lifetime of keeping his emotions on lockdown. How would mixing in feelings affecthim?Because he was fairly sure that’s what was ricocheting through him as he looked down at Josie’s body pressed against him in sleep. Warm feelings. Tender feelings. Feelings that made his chest glow and his lips press against the crown of her head.
“Mmmpf.” The woman in question stirred and stretched, then blinked up at him sleepily. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” he replied, sliding a hand down her exposed shoulder. She wiggled closer and folded her hands on his chest, propping up her chin to look past him to the rest of the room.
“So you moved.”
“Yep.”
“I love it.”
He followed her gaze around the sunlit bedroom and answered honestly. “Me too.”
“Uncle Al left all this?”
“He did.” During the last of the cleanup, he and Gina had uncovered an old maple wardrobe along with a small chest of drawers, a sturdy wooden armchair and table, and a few framed black-and-white photos of the Chicago skyline from what looked like the sixties. They’d arranged it in a corner of the open space to make a bedroom, and it had instantly felt more like home to him than any other place since the farm.
