She could practically hear his heart thundering in his chest. And when she finally pressed her lips to his, he broke and surged forward, pulling her closer so he could bury his hands in her hair and utterly wreck her mouth with his own.
He’d already wrecked her for anyone else, after all. Absolutely destroyed all other prospects in claiming her as his.
The truth was, she’d always been his.
She had been from the very beginning.
Theo moaned when she opened her mouth to allow him in, wanting him deeper, closer, just the way she always did, and when he swept his tongue inside so softly, so expertly, Audrey couldn’t take it anymore. With her eyes closed, her hands dropped to his lap, and she fumbled at his belt buckle, finally wrenching it away and tossing it victoriously behind her. His zipper was next, and as soon as she had access, she plunged a hand into his underwear, pulling it down slightly to palm at his length while she ran her free hand along the hard stretch of abs hidden beneath his undershirt and sweater. He moaned again, the sound rumbling deep in his throat when her fingers wrapped around him.
“I don’t think this is what happened next,” he breathed, sliding his hands up her sweater to rip it over her head. The clasps of her bra were next, and he flung it away from the couch as he mouthed at her neck. His hands were occupied with her breasts, caressing and massaging them, pinching and soothing in equal measure before his right hand slid down into her jeans and gave her clit the attention it was begging for. As soon as he touched her between her legs, his skilled fingers deft and circling and teasing, she shuddered and groaned.
“Doesn’t mean I didn’t want it to.” Audrey gasped again when he suddenly sucked at her collarbone. Now that it was cold and she was always covered up, Theo seemed to take extra pleasure in leaving marks behind on her body. No one else had to know except for them. It was another delicious secret they shared. “And besides, how would you know? You said you couldn’t remember.”
That earned her a derisive snort. “As if I could ever forget, sweetheart.” Her zipper was next, and he hooked his thumbs in her belt loops and yanked her jeans down forcefully. They both grunted as she shifted on his lap slightly to rip one leg off fully, and then the other before turning her attention to Theo’s own sweater. Warmth washed over her as soon as she pressed herself to his chest. The manwas a raging inferno, a walking space heater, and he radiated that heat even more now through his undershirt than he had when there was a thicker barrier between her and his skin.
Audrey positioned herself over him in his lap. As soon as she was settled, he drew one nipple into his mouth, sucking hard and laving at the bud for a moment before letting it go with a gentlepop. She grabbed his head and held him to her chest, directing his mouth to the other breast with a soft inhale.
She was already soaking wet.
Her body always responded to him like this now.
Quick and desperate.
“How’s your hip?” she murmured, sliding her hand back into his underwear while he dutifully suckled at the other nipple. It was easier straddling him this way than having to ask him to get up or lift his legs to take his pants all the way off, which was sometimes a clunky, hobbling affair.
He came up for air long enough to answer her. “Feels plenty good enough for this today. I—oh god.” Theo shuddered and buried his face between her breasts when she pressed up and positioned him just so, right before sliding down his length.
And sliding home.
They both paused for a moment when he was fully seated inside her and gazed at each other silently. Audrey knew he was thinking the exact same thing she was: How was it that they managed to fit together so perfectly? So gloriously? How was it that it felt like this each and every time?
It seemed impossible.
It seemed entirely too good to be true.
And yet…
“I love you,” Theo breathed. He cupped her face with both wide, warm hands. “I love you so much.”
Audrey dug her fingers into his dark hair, marveling at how thickand soft it was. She rolled her hips, slowly at first, and then a little more insistently when he dropped his hands to her waist and dug his fingers firmly into her flesh.
“You light me up like nothing else,” she whispered in his ear. “Like no one else.” She nuzzled into his cheek. “Tell me again how you love me.”
Theo took her mouth with his and drew her bottom lip between his teeth. It was already swollen and red from before, and the tiny, sharp bite of pain was exquisite. Sparks skipped along her skin. “ ‘Brother, bear the needle’s pain and draw out the poison from within,’ ” he quoted breathlessly, rocking his hips up slightly to meet hers. Audrey gasped as he plunged deeper inside, hitting that spot she never seemed to be able to reach herself. Heat surged in her core and rose through her body, simmering all the way down to her fingertips.
She moaned, and he chased it with his mouth, pressing another kiss to her lips—longer this time. “ ‘Break free from the prison of your mind and rise up, kill the self, master your fate. If you do, you’ll command the heavens.’ ” Theo’s lips skated down her jaw, and he sucked another small bruise beneath her chin, punctuating it with a thrust of his hips. “ ‘The sun can’t touch you if you burn yourself.’ ” She moaned again, deeper this time. She could feel it hovering, the inevitability of her release, and she kept up the punishing rhythm of her own movement as she tried not to combust. The flames threatened to consume her.
But not yet.
Not just yet.
Audrey buried her face in Theo’s neck, sucking hard for air as she rode him. “ ‘Its light slips by those who hold fast to the radiance of suffering.’ ” He only dug a hand in her hair to hold her closer to him, even while he snaked his left hand down between her legs again. “ ‘To the peace found through pain.’ ” His fingers found thebundle of nerves there, and he began to gently stroke and circle it, matching the cadence of her hips, the pads of his fingers pressing harder as she ground into him. “ ‘The thorn blooms into a rose. The drop becomes an ocean. The—oh god, Audrey.Audrey!” he rasped, swallowing down a moan of his own.
He was close too.
But he managed to rally enough to finish the poem.
“ ‘The fragment of a soul unites with the infinite.’ ”
