Biting my lip, I whispered, “Can you also—I don’t want to be the only one . . . naked.” I felt silly asking him to take off his clothes, but the weight of his stare made me terribly self-conscious.
He pushed his pants and briefs down in one swift stroke. The sight of him springing out, thick and ready, made my entire body blaze warmer. I inched my hand closer to his silky flesh, closed my fingers around him, then dragged them up to thetip.
He cuffed my wrist and towed it off hisbody.
“You have a . . .condom?”
A corner of his mouth tipped up. “I do, but we won’t be needing one for a while still.” He eased me onto my back until my spine was flush against the cool wood, and then he parted my legs and draped them over hisshoulders.
When his tongue flicked against me, I picked my head off and gasped, “August! You don’t have to dothat.”
I could only see his eyes, and they glowed with amusement and with a bunch of other things, but mostlyamusement.
“Don’t have to do that?” He spoke the words so close to my delicate flesh that I shivered and writhed. He clamped his hands around my thighs to pin them to his shoulders. “Oh, I’ve been wanting to do this”—he gave me a long, slow lick—“since the day you walked back into my life.” He skated a kiss over my pulsing center. “Fuck, you taste so good,” hegrowled.
He was relentless and made me shatter so many times that my body felt made of clouds and stars instead of flesh andblood.
At some point, he came up for air, lips swollen and slick. He scooped my boneless body up, grabbed his wallet, then carried me over to the couch. He laid me out before pulling a condom from his wallet. The casing crinkled as he tore it open. With unabashed curiosity, I watched him roll iton.
“Ness,” he whispered raucously, climbing over me and bracing himself on his arms as his length settled against my abdomen, “condoms . . . they can break. It’s never happened to me before, but they can. Are you sure you want to dothis?”
I traced the shape of Cassiopeia on his cheek, connecting each freckle to the next. “I have never wanted anythingmore.”
“But you understand therisks?”
“I understand the risks.” When he still hadn’t moved, I said, “Are you going to make me sign adisclaimer?”
A laugh burst from him. “Maybe I should.” He moved down my body to position himself at my entrance. “Nexttime.”
Next time . . .My heart felt like it had melted and little pieces of it were beating everywhere inme.
His hips shifted, and then he was stretching me open, and a gasp tore up my throat. When he pulled out, eyes stained with concern, I clamped my hands on his backside, over his scar, and pressed him backin.
Pleasure warred with pain. Neither sensation won. They battled till the very end, till his body stilled and shuddered over mine . . .intomine.
Stroking his scar, I whispered, “You had a toast ready for me tonight, didn’tyou?”
A smile touched his mouth that smelled like a mix of him and me. “Idid.”
“Can I hearit?”
“You can.” He nosed myjaw.
When he didn’t say anything more for a prolonged stretch of time, I asked, “Tonight?”
He lifted his head, tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, and then in that raw-honeyed voice of his, he said, “I may not have been your first choice for a mate, but I hope I’ll be yourlast.”
Emotion gripped my throat so hard I couldn’t respond with words, so instead, I picked my neck off the couch pillow and aligned my lips and heartbeats withhis.
38
Iwokeup to the scent ofcoffee.
As I stretched, every second of our love-making replayed in my mind. I twisted around, but August was no longer on the couch next to me. Last night, he removed the back pillows to make room for our two bodies, and then he dragged me against his chest, and we fell asleep skin toskin.
“August?” I calledout.
When he didn’t answer me, I sat up but regretted the sudden movement that awakened a dull throbbing between mylegs.
