Christian spun her, gently laying her on the towels he’d brought to the alcove. He hovered over her, gently resting his hips between her legs.
“You okay?” he asked, brushing hair from her forehead.
Gemma nodded, her voice soft. “Touch me wherever you want.”
The look on his face was indescribable. He let out a cross between a sigh and a moan, kissing her again with the zeal of finding water after being lost in the desert. Gemma’s head swam as his fingers caressed down the side of her body and back up again, leaving fleshbumps in their trail.
His mouth moved to the crux of her neck, his thumb finding her nipple. Gemma’s breaths hastened, a gasp escaping her. Fluttery waves rolled from her breast down between her legs, and she couldn’t help but squirm beneath him.
He growled quietly, running his lips across her collarbone and down her chest before taking her nipple into his mouth while continuing to fondle the other.
Gemma couldn’t subdue her moans anymore as they tumbled from her lips. She gripped his hair and arched her back, begging for more.
Christian left her breasts and kissed down her stomach, pausing right above her sleep shorts. He watched his hand as he trailed a path from her knees, around her thighs, and up to her hips, slipping beneath the fabric.
A breathy noise slipped through her lips, and he smiled against her skin, the air around them so electrified that they could have powered all of Zion.
His fingers tucked under the waistband of her shorts, and Gemma lifted her hips as he slid them toward her feet, taking her underwear with them. But rather than be embarrassed or nervous, she ached for him to touch her more.
Christian paused for a second longer as he removed his own shorts and underwear, and she trembled from the euphoria building within her, from the anticipation of his kiss and caress. Deep throbs hummed within her from a part he hadn’t yet reached.
A spark ran up her spine when his lips connected with the inside of her thigh, his mouth sucking gently. She lost control of her body as she laced her fingers through his soft hair, a loud moan resonating off the alcove’s walls.
“Oh, stars, I want you.” Gemma tugged on his hair, urging him back toward her.
His eyes lit up as he submitted to her pull. He pressed his forehead against hers. “Are you sure?”
She nodded, meeting his gaze. “Definitely.”
Positioning himself with one hand, he brushed his fingertips along her cheek before slowly entering her.
The first second held a small shock of pain. She dug her fingernails into his back with every inch he slid in. But once inside, he paused momentarily to place fleeting kisses across her face. And with the next gentle thrust, the pain morphed into a pleasure unlike any she’d ever known.
Everything around her faded, and all that mattered was Christian—the feel of him, the smell of him, the taste of him.
The way his hazel eyes stared so deeply into hers, like he was reading her mind, feeling her soul. How the waves of his hair fell so perfectlyonto his forehead. Or how his head would drop, his eyes creasing at the corners, whenever a loud breath of ecstasy left him.
The storm brewing inside her intensified with each beat of Christian’s rhythm. She cried his name, squeezing his arms like she needed to hold on for safety.
“It’s okay. Lean into it. I have you,” he said, and the tempest within her broke.
Every muscle in her body tightened, and she was flung into the galaxies. She barely felt his forehead fall against her neck when he moaned and slipped himself free of her. Another groan passed through his lips before he kissed the side of her neck, his forehead sweaty against her jaw.
Gemma started to giggle, unable to stifle it. “Oh my stars.”
Christian smiled against her neck before falling onto his back next to her. Gemma turned on her side, and he opened an arm out to her. She snuggled next to him, unable to keep herself from tracing the muscles of his abdomen as they lay quietly, their heartbeats returning to their usual rhythms.
“You keep doing that, I’m going to fall asleep,” he said, his voice so low it rumbled through the room.
Gemma smirked. “You do have towels to use as a pillow and blanket. Smart thinking, bringing that. It was like you knew you were going to need it.”
He didn’t smile. “It was my plan to sleep in here tonight when I thought you needed your space.”
Gemma frowned and burrowed deeper into him. “Well, I’m glad you don’t have to now.”
“Though, I might still sleep here. If I go back in there, I have to hear your snoring.”
Gemma picked her head up and found him grinning ear to ear.
