Lex kissed her. Softly at first, then deeper, her hands cradling Mara's face, her thumbs tracing the strong line of her jaw. Mara's arms came up around Lex's neck and her body pressed forward and the contact of Mara's naked skin against Lex's clothed body was intoxicating. Mara's nipples hardened againsther own through her shirt, the heat of Mara's skin soaking through the fabric, and the urgency in the way Mara's hands gripped the back of her neck, pulling her closer, deeper, was unmistakable.
Lex walked them backward toward the bed. Mara's thighs hit the mattress and Lex eased her down, laying her back against the pillows, the white hotel sheets a contrast to Mara's flushed skin. Lex knelt between her thighs and looked down at her, and the image was burned into her memory: Mara Ellison, head coach of the Phoenix Ridge Valkyries, naked and trembling and looking up at her with blue eyes that held nothing back.
"I want to taste every inch of you," Lex said. "Lie still. Let go. Let me take care of you."
She started at Mara's throat. Kissed the hollow above her collarbone. Trailed her mouth down the center of Mara's chest, between her breasts, feeling the rapid pound of Mara's heart through her lips. She kissed the underside of each breast, traced her tongue across one nipple and then the other, felt Mara arch beneath her and heard the sound she made, a low, desperate moan that vibrated through Lex's mouth and traveled straight to her core.
Mara's hands came up, reaching for Lex, trying to pull her closer, trying to guide. Lex caught both wrists and pressed them gently down against the mattress, holding them there.
"Lie still." Lex's voice was firm. Tender. A command delivered with care. "Just let go. I've got you."
Mara's breathing stuttered. Her hands relaxed under Lex's grip and she let her arms go still, surrendering to the instruction, and the sight of Mara giving up control, choosing to trust, choosing to lie back and receive, was the most erotic thing Lex had ever seen.
Lex continued down Mara's body. Her mouth traced the ridges of Mara's ribs, the dip of her waist, the soft skin of herlower belly. She took her time. She savored every sound Mara made, every tremor, every bitten-off gasp when her mouth found a new sensitive spot. Mara's stomach muscles fluttered under her lips. Mara's hips were starting to rock, small instinctive movements, her body seeking the contact it knew was coming.
When Lex's mouth reached between Mara's thighs, the sound Mara made was undone. A broken, keening exhale that filled the hotel room and made Lex's blood run molten. Lex pressed her mouth against Mara's soaking pussy and tasted her, and the flavor was warm and salt-sweet and utterly Mara, and Lex's eyes nearly rolled back.
She worked slowly. Long, deliberate strokes of her tongue, learning what made Mara gasp, what made her writhe, what made her hands fist in the hotel sheets and her back arch off the mattress. Lex found the rhythm that Mara needed and held it, steady and relentless, her mouth and tongue devoted to a single purpose.
"Come for me," Lex murmured against her. "Let go, baby. I want to feel you come in my mouth.”
Mara came with a cry that she buried in the pillow, her body convulsing, her thighs clamping around Lex's head, her hands twisted in the sheets above her. The orgasm shook through her in waves, long and deep, and Lex held her through every tremor, her mouth gentle now, easing Mara down from the peak.
But she didn't stop.
She slowed her tongue, softened the pressure, gave Mara thirty seconds of gentle contact while Mara's breathing leveled and her body relaxed. Then she built again. A new rhythm, slightly different, her tongue working with deliberate focus while one hand slid up Mara's thigh and her fingers traced teasing circles that had Mara gasping within seconds.
"Again," Lex said against her skin.
"I can't." Mara's voice was shattered, broken and beautiful.
"You can."
As Lex pushed her fingers deep inside, Mara came again. Harder. Her whole body lifting off the mattress, her mouth open in a soundless scream, her hands finding Lex's hair and gripping so hard it pulled. Lex groaned against her and the vibration sent another wave through Mara, and Lex kept going, kept her mouth moving, began to fuck her with her fingers, kept the pressure building, and Mara came a third time with a sob that was equal parts pleasure and overwhelm.
When Lex finally lifted her head, Mara was limp against the pillows. Her eyes were closed. Her chest was heaving with ragged, uneven breaths. Tears tracked down her temples into her hair. Her entire body was flushed, a deep rose that spread from her chest to her face, and her lips were bitten red and swollen. She looked wrecked and beautiful and completely undone, and Lex had never seen anything in her life that compared to the sight of Mara Ellison after three orgasms, stripped of every defense, lying in a tangle of white hotel sheets with her body still trembling and her face wet with tears she hadn't tried to hide.
Lex wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her own body was aching, the pulse between her thighs almost painful, but that could wait. Mara was what mattered right now. Mara, who had given up control, who had lain back and trusted and received and let herself be taken care of, and who needed to know that the trust was safe.
Lex crawled up the bed and gathered Mara into her arms. She pulled the sheets over them and held Mara against her chest and pressed her lips against Mara's temple and whispered, "You're okay. I've got you."
Mara curled into her. Her face pressed against Lex's shoulder, her breathing slowly steadying, her body gradually going still. Her hand found Lex's and their fingers interlaced onthe white sheets, and Lex held her and listened to her breathing even out and felt, with a certainty that was both exhilarating and terrifying, that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.
From the other bed, Goldie sighed. A long, dramatic, put-upon sigh that carried the full weight of a dog who had witnessed the entire production and was thoroughly unimpressed.
Lex laughed. "Your dog is judging us."
"She judges everything. She judged me for buying store-brand peanut butter last week." Mara's voice was hoarse and drowsy against Lex's shoulder.
"To be fair, store-brand peanut butter is a crime."
"You eat peanut butter off a spoon for dinner. You don't get to have opinions about quality."
"That's not dinner. That's a high-protein snack consumed by an elite athlete."
Mara's chest shook with silent laughter against Lex's ribs.
After a long time, Mara spoke. Her voice was hoarse and small and muffled against Lex's shirt. "Stay."
