She lay back, watching him as he unselfconsciously rolled on a condom before throwing the others onto the bed, and then stalked over to where she waited. Lamplight played over the stubble on his firm jaw. The heavy muscles on his shoulders continued down his arms to his big hands while a light thatch of golden hair trailed down to where his cock jutted forward.
He was a powerful man. The strength of his body and the intensity of his fierce focus both tuned to her. And although she couldn’t see them, she could almost sense the Guardian Shadows that wove around him.
He stood beside the bed for a long moment, watching her. His eyes traveled along her legs, flitting over the junction of her thighs, up her belly, and finally rested on her breasts. Her skin broke into goose bumps as his gaze passed. It was potent, the feeling that he was not just watching—he was touching.
God. She let out her breath with a shaky sigh and let her eyes drift shut. Hewastouching.
Emma let her legs fall open as the feathering touches drifted over her again, the sensation slowly intensifying until she felt as if she was being stroked across every inch of her skin. As if all the years of not being touched had culminated in this moment of being touchedeverywhere.
Over the tops of her feet, behind her knees, over her thighs, her ribs, under her arms, and down her belly. Sliding over her breasts, her buttocks, the crease of her groin. The pressure of his Shadows deepened until it felt like an all-over body massage.
She arched into the caress of his Shadows, feeling his touch everywhere except in the place she wanted him most. She groaned, reaching for Zach. “I need you.”
Zach crawled onto the bed and over her body, coming to rest between her legs as the waves of sensation continued. His cock nudged at her entrance as he worshipped her neck with long licks and bites, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to pull him even closer.
He lifted his mouth to kiss her, long and slow and deep. Their kiss was perfect in its own right—consuming and hot and intense—but with everything else he was doing to her, it merely added another layer of sensory charge.
She ran her hands up his back, over the smooth heat of his skin, across his shoulders where his muscles bunched and moved, and into his hair. She let one hand drift to his jaw. He still hadn’t shaved, and his short beard was rough against her palm. She was surrounded by a myriad of textures and sensations. Soft and firm. Smooth and rough. Hot and shivery. Wet and slick and perfect.
Emma tilted her hips, searching for more. The Shadows dancing over her body grew more intent, tugging her nipples more firmly in time with Zach’s slow rocking movements. He was still kissing her. Kissing her as if the world could end and he wouldn’t even notice.
She tilted her head back and he met her request with a row of sharp nips along her jaw that he soothed with open-mouthed kisses.
“Zach… please.” Her voice was hoarse, not entirely demanding, not entirely begging, and he responded achingly slowly, deepening his thrusts, pushing inside her so deliberately that she wrapped her legs around his hips and used her heels to drag him the rest of the way.
Her breath caught and they both stilled for a long, shaky moment. Then he hitched her leg over his shoulder and pushed a pillow under her hips, changing the angle, aligning her… exactly… right.
Finally, Zach started to move. Long thrusts, perfectly controlled, as his body rippled above hers and he surrounded her. His Shadows drifted down her body to circle her clit and she gasped. The circle tightened around that swollen nub, rubbing it in waves of increasing pleasure.
Zach lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Can you feel this, Emma?”
“I can feel—” He pulled out and then surged back in, harder and she whimpered. “God. I can feelyou.”
“Close your eyes. Feel where we join.” His voice was rough, strained. And she shuddered as she closed her eyes trying to concentrate on the place where they joined, on the slick, grinding pleasure-ache that teased her with the ecstasy to come.
And then she felt it. A surge of awareness, an out-of-body experience of undulating Shadows writhing slowly together.
“Can you feel it now, Emma?” Zach asked again. He held himself up on his elbows, his face above hers, and she opened her eyes to see him watching her.
She met him thrust for thrust. She slid her hands up his back and gripped him tighter, using his body for the leverage she needed. “I feel it. I feel us.”
Her words broke something in him, and he surged into her faster, his easy rhythm turning into hard, driving strokes. She didn’t know where she ended and he began. Maybe she didn’t end. Maybe they were one being.
Emma thrust her hips up and Zach tugged against the Shadows circling her clit, rasping out her name, and then she flew. Her orgasm thundered over her in heated waves as she whimpered and gasped, her body clenched tight on his. Zach followed her over the edge, his body shuddering. He buried his face in her neck, groaning as he came.
He collapsed onto her, and she held him there, savoring his weight. Enjoying being utterly surrounded, pinned down by Zach in the warm safety of her bed.
He rolled onto his side, bringing her with him to lie breathlessly together. “Fuck. Emma.” His arm tightened around her, holding her against his sweat-slicked body. “That was….”
She smiled against his heated skin. “That was more.”
“Yes.” His voice rumbled under her ear. “That was more.”
They lay together as their skin cooled, then Zach gently settled her on her side and made his way to the bathroom to dispose of the condom before climbing in beside her and holding her close once more.
Eventually, he went and got them each a glass of wine and brought it back for them to drink in bed, sitting side by side, their backs resting against the headboard.
Zach took a sip and then set his glass down. His face was serious, but his gaze never left hers as he took her hand and brought it to his lips for a gentle kiss. “I have to go back to Wales soon,” he admitted quietly.
