I bark out a half-strangled laugh. "Best order I've had all week. Arms up."
We undress each other with enough care that it feels reverent. I push her jacket off her shoulders first, let it drop. I slide her sweater up, soft fabric whispering over her skin, and when I pull it off, her stomach contracts under my knuckles.
Her fingers hook in my shirt, knuckles brushing my stomach, and that tiny touch nearly folds me in half. By the time she gets it over my head, I'm already thick and aching against my jeans.
I unclasp her bra, let it fall, and for a second just look at her.
"You're staring," she whispers, cheeks going pink.
"Yeah." Thumbs tracing the curve of her breasts. "I am."
Her shoulders roll back, settling into being seen instead of flinching from it.
I peel her leggings and underwear down bit by bit, watching every inch of new skin. She lifts her hips to help, and her legs fall open without being asked. Two years ago that would have stopped my heart. Now it just feels as though this is where she lives, in the space between us, and her body knows it before either of us says a word.
I shed my jeans and boxers, climb onto the bed, cage her in without putting my weight down. My left side pulls, the bruise reminding me it exists, and her hand finds it immediately, fingers light over the gauze.
"Careful," she murmurs.
"Always." A lie we both accept. I hover, letting the heat reach her before the pressure.
She reaches up to touch my jaw, thumb stroking my lower lip, and it's almost obscene how much restraint it takes not to bite.
"Sloane." The word scrapes out rough. "Look at me."
She's wide-eyed, pupils blown, and her chest rises in little uneven pulls. I settle between her thighs, palms sliding from her knees to the heat of her inner thighs, nudging wider.
"I want to taste you first," I say, lowering my mouth to her sternum, kissing a path down. "Want to feel you fall apart on my tongue before I'm inside you."
Her hands go to my hair immediately, threading through, holding on. I lick down her stomach, tongue catching on the soft give of her skin, hips jerking beneath me. By the time I get my mouth between her thighs, she's slick. Warm, wet, ready. I breathe her in and my sanity fractures cleanly.
"Knox…"
I hook her legs over my shoulders and devour her. A deep, hungry lick from her entrance to her clit, a second one filthier and unhurried, just to watch her fall apart. She fists my hair and arches, a broken sound catching in her throat. I hold her hips down, tongue circling, flicking, sucking her clit into my mouth until she's shaking.
"Knox—please—I'm—"
"Let go, sweetheart." The vibration makes her choke on a gasp. "Let me taste it."
Two strokes and she snaps. Her thighs clamp around my head, whole body bowing tight as she comes with a sharp cry of my name. I ride it out, licking her through it, refusing to pull back until her legs tremble against my shoulders. When I lift my head, her chest is heaving, hair wild against the sheets. That dazed, wrecked expression goes straight to my cock.
I crawl up her body, kissing the taste of her onto her mouth. She moans into me, open and trusting and hungry, and reaches between us. Her hand wraps around my cock, and I curse.
"I need you inside me. Please, Knox. I need—"
My control shreds. I wrap her thigh around my waist and line up against her slick heat.
"Look at me."
She does. I push in, one possessive stroke, sinking deep until my hips meet hers. Her breath breaks. Mine too. Sloane'sgripping me as though she never wants to let go, warm as sin, body opening for me the way it does every time, as if she was waiting for exactly this.
"Jesus, sweetheart." I brace a hand beside her head, the other grips her hip. "Feel that? The way you're pulling me deeper?" Breathless nod. "That's your body telling you who you belong to." Drawing back, I slide in deeper, harder. A sound escapes her; half moan, half whimper. "Say it. Tell me who you belong to."
"You. Yours. I'm yours."
"Damn right." I thrust harder. "Every inch of you. Mine."
She wraps her legs around my hips, nails digging into my shoulders. "More. Knox, please. I need more."
