But he answered anyway. “Because I’ve been waiting for you for so long. And I wanted to make it perfect.”
He couldn’t have said anything that would make her heart soar higher.
Lifting slightly, he fit his hand between them, caressing her with the same perfect tempo of his slow stroke inside her. Sensation rose all over again with the sweetness of his touch and the hardness of his body.
Then wildfire rushed across her skin, through her limbs, down, down, down to her center, to him. And she shattered around him. As her body clamped down on him, he took her hard and fast, the way she needed him to, the way she’d dreamed of. The sensations went on and on. As if it were forever. Until she felt his muscles tightening, and he growled like the predator he was, until he throbbed hot and deep inside her. Arching up on his arms, his head back, throat stretched, his body tight to hers, he gave himself up to her.
Until finally he came down on her, gathered her into his arms, and held her tighter than anyone ever had in her entire life.
Troy wrapped her tightly in his arms. There had never been anything like the smooth feel of her skin against his. Nothing like the sweet scent of her filling his head. Nothing like the lingering taste of her in his mouth. Nothing like the tight grip of her body as she blasted him to the stars. Even now, buried inside her, he felt her still pulsing lightly around him.
She hadn’t just tilted his world off its axis. She’d rocked his entire universe.
He nuzzled her hair. “That was better than anything I’ve ever known.” He flexed inside her to make his point.
“Better than winning a gold medal?” she asked in a singsong voice.
“Better than winning three.” Hell, he didn’t mind admitting it. He wanted her to know.
She bopped him lightly on the arm. “No way. Nothing could be better than three gold medals.”
He pulled back, wanting her to see the sincerity in his face. “Better than any prize I’ve ever won.”
Her skin flushed. He’d embarrassed her or pushed too hard. But he wouldn’t take back the truth, wouldn’t diminish what he felt. “I’ve never felt that good before. Good doesn’t even begin to describe it. Superb, stupendous, spectacular.”
She batted at him again. “Stop,” she said in a choked voice, rolling her eyes.
Then he had to know. “Tell me, did you throw that last game?”
Her laughter tickled his chest as her breath brushed the curly hair. “I’ll never tell.”
But he knew. She’d lost that last game because she wanted him. He felt it in his gut.
Could he tell her he loved her now? Or would that push her too far? Love wasn’t on the table yet.
But he would make sure it was very soon.
They made it up to her bedroom, where he made love to her again, holding her in his arms afterward.
Finally, rolling away—as much as he hated to leave her—he padded to the bathroom to clean up. When he returned to the bed, she was asleep. And she wasn’t faking it to keep him at bay. They’d both had wine at dinner, polishing off the bottle of chardonnay he’d brought. Then there’d been two—no, three—rounds of cocktails while they’d played. Neither of them had been drunk, but the alcohol certainly had tired her.
Especially after their marathon lovemaking, the best he’d ever experienced.
He climbed into bed beside her, pulling her once more into his arms, holding her while she slept. Until finally he slept too.
In the dead of night, he woke to the feel of her mouth on him.
Holy hell, what a glorious way to wake up. She sucked his crown while she stroked him. In about two seconds flat, he was ready to lose it, and he grabbed her arms. “Wait, wait, not yet. I want to be inside you.”
She lifted her head, her hand still caressing him, her eyes glazed in the moonlight falling through the window. “You can do that later. Right now, I want you in my mouth.”
She went back to licking him, stroking him, her moves leisurely yet absolute perfection. She kept him on the edge for what seemed like long, delirious minutes. He didn’t want to come yet, wanted to luxuriate in the feel of her mouth and her hands on him for a little while longer. But his legs started to quiver, and his body began to shake. And he felt the bliss rising in him. Despite wanting to make it last, he let his hands take over from his brain, sliding them into her hair, guiding her to the faster pace his body wanted, even if his heart and mind didn’t.
When he cried out, “Jesus, I’m going to come,” she didn’t back off. The world exploded in a galaxy of stars as his body exploded against her tongue. And she took all of him.
Until he collapsed back on the pillow, boneless and immovable.
She climbed his body until she lay stretched atop him. “Kiss me.”
