Cece makes a sound against my mouth. It’s half laugh, half gasp, and I back her against the wall of the entryway because we are not going to make it to the bedroom in this state. Her mouth is doing something to me that is going to be a problem in about thirty seconds if I don't get a hand on her.
"Ryan—"
"I've got you. We aren’t going to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Ryan, I want to give myself to you.” She laughs into my mouth and it turns into a gasp because my hand has found the hem of her shirt and slid up her ribs. Her warm skin bubbles with heat under my palm and I feel her whole body shiver.
I pull back an inch. Just enough to see her face.
"Tell me this is okay."
"It's okay. It's been okay. Ryan, please.” She's breathing hard. Her hands are fisted in my shirt. "I haven’t been this sure about anything in six years. Touch me."
Something behind my sternum cracks open.
"Good girl."
Her pupils grow wide. I watch it happen. I watch her body respond to being talked to like that and I file it. I am going to be using it again.
I drop the shirt on the floor of my own entryway like it personally offended me. She's in a bra and jeans. Her hair is a mess from my hands already and her cheeks are flushed. She's looking at me like I'm the only thing in the hallway.
"Bedroom," I say and it’s rough. "Now."
I pick her up in one motion. She yelps and wraps her legs around me. Her arms come around my neck and I carry her down the hall past the kitchen past the living room to the bedroom at the back of the cabin. I kick the door open, drop her on the bed, and follow her down.
She lands on her elbows, laughing, and her hair spills everywhere. But the laugh dies in her throat when I come down over her and she sees my face.
I kiss her. I part her lips with my tongue and taste her again. I have her under me and she's not going anywhere. I’ve wanted this since the second she turned around in the general store.
I plant kisses down her neck and along her jawline. The soft place below her ear that makes her arch. Then I pepper her throat. Her pulse beats faster with my every move until she’s moaning my name.
I smile against her skin. "I've got you."
My hand finds the clasp on her bra and I slip it off her. She drops back on the quilt. I pause to take her in and I commit every curve to memory. She’s stretched out on my bed in jeans and nothing else. Her chest is flushed and rising too fast. Her hair is everywhere. She’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in this cabin.
"God," I say. It comes out rough. "Look at you. You’re listening to this part." I bend down. I put my mouth on her collarbone, her sternum, and the soft curve under her breast."You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. You need to hear me say that. I'm going to keep saying it until it lands."
She makes a sound like she has not been told this in a very long time. I’m going to fix that.
I work her jeans open. She lifts her hips so I can get them off. I take my time coming back up her body. My mouth follows the inside of her thigh, her hip, and the soft part of her stomach that she reflexively covers with one hand. I gently move it out of the way and kiss anyway, because it is hers and it is part of her. I am not skipping past it like it is something to apologize for.
She makes a sound that is almost a sob.
"Hey." I lift my head. "Still with me?"
"More than I've been with anyone in years."
"Tell me what you want."
"You. I want you."
"Where."
"Everywhere."
I put my mouth lower.
She arches off the bed and her hand finds my hair and she says my name in a voice that makes my manhood throb. I learn her the way I learn everything that matters… slowly, attentively. I note every place she responds and every place she catches her breath. I don’t stop until her thighs are shaking against my shoulders and she's saying my name like it's the only word she remembers.
