Page 42 of Four Cards Exposed

“You okay?” James breathed, bringing his forehead down against hers, the contact somehow as intimate as the joining of their lower bodies.

Susan made a little sound in the back of her throat. Her blunt nails scratched at his back.

“Más,” she whispered.

James started moving, then. Slowly, at first, so as not to come before they were both ready.

Never, ever, had he felt such pleasure before. He felt connected to Susan, somehow, in a way that went beyond the obvious, beyond the physical.

He looked into her dark, luminous eyes—and there it was, that look of absolute wonder that told him she felt this too, and was just as confused and overwhelmed.

“James?” she asked, her voice tentative. “I need—“

She paused, then, as if she couldn’t remember what she was going to say.

“Tell me what you need, sweetheart,” he said. He was going to make her come if it killed him—and it well might. His balls were tingling already, the need to come an insistent pressure that was getting harder and harder to ignore.

Her tongue came out to lick her lips, and he couldn’t help but taking her mouth in a deep kiss.

Susan’s legs came around his back, her muscular calved squeezing his hips. If he hadn’t been ready to shoot his load already, this certainly was one way to ensure he wouldn’t last long.

“Hold on.” James placed a hand behind her back and pulled them both up to a sitting position, with Susan on his lap.

God, he was even deeper now.

“Yes,” she whimpered. Her blunt teeth found his neck, the sharp pain driving his pleasure even higher. Hands on her hips, he lowered her onto his shaft again, angling himself to brush against her clit with every thrust.

He knew the moment he got it right because she shivered, as if electrified. Her moans gained urgency, and he knew she was close.

She whispered brokenly into the crook of his neck.

“I’m going to—“

“Yes. Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart.” And then she was coming against him, her core clenching around his cock as if looking to milk him dry.

For an instant, he didn’t know if he’d be able to follow her. He’d denied himself so long, the signal was having trouble passing through. He was stuck at that fine point of no return for an instant, then finally fell off the same cliff, spending himself into the condom.

Eventually, he brought her gently down onto the bed. His hand went to where their bodies were still joined, felt the heat from both of them. For the first time in his life, he wished he was bare, so he could stay inside her—stay inside her forever.

Susan’s eyes were glazed over, a contented expression on her face that made him feel a hundred feet tall.

The thought crystallized in his foggy post-sex brain. He was never going to get enough of her. Not tonight. Not ever.

Shaking himself, he grabbed onto the condom and pulled out.

13

* * *

Susan

Susan squinted at the window, surprised to see the light streaming in. She felt … rested.

No nightmares.

No clawing from within an airless trunk.

No fire.