So many times in one short night, Cole had asked her to be brave. To take a chance by dancing with him. To marry him. To let him tie her up. And, now, to tell him what gave her pleasure.
He was the first person who had ever looked at her and seen someone who might have guts.
A woman who might be willing to take a risk.
She'd been so afraid of falling her whole life that she hadn't ever known the feeling of leaping and not knowing where she'd land.
But Cole had taken her hand and given her the opportunity to jump.
The chance to take a free fall and feel the wind in her hair.
Sucking in a breath, she told him something she'd never thought to say to anyone. "My br**sts are really sensitive. Good sensitive."
She felt the air go still in the room, realized neither of them were breathing. And then, his fingers found the clasp at the front of her bra and cool air was rushing over the heated tips of her br**sts.
"Anna." Her name was almost a prayer on his lips. "Sweet Anna, no one should be this beautiful."
She thought--prayed--that he was going to drop his head down to her br**sts, especially when she felt the soft ends of his hair brushing against the super-sensitive flesh.
"Tell me what you want me to do to your perfect br**sts, sweetheart."
Before she could say a word, his hands came around the undersides of her br**sts and cupped them together.
"Lick them."
His hair brushed against the outside of one breast, his tongue laving between her soft flesh and her rib cage. "Like this?"
She couldn't believe she was smiling, but it was such a surprise that the big, hard man she'd married loved to tease.
And, oh, was he good at it.
"What if I said yes?" she found herself teasing back.
After a bit of a pause that only served to ratchet up her anticipation, his tongue came down over her again, laving small but intensely sweet circles of pleasure against the side of her breast. And then, after a quick sweep of his soft hair over her chest, he found the mirror-image spot on the other breast.
She knew what he was doing, that he wasn't going to take another step on his own without forcing her all the way to the edge, but not off. Jumping was all her own responsibility.
She knew that now, understanding it for the first time ever.
"My ni**les, Cole." She felt him lift his head slightly, pressing a soft kiss to her skin before moving away completely. "Lick my ni**les."
She was instantly rewarded for her bravery by the wet flick of the tip of his tongue against the rigid points. His hands were wonderfully rough on her as he pushed her br**sts close enough together that he could lick first one hard tip and then the other, again and again in such rapid succession that she never had a chance to recover.
Just Cole's tongue on her skin was better than any other sexual encounter she'd ever had.
And still, it wasn't enough.
Not nearly enough to satisfy the need he'd made her feel.
And, oh God, the things she was feeling, white-hot flames rippling across her skin, pulling her into a maelstrom of heat...and boundless pleasure.
"Suck them."
Again, her request was instantly granted, and she couldn't possibly contain her cry of deep, dark delight as Cole's strong lips pressed around a nipple, as his tongue flattened against the underside so that it dragged along the roof of his mouth.
She'd heard women say they could come like this, but she'd never believed it, not for a second. None of her previous lovers--it wasn't even fair to put the men she'd slept with in that category, she suddenly thought--had given her what she needed. No amount of foreplay had taken her to this place where Cole had so effortlessly brought her.
While his mouth found sweet purchase on one nipple, his hands and fingers didn't neglect her other breast, rolling the sensitive peak between his thumb and forefinger so that she wasn't able to focus on just one spot, not when it felt like her entire body was on fire, her cells molten heat beneath Cole's talented fingers and mouth.