arms around me. The simple act presses her body tight against mine, soft in all the right places, and my previous resolution to go slow disappears entirely. Poof, gone.
My hands grip her thighs and lift her up on the kitchen island. Bella laughs breathlessly, but I cut it off with a kiss. Her hands rake through my hair just the way I like, and fucking hell I want this woman. More than I’ve ever wanted anything.
My hands find the hem of her shirt and slip under, smoothing over the soft skin of her waist and hips. Moving higher still.
Bella pulls away from my lips enough to speak. I don’t pause, switching my attention to her neck instead. “Ethan…”
“Yes?” I think I might shatter if she tells me to stop. I’ll obey, of course, but damn how I hope she won’t.
“This can’t be a total repeat of the treehouse,” she says.
I grip her waist like I need her to survive. At the moment, it’s pretty damn close. I should respond, but she’s soft and warm and so sweet against my lips. It’s far easier to surrender than to converse.
I force myself to form the words. “Oh?”
“This time, I can’t be the only one nude.”
The words barrel through me, and just like that, I’m drowning in need. There’s no resurfacing.
I lift her up and head down the hallway to my bedroom. Thank God for someone—the interior decorator?—putting it on the ground floor.
Bella giggles. “Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you on our first adventure.” I push open the door to the master suite. “Ta-da.”
She laughs again, but it’s huskier this time, breathless and tinged with anticipation and desire. “Unchartered territory,” she says.
I set her down on the bed. She scoots back immediately and opens her arms, welcoming me on top of her. Forcing myself to go slow, I kiss down her neck, folding her dress up inch by inch, kissing her stomach and chest and teasing her nipples through the fabric.
Bella is the one to take off her bra. “So impatient,” I murmur. Dimly, I wonder if I’m really speaking to her at all, or to the painful ache in my jeans. The desire to bury myself inside of her feels all-consuming. I’m like my kids with that movie—nothing else could get my attention now, not even ice cream.
She reaches for my shirt and I pull it off. For a moment, she only looks at me, reaching out to run a hand tentatively over my bare chest. Her fingers rake through the hair on my chest.
A brief flash of self-consciousness hits. I’m not in my twenties anymore. I certainly stay in shape, but the days I had the time to maintain carefully sculpted abs are gone.
But then Bella arches her back and any thoughts of my own physique evaporate. There’s no room for that, not when rosy, pink nipples beckon and firm, round tits. Fuck, I’ve missed tits.
I bury my face against her chest, using my mouth to kiss and suck. Bella laughs, but it turns into a gasp when I bite a nipple. “Too rough?” I murmur.
“No.” The word is whispered. “Do it again.”
Smiling, I give her other nipple the same treatment. She arches up, her leg locking behind my hip. The movement brushes right over my hard-as-steel cock.
That’s it. I tug off her dress altogether and run my hands over the fair, silky skin on display. I pause when I get to her cotton panties, unbearably sexy in their simplicity. “Do you want me to slow down?” I ask.
Bella’s dark hair is spread around her on the pillow, a halo, a crown. “I want you to speed up,” she murmurs.
I comply.
11
Bella
Ethan tugs my panties down my legs. A brief pang of shyness hits me as I’m once again naked and he’s not, splayed out on the bed in front of him. It doesn’t last, not as his gaze rakes over me. It drips with desire and deep primal admiration.
How could I not want him when he looks at me like that?
“You’re just going to look?” I ask, my voice breathless with anticipation.
Strong hands settle on my knees, pushing them apart. “Taunting me right now is dangerous.”
I can’t form a witty response to that, nor even a coherent one, because he settles between my legs and unleashes heaven. That’s what it feels like.
His mouth paints heat across my sensitive skin. I stare up at the ceiling and breathe through the pulsing need that sweeps through me with ever sweep of his tongue.