did she pause proceedings to explain that? Would he stop and ask her? Would this be horribly awkward with someone she hadn’t already seen naked twenty-thousand times?
Apparently, the answer to all those questions was No. When Zach saw the dry V of fabric between her legs, all he did was groan—long and low and deliciously tortured, like the sight of her physically hurt. He certainly didn’t look crestfallen or confused by the fact that she wasn’t a waterfall. In fact, he closed his eyes for a moment and bit his fist. He bit his fist.
Then, after a harsh breath, he opened his eyes and murmured, “Fuck, I like that.”
She licked her lips automatically—not nervously. “What?”
He took a step closer, his gaze trained between her legs. “Plain white fabric, so tight over your pussy. You’re all prim and soft and swollen. Show me.”
“I—I’m—” She was too breathless to get the words out, too dizzy to know what she even planned to say. I’ll do whatever you want? I’m already falling apart for you, and I wish I didn’t know why? She was thinking in nonsense circles. She was, she was, she was.
“Show me.” His voice was hypnotic, his breathing heavy. He sank to his knees at the edge of the bed, as if to get a closer look.
She hooked a finger under the edge of her knickers, pulled them aside, and showed him.
“Ah, Rae,” he breathed. “Look at you. Spread open for me like you need it.”
“Don’t,” she blurted, even as her heart pounded and desire zipped over her skin.
He tore his gaze from her pussy, arching a brow. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t… don’t say those things.” She wasn’t used to it. She couldn’t bear to hear it from that wanting mouth and in that gravel voice.
“Why not, love?”
She couldn’t answer.
“You don’t like it?”
She swallowed.
“You do. You like it.”
Too much. And what was the point of pretending she didn’t? Only, she couldn’t say it. She was mortified enough already. She just nodded.
His smile was sunshine after a storm. He slid both hands into his back pockets, which made his broad shoulders seem even broader, and said, “You should touch yourself.”
The word should caught hold of her. “Why?”
“Because you want to.”
It was difficult to argue with that kind of logic. Somehow, Rae found herself spreading her legs wider. Leaning back on one hand and slipping the other into her knickers. He couldn’t see as much anymore; she’d stopped holding them aside. But he watched the veiled motion of her fingers beneath the cotton like it was something he couldn’t bear to miss.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “Like that.” His frown was agonized. His eyes fluttered shut for a second—then he snapped them open again, like he couldn’t miss a moment. He wet his lips as she traced a finger up and down the plump folds of her labia, again and again. “Is this what you do,” he asked, “when you’re alone?”
When I’m alone I think of you.
“This is how I start,” she found herself whispering. It sounded like a shout.
He drifted closer, so close—too close. She was too hot to handle, her pussy tightening desperately, the tension in her chest leaping like a flame. The idea that he might touch her landed somewhere between panic and need—but his hands were still in his pockets, behind his back. Hidden. Contained?
“You like to tease yourself?” he murmured.
She nodded, a moan stuck in her throat.
“Then what? What’s next?” As if this were a guided tour. A tutorial. How Rae Gets Off.
Without a word, she made the torturous path of her fingers smaller, tighter, a harsh circle centred over her clit. Even through her underwear, he seemed to know exactly what she was doing. He bit his lip, and Rae decided she’d never seen anything so fucking sexy in her life. Which was ridiculous, because she’d seen plenty of sexy things—things involving actual genitals as opposed to this guy’s fucking mouth.
But God, what a mouth.
“Do you always do it in bed?” he asked. “In the dark, when you’re half-asleep? Do you have a routine, Rae, or do you make yourself come whenever you feel like it?”
Breathless, she demanded, “Why do you want to know?”
“Why do you think?”
She couldn’t answer.
“Do you use your fingers?” he whispered. “Or something else?”
“I have a vibrator.” Now, why the fuck had she said that?
But his reaction was somewhat unexpected. If she’d considered his smile dirty before, it was absolutely filthy now.
“Yeah? Is that how you tease yourself? Do you run it all over your pussy?”