Hold Me Close - Talia Hibbert Page 0,317

was right again. Sheer bliss. Pure intimacy. Tender, shivering touches that ruined him utterly.

“I love you, too,” he breathed against her skin. His voice cracked as he spoke. “It’s changed me, loving you. I can’t accept bullshit anymore because you’ve given me so fucking much. You make me feel…” He broke off. “You make me feel like myself.”

She blinked rapidly, her words choked by unshed tears. “That’s what you deserve. That’s how it should be. And the way you look at me—I want to be worthy of that. Of you. I promise, I will be.”

“You already are.” He kissed her cheek, her throat, the curve where her neck met her shoulder. Again and again, so she’d never forget, never be afraid. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

“Zach,” she murmured, soft and longing. He looked up to find her lashes fluttering, her eyes turned midnight. He wanted to make them darker still. Wanted to feel her come apart for him, to make love honestly and to have her do the same.

He held her, and stood, and carried her to bed.

Zach’s sheets smelled like him. By the time he laid her gently on top of them, Rae was shaking, overwhelmed by need and by breathless relief. He must’ve sensed how surreal this all seemed to her, because he lay by her side and whispered gentle reassurance in her ear until she could believe that this was it. This was her life. This was her love. It really could be so simple, and so good.

When she was calm, he started to take off her clothes.

He was slow, slow, slow, but achingly steady, as if a natural disaster wouldn’t stop him. He stripped off her T-shirt and ran his hands up the curve of her spine, the breadth of her shoulder blades. He pushed down her jeans and underwear, stroking the tender crease where her arse curved into the back of her thigh. When she whimpered, he kissed her throat, hot and wet with an electric flick of tongue.

It broke something in her. She rose up on her knees and snatched at his clothes, and she wasn’t slow or steady at all. But he didn’t seem to mind.

He did, however, take over again when they were both naked. “Let me taste you,” he murmured, his voice rough, his hands insistent. “Let me.”

As if she would argue.

Her pulse leapt as she lay back. He ran a possessive palm over her thigh, spreading her wide for him. His eyes were heavy-lidded, his breath warm against her sex. “Such a pretty cunt.”

She rolled her hips, anticipation thrumming through her clit. “Do something.”

He pressed a chaste kiss to her hip bone.

“Oh my God, Zach, I swear I’ll strangle you.”

His laughter was low and rich. She felt each puff of air, right before she felt his tongue.

Good Lord, that was good, so good she almost sobbed. His tongue laved her swollen flesh, slick and slow, sending sparks through her blood. He moaned against her pussy and the vibrations rolled through her, melting her into a puddle of lust. His thumbs parted her folds, and his next torturous lick massaged her needy clit. She almost flew off the bed.

“Fuck,” she gasped. “Yes. There. Please.”

Countless times in the past, Zach had playfully ignored her wishes just to hear her growl. Thank God he was too sensible to start that shit in bed. He licked her clit like it was his job, swirling his tongue around the sensitive bud, sucking and stroking, making her dizzy—literally dizzy—with heart-racing pleasure. She bit her lip as her vision darkened at the edges. Ignored it. Gasped recklessly, “More.”

He gave it to her, gripping her hips to hold her still and pushing his face into her slippery, aching cunt, making a mess of her. His moans grew louder and the bed bounced a little, until she realised that he was rocking his hips against the mattress—working his cock without hands. As if the taste of her turned him on so much he couldn’t stop himself. Maybe it was that possibility that snapped the band of delicious tension inside her. Maybe it was his open hunger, so rough and needy and unrestrained, that made her come.

She almost screamed, it was so sudden and intense. Shockwaves of pleasure ripped through her until her ears rang, but through it all, she felt Zach’s hands on her, and she loved their weight.

Languid and dazed, her heart slowing, she murmured, “I liked that.”

Zach laughed. “I appreciate the verbal confirmation.”

“Look