then more persistent. Open mouthed kisses that feel so good I could faint. And when his tongue joins the mix, lapping at my damp skin, the whimper that escapes me is loud.
So loud he glances up at me, that wicked smile firmly in place once again. “You okay?”
I nod. “I still have my shoes on.”
Chuckling, he helps me with that, tugging them off my feet along with my socks, then taking off my leggings and panties until I’m naked in front of him. Bared to him, completely on display in the afternoon light, where he can examine my every flaw.
“So fucking beautiful,” he says reverently, skimming his hands along my hips, my outer thighs. I stand on shaky legs, inhaling deep as I desperately try to keep my shit together.
With him like this, I feel so damn vulnerable. And it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced this, and never this intense. I’ve kept myself closed off for so long, hidden in the shadows, trying to reestablish my footing. I told myself from the start I shouldn’t get involved with a guy like Tristan. He’d make me feel too exposed, too raw, too…everything.
And now here I am. Naked. Raw. Exposed. Vulnerable. He’s got his hands on me, his mouth on my skin, worshiping my body, making me feel so good, so wonderfully, deliciously…
Alive.
“You’re shaking, angel.” He touches my hip with his fingers, drifts them down, through my pubic hair. “Do I make you nervous?”
I nod, my throat too dry to speak.
“Why?”
I shake my head, not wanting to answer.
“You make me nervous too.”
His quiet confession makes my head jerk in surprise. I glance down at him, my eyes wide, my lips parted though I still can’t talk. He nods in response, leaning in to drop a kiss to the very top of my right thigh, his warm mouth lingering on my skin like he doesn’t want to stop. I shiver at the tender gesture.
“It’s true,” he murmurs. “You overwhelm me. My feelings for you—I don’t understand them.”
I run a hand through his soft hair, silently encouraging him to go on.
“You’re too good for me, you know that?” He tilts his head back, our gazes meeting. His blue eyes are so dark, that familiar turbulent storm raging within them. “I’ll probably end up only hurting you in the end.”
I flinch at his choice of words. The end. Who wants to hear that, especially when what we have is only beginning?
“You consume me, Alexandria,” he continues, his voice rough. “I spent all night with you and the next day all I could imagine was when I would next see you again. You haunt my thoughts, my dreams. I don’t think like that. I never think like that.” He shakes his head, looking almost irritated. “You’re the first woman that’s ever made me feel like this. Though I tried to deny it.”
He did?
“I tried to tell myself I didn’t need you, but fuck it.” He rises to his feet, almost intimidating as he stands so close to me, his hands still on my hips, his body radiating heat. He’s all I can see, hear, feel. “I want you, Ali. I want you so fucking bad it’s killing me to just play around with you or whatever the hell we’re doing. When all I really want to do is get you in that bed and fuck you until the both of us can’t see straight.”
Oh. My entire body goes weak at his words, the fluttering in my stomach making me jittery. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, all thoughts of wanting to take this slow in order to protect myself flying right out the window.
“I can’t make you any flowery promises. I can’t say that one of us or the both of us won’t get hurt at some point. But I’m—I’m fucking desperate to be inside you.” He releases my hips to hold my face, tilting it up so I have no choice but to stare into his blazing eyes. He hesitates, I see his Adam’s apple move when he swallows and wait for whatever he has to say next. “I just want to feel close to you,” he whispers, his admission pulled from somewhere deep. “I want to look you in the eyes when I enter you for the first time. And I want to be the one you hold onto when I make you come.”
I throw myself at him. There’s no other way to describe it. I fling my body