his hands went to my dress. He pulled it forward from the back toward my shoulders. The velvet and sheer fabric at my arms scraped sensitive skin and nipples, abrading them and heating my body while he slid it down, freeing my arms, my breasts, and my waist until in one firm tug, he pushed it down where it pooled at my ankles.
My heart lodged in between my ribs. I was desperate for him, so damn afraid.
“Exquisite.”
I reveled in his praise. His darkened eyes were heated, and I shivered.
In front of him, there was no shame or embarrassment. No nerves as he swept the length of my body with his eyes, caressing me in a way I’d never felt, and yet no hands touched me.
My swallow was heavy and slow as his hands covered mine at his waistband. “Let me help you,” he said so quietly, his gaze seared to mine with intense beauty.
He bent again and kissed me. Together we pushed down his pants and then he curled an arm around my lower back, lifted me and settled me on the bed. He climbed over as he kicked out of his pants and removed socks and then the length of his body was on mine, the weight of him warming me from the inside out while his hands on me scalded me from the outside in until it felt like my entire body was simmering embers, ready to set aflame.
Beautiful. So beautiful. We were perfect together.
“The last time we did this, I did not want those secrets between us,” he admitted, voice like gravel while he skimmed his hands over my sides, curved them around my breasts, over the swell of them before scraping my hardened nipples.
His touch was divine, sparking pleasure with every stroke of his skin against mine.
“I know that now. I wish… I wouldn’t have pushed.”
Because it all made sense when given time to think. Why he touched me so carefully, why he always paused and said we could wait and go slow.
Some of it might have been because he knew my inexperience, but it was the lies and secrets he wanted free first.
He laughed against my breast where his lips had drifted, sending sparks of excitement straight to my core. “If you think it was easy for me to wait, or difficult for me to give in that night you are far from wrong.”
I pushed fingers through his hair and moaned as he sealed his lips over my nipple. “What lovely things you say to me.”
He bit, and I bucked against him at the sting of pain before he soothed it with tongue and kisses.
“I will say all the things you need to know without words, until all you’re possible of making are sounds and screams.”
17
Hudson
She was beautiful. I was sure at one time, she had the confidence of knowing that. I was certain that when she was younger, boys gawked over her, all teenage beauty and shapely figure. But had anyone but me given her compliments since then? That, I doubted, and I would take the time every day, every moment necessary to ensure Lilly understood how gorgeous she was, both inside and out.
And now, I finally had the opportunity to start.
I think you just did. Her words still vibrated through me. She gave me her trust, hopefully her forgiveness, when I had just been beginning to fear it would never come. This was not a moment, a night, I would rush.
Tonight, there weren’t secrets and there weren’t walls hanging between us. There wasn’t the grief I’d tried to drown with alcohol before our first time together.
There was only us, Lilly beneath me, her hands roaming up and down the sides of my ribs. This beautiful, pure, perfect moment with the woman I loved. I would savor every second of it.
I leaned down and kissed her, settled the weight of my hips against her and let her feel everything I felt for her in my kiss, in my touch, and in my arousal pressing against her.
“Hudson,” she gasped as I pulled back and sucked on the tender flesh of her throat. I kept moving down, loving the sting of her fingers at my scalp, the gentle touch of her hands on my body until I was kissing between her breasts, her stomach, and slowly spreading one of her thighs wide.
She froze at my touch as I ran my hand along her inner thigh to her center. I paused, and when I glanced up she