and feeding us. Never have I wanted a kiss to continue and end in the same moment.
I linger for a while, reveling in how Kara’s silken groan resonates through my system, before dragging my mouth free. I look away long enough to make sure I get us across the room and onto the bed. Those few seconds are all I can take without her filling my vision. As soon as I sweep her down onto my rumpled sheets and blankets, I drink her in again. No. I gorge my gaze on the glory of her.
She’s graceful curves and sensual shadows.
Sultry darkness and passionate light.
Blatant need and open desire.
But most of all, she’s mine.
I’m going to make that true, in every sense of the word. The promise floods my veins, coils my tendons, pushes at every fiber of my muscles. It’s a physical force like nothing I’ve ever known.
She’s still and sweet and impossibly stunning, her hair splayed on the pillows like dark wings, her face alive with rising lust. I watch, spellbound, as that expression intensifies…with every inch I tug at the soft lace of her panties. Slowly. Slowly. My fingers hardly understand the command from my brain, especially as she fists the sheets and hitches her hips a little higher.
“Please,” she rasps.
I flare my nostrils, hoping to convey a wordless request for patience. Stupid move because my senses are widened to more of her scent, a blend of smoky honey and aroused spices that makes me dizzy with desire. Who’s running out of patience now?
Somehow I manage to grate, “We’ll get there, beautiful. Let me treasure you.”
And what riches she does have for me. Unlike the moments we stole in my office, I take the time to savor the decadent glory of her. All of her. I start at her feet as I slip the black lace totally free from her body. After kissing each of her delicate, red-polished toes, I slide my hands along the sleek curves of her legs. When I arrive at their crux, I roam my fingertips inward. She’s already slick there, her channel welcoming my touch like a portal to secret wonders.
Wonders she’s finally giving to me.
And the secrets? Perhaps now she’ll trust me enough to impart those too. In return, I’ll give her all of mine. All of me.
She bows into my touch with an achy whimper.
It’s time.
I’m past ready.
And I know, as I raise my head to stare deep into her eyes again, that she is too.
It’s agony to look away from those soft and smoky depths, but the torment speeds up my reach for the nightstand. I’ve barely begun the stretch when Kara closes her hand around my wrist. The strength in her hold doesn’t surprise me anymore. The urgency of it does.
Before I can hike one brow, let alone both, she says, “We don’t need one of those.”
I draw breath for the start of a safe sex lecture when she cuts in.
“I want this the way it’s meant to be. With nothing between us.” She palms my jaw. “Nothing.”
I clear my throat. “Kara—”
“You can’t give me anything. Just…take my word, okay? It’s impossible. Not anything. Not a disease, not an infection, and certainly not a baby.”
The sorrow that threads her last claim—and the conviction with which I believe her—is enough to have me forgetting the nightstand. Her fingers dig into my beard. With her other hand, she reaches for the snap on my jeans and tugs the zipper down. It’s practically torture. My cock is hot and heavy, forcing us both to wrestle it free from the denim.
But I’m just eager to strip the rest of what’s between us, to get more of her skin against my skin, so I finish the task by pushing off the bed and hurriedly shucking my jeans. While rising back up, I hurl the pants against the wall. I don’t even care that they hit hard enough to chip the corners of a few bricks.
But then…I freeze. And linger there a moment too long, just staring in awe. Kara’s writhing harder against the sheet, her hands restless over the flesh I’m certain I could spend the rest of my life worshiping. Starting with tonight…
“Open up for me, Kara.”
With a soft sigh, she does. And at once, I’m damn near reborn.
Everything about the sight, and the simplicity of her act, reaffirms how very ready she is for this. For me.
I’m lured down over her once more. I scoop her hands beneath mine, meshing our fingers