in Nico’s? I was light as a feather. Even more, he sensed when I needed him to treat me with care, like a precious gem, and when I wanted him to use my body roughly, bawdily.
Completely naked now, my hands ran over his chiseled abdominals that flexed beneath my palms. I traced over the tattoo of his family crest, his biceps rippling when his hands clenched at his sides. To keep himself from pinning me down?
Then my eyes caught on the series of words tattooed in black ink along his right side. I hadn’t been able to get a good look at them before. When I leaned up and he realized what I was doing, he tensed, shifting his attention to the wall above our heads.
Guilt can be to the soul what a bullet can be to the body.
I peeked up at him after reading the words. I could tell he was waiting for me to ask what they meant. They obviously held profound meaning for him to ink them onto his body for eternity.
Words can wait another day.
I took both of his hands in mine and placed them over my breasts. Seeming grateful that I wasn’t asking for an explanation, the tension drained from his shoulders as he covered my body with his nakedness.
“As much as I love the idea of leaving my smell all over your lingerie,”—his fingers untied the delicate bow lacing the teddy together—“I want to feel every inch of your bare skin against mine.”
No arguments here.
It was a poignant moment, being naked together for the first time.
Making love naked together for the first time.
Taking great care, he slipped the teddy’s straps down my arms and slowly peeled the material down my body. Almost as if he’d never done such a thing before and wanted to get it right. Once my legs were free and I was splayed out for his pleasure, he scrubbed the gauzy lace over his chest.
All over it. Up and down.
Then he wrapped it around his hand and fisted his cock with it. Taking lazy strokes, the lace slid all over his shaft.
He was leaving his scent on it.
His gaze never left mine, his mouth even stretching into a smug grin whenever my eyelids drooped. Something about that almost-primitive display sent a lightning bolt of arousal straight to my core.
Satisfied with the job he’d done, he let the flimsy lace flutter to the floor. “So pretty.”
After lowering himself back over me, his mouth latched onto my nipple, tongue laving, lips pulling on the peak with gentle suction. He ran his short beard over the sensitive tip in a nuzzling motion. “And so soft.”
I folded my legs over his, drawing him as close as I could, but I needed something inside me. Something between my inner thighs, putting pressure on that spot where all my pleasure centers were concentrated.
“Please, Nico,” I begged. “I’m burning up. I need everything.”
He released my nipple with a growl. “I’ll give you all I’ve fucking got, legs. You’ve already taken most of it anyway.”
Grabbing protection from his bedside drawer, he tore open the packet with his teeth and rolled the latex on. Then his hands covered mine, our fingers intertwining.
The energy in the room stopped buzzing when our eyes met.
“Do you want it back?” I breathed.
A match lit the amber fires of his irises. “Never.”
With a single, jarring punch of his hips, we were connected.
Those words hung suspended over our heads as we both chased our releases. Proof that something more was happening between us. Proof that feelings existed here.
But they were also a taunt. Like our feelings themselves were saying yeah, that’s right, you can’t ignore us anymore—now, what are you gonna do about us?
But because words could wait another day, that was the last one spoken until we each nose-dived into whatever was below the clifftop we’d been perched on. We’d been above the clouds. And with that thick sheet of white spread out below us, we couldn’t see what we were heading into when we plummeted over that edge.
Although, I suspected they were forbidden lands. The kinds with Trespassers Will Be Shot signs littering the ground.
Which scared the bloody hell out of me.
Because in our case, that was a very real and literal possibility.
She was so goddamn beautiful I almost couldn’t stand it.
Every time she went out in public, I wanted to slaughter every motherfucker who even glanced in her direction. I could admit I was selfish enough to never want anyone else to behold