his trousers and eased it back off his shoulders. The muscle definition was different, the core fitter, stronger, more man than youth but she remembered every contour of the frame, the minor blemishes, the birthmark on his thigh.
She locked his gaze as her hands explored his chest. Grazing his navel, up across his abs towards his pecs, lingering on his nipples before curling around his shoulders and pulling his body tight to hers.
*
He wanted her so badly it was already a strain to keep himself in check. He hadn’t felt this way since the last time they made love. Every time with Emma he remembered how he felt like his heart would burst with joy as his body exploded inside her. It had been all-consuming then and having another chance to experience that was blowing his mind. Her touch was sweet agony, her fingertips warming his flesh with every centimetre they covered.
He wanted to touch her, taste her, make her his again. He ripped away her blouse, the buttons breaking their threads and scattering on the floor. He discarded it on the bed.
He made light work of her bra, undoing the clasp at the back with a swift tug and dragging the straps down her arms until he could pull it off from the front. It hit the wall. And there she was. Naked to the waist, with those perfect, smooth, round breasts he’d dreamed about so often.
*
She gasped and he brought his mouth down to her neck, his lips touching the indent at the top of her shoulder bone. His hands worked at the button of her dark jeans while his lips gave feather-light touches to her skin.
Releasing the button, he inched down the zipper and pushed the denim from her hips, all the time, his mouth making a slow, seductive journey down towards her breasts.
As he ducked his head lower she felt herself move towards him, yearning to give him what he wanted. Her breasts were swollen and obvious. Two hard peaks begging for his attention.
A sigh of pleasure escaped her mouth as his mouth, moist, warm, probing, met one of her nipples, his tongue circling the tip, his mouth pulling it further inside. It ached and she groaned, feeling her breasts harden further still, giving away just how much she wanted this. She felt as if every fibre of her was stood to attention, alert, alive, ready.
He brought his head up, found her mouth and with his body, backed her over to the king-size bed. The edge of the mattress caught her leg and she let herself tumble backwards onto it.
He was looking down at her, his chest in time with the motion of his breath. He pulled her jeans completely from her legs and kicked them across the floor.
She wriggled slightly, enjoying the feel of the cotton-covered duvet on her back, arching herself, letting him know this was what she wanted.
He unfastened his trousers, all the time his eyes on her, as if watching her reaction, wanting to see how she felt from her expression. Tight boxers were underneath the trousers and her body tensed at the sight of him. There was no doubt his body desired her as much as she yearned for him.
Before he could move forward she shifted, sitting herself up and edging herself towards the end of the bed.
‘Take them off,’ she whispered, her fingers at the elastic of his shorts.
‘Emma,’ he said.
She knew it wasn’t a protest, more a pause, but going slow wasn’t an option now. She was lit up, a fusion of lust and love, bubbling and boiling with no chance of turning down the heat.
He slipped down his boxers and discarded them, standing before her. Bare.
*
This was it. This was his chance to truly put the past behind him. It was a different time, another place. He really could lose himself in her. He wasn’t the naïve boy he was back then, eager to succeed, desperate for money. He’d learned so many lessons.
Her gaze made him feel suddenly self-conscious, a little vulnerable. He was proud of his physique, he worked hard to be this way for the football, but standing naked before her he wasn’t worried about his flesh being on display, it was as if she could see inside him. So many secrets, so many bad, evil things were in there. He didn’t want any of that to touch her.
She put her hand on his penis – so gentle – then settled her fingers at the base,