mind with slow, deep kisses that lasted ages and only stoked the embers lit inside her by that silent drive. Taking his time, Levi explored her body with his hands, over her clothes, but the way he did it struck a tender chord, an answering strum from her heartstrings.
Soft brushes of touch followed by a harsher grip as though he struggled to keep his own needs under control.
He took his time, testing the weight of her breasts in the palms of his large hands, spanning the dip of her waist, the roll over her hips, helping her grind against him as he lifted one of her legs up and around his. Then dropping that leg back down so he could slowly strip off her tank top, kissing each exposed inch of skin as he went, dropping sweet kisses on her collarbone, her hips, her shoulders, stoking not only the ache at her core but the one in her heart.
Then up one step.
His shirt came off next, and he let her explore, hands fisted in her hair as she learned each groove, each flat, each spot that made him shudder. Especially when she used the tip of her tongue. With a naughty thought in her head, she circled his flat nipple with her tongue, then bit lightly and tugged, and his grip in her hair tightened painfully as he groaned.
“The things you do to me—” He bit off the rest of his words as she tugged again.
She grinned to herself. So she wasn’t the only one who liked an edge of pain with the pleasure.
One more step up and he slowly lifted her arms above her head to pin them against the wall with one hand, while the other dispensed with her bra. He paid her back for that nip with denial. Touching every part of her breasts except the sensitized tips until she was panting in little bursts. Only then did he put his mouth to her. She held her breath pushing into his tongue and waiting for the sting of—
Fuck. He bit harder than she had, but still playful. Need soaked her panties.
“Amazing,” he said between soft kisses. “Stubborn.” Another kiss. “Glorious.”
“What are you doing?” she panted.
“Cataloging my favorite qualities.”
Her heart tumbled over itself at that. He loved that she was stubborn?
Up another step, and he eased her out of her jeans so slowly, she kept plucking at his hands, urgency building in her, only to have hers lightly slapped away. Then he’d pause and nuzzle a small patch of exposed skin. Enough to have her humming with frustration.
“A fighter,” he said, continuing his list.
And damned if his words and taking their time wasn’t switching on a different light inside her. One where she felt…cherished. Not just a convenient vagina. As though getting to know each other’s bodies on a more intimate level, each nuance and detail, what made her sigh and what made him groan, was more important than the prize at the end.
By the time they reached the last two steps, he had them both naked and heaving.
But he didn’t take her up into his bedroom. Instead he sat her on the top step, hands at her hips, scooting her until she rested at the edge, then pushed her knees wide. Heat flared across her cheekbones as he took a long, lingering look.
“Your heart for your boys,” he said. “But maybe we shouldn’t bring them into this just now.”
He grinned, golden sparks shooting at her, and she’d swear absorbing into her blood, adding to the rush of heat. Gods, when he smiled at her that way, she might do anything he ever asked.
“You’d better hold on for this,” he said, voice a silken tumble of sound.
The banisters were too far apart for her. “Hold on to what?” she asked as he dipped his head between her legs.
“Me.” She heard the smile in his voice a split second before the crackling sound of fire alerted her to what was about to happen.
Then heat.
He blew a stream across her already throbbing clit, golden flames licking at her slick entrance. Her head dropped back and with one hand behind her, bracing her upright, she grabbed onto his head with her other hand, his hair soft against her fingers, the sensation only adding to the pleasure.
She expected him to stop the flames before he followed up with his mouth.
He didn’t.
Instead, fire still unfurling over her, he lashed her with his flame-heated tongue. Pressing, tugging, stroking.
Pressure at her entrance, just as hot,