Her heart had crawled up into her throat, but her body was starting a one-woman band of pounding beats. Everything felt electrified. Her fingers curled around the rails of the headboard.
He waited for a long moment, watching her, then finally asked. “What color is the sky, Marin?”
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let her head fall back against the pillow. “Green.”
That was when she heard the first click.
It was like a blast in her ears in the silent room. But a wash of heat went over her like the camera had hands, touching every naked part of her. Click. Click. Click. There was nowhere she could hide, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Knowing Donovan was there behind the lens, caressing her with his eyes, seeing her in a way no other had, making art out of her body had desire winding through her like thick smoke.
What was he photographing? The hard pebbles her nipples had become? Her goose-bumped skin? The way her thighs were parted for him? Or maybe the slick, wet place at her center? Just imagining Donovan photographing her there had her clit throbbing and her arousal creeping into the near unbearable state.
This shouldn’t be doing it for her. She didn’t even recognize this version of herself. But that soft click of the camera might as well have been a kiss against her skin from him.
She heard the metal sound of a zipper opening. She didn’t dare look yet, afraid she’d lose her nerve if she stared into the camera’s eye, but her ears were tuned to high. And the rustle of Donovan’s clothing had her pressing her tongue to the roof of her mouth. He was taking her picture, but he was getting naked. Maybe this was driving him just as out of his mind as it was driving her.
She swallowed hard. “Are you touching yourself?”
Another click. “I’ve got my cock in my hand, but don’t worry. I’m just teasing myself. I’m saving the real thing for you. You have no idea how fucking sexy you look. I could take a whole series of
pictures of just the way your teeth keep digging into your lip or how your belly’s rising and falling or how slippery and flushed your cunt is getting. You look like you could come and I haven’t touched you.”
Her mouth was a desert, words a former ability.
“But this. This is my favorite.” Click. Click. “This I can’t get enough of.”
Marin couldn’t stop herself. She ventured a peek and something tight squeezed her chest. Donovan was on the side of the bed, naked as she’d ever seen him, cock in one hand and camera to his eye. And the lens was focused in one very specific place. Right on her face.
He snapped another picture. And then lowered the camera, turning the screen her way. On the bright little square was a woman she didn’t recognize. Hooded eyes, puffy lips, and ransacked hair, the candlelight hitting her just so, making her sexy in a way she’d never have assigned to herself. This was what wanting him looked like on her. This is what he saw.
“What do you think?” he asked softly.
“I think your camera is kind.”
His lips curved as he set the camera aside and bent to brush his lips over hers. “I think it doesn’t capture even one percent of what I see.”
She inhaled deeply, trying to center herself. She’d joked earlier about sex with him being like skydiving, but now that was proving true. She felt like she was falling, falling and there was no parachute cord to pull. He wasn’t playing fair. She reached out for him, feeling the ground rushing up toward her. “Donovan. I need you.”
“I’ve got you.” He climbed onto the bed and pressed a line a kisses along the curve of her neck. She writhed under the touch, and he put a hand on her hip to anchor her. “I need you right back.”
He took his time, using his mouth on every square inch of her, teasing her nipples and pressing hot wet kisses along her ribs. Then he was stroking between her thighs with maddening precision until she thought she might cry from all the pent-up . . . everything. Fear. Desire. Emotion. It had all weaved into a glowing, knotted ball of sparking energy in her gut. She called his name, not sure what she wanted him to do. But then he was rolling on the condom and he gave her the answer. He braced himself over her, settled in between her thighs, and pushed deep inside her in a long, slow glide.
Yes. That. That was what she needed.
And when she opened her eyes, finding him watching her, his deep blue gaze capturing her and holding her there, she felt all of those swirling things settle. He was skydiving with her. They were on this ride together. They’d either float safely to the bottom or crash alongside each other.
But at least she knew one thing: He was as lost to it as she was.
She wrapped her arms around him, her nails digging into the hard muscles of his back, and she took him deep inside her body, never breaking the eye contact.
They’d never made love face-to-face. She’d never seen him this stripped down. So naked. So human. And she couldn’t get enough.
She’d asked for the boy she used to know. But she’d gotten a man who was so much more than that. He was fire. Brash and bold and dangerous. But he was also rain. She could see it there in his eyes, like he could drown if he let some of the stuff inside him come to the surface. Like he was always saying good-bye. Deep, deep waters.
It was beautiful.
It was terrifying.
But when they both fell over the edge of the cliff together a few minutes later, all she could do was fly with him and hope they landed in one piece.