Her mouth left mine and dropped a line of kisses down the front of my throat. She carved a path across my bare chest, the strands of her hair dragging over my skin as she continued to move south. My lungs forgot how to fucking work as her mouth descended over my stomach and narrowly avoided where I most wanted her to go.
We’d had foreplay. Months of it. I wasn’t sure I wanted any more until her fist closed around me and she pumped from the head all the way down to the base. The need in my body was so strong, it verged on painful, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could wait.
But she’d taken my watch, and so I endured her exquisite torture without knowing when it was going to end. Each slow stroke of her hand pressed me closer to the brink of losing control. I’d push her hand out of the way, roll her onto her back, and drive into her. I’d fuck her all the ways I’d spent the last six weeks describing in vivid detail, and we’d both love every second of it.
Emery was bent over me on her knees, her face close enough to my dick that I could feel her warm breath touching me. This merciless teasing was the worst of all, and I clenched my fists to keep from putting them on her head and pushing down. The muscles in my legs corded, twisting with tension.
She flung the curtain of her hair back out of her way so I could see better, and then dropped her forearm across my stomach. It was so she could see my watch she’d borrowed and the second hand on it as it ticked closer to the new day.
I was aware waiting until midnight was dumb. The bet was immature, the deadline subjective, and the rules ridiculous. Yet it still felt like an achievement as time crept toward midnight and my victory. I tried to better myself, to resist temptation, and look what I’d gained. I had this beautiful woman not only as a lover, but as my partner.
“Ten,” she whispered and planted a kiss on my stomach. “Nine.” Her lips brushed lower across my skin. “Eight.”
On her countdown went, with kisses dropped in between the numbers, her path circling from the top of one thigh to the other. I clenched my jaw, holding back a groan of anticipation.
“Two.” Her word was a ghost, barely louder than the water gently falling in the fountain. Her lips brushed across the sensitive underside of my tip, and before the pleasurable sensation could storm up my body, she uttered the final word. “One.”
The wet, velvet heat of her mouth was searing as it closed around me, and my brain emptied of thought. Down she went, pushing her lips as close to the base as she could, and my vision tunneled.
“Oh, fuck,” I moaned. “Fuck.”
I couldn’t find any other words to express how amazing it felt. It took all of five seconds for me to determine it was the best goddamn blowjob of my life, and if I wasn’t careful, it would be over much too quickly. And I’d be damned if I’d come like this and ruin the fun before we really got started.
So, I let her slide her mouth up and down me and swirl her devious tongue until my legs shook and my hips ached to thrust. She marched me right up to the edge before I grasped her shoulder and urged her back.
Her head lifted and her eyes were wide. She was stunned by the interruption, probably because she hadn’t been down there very long, but that was entirely her fault. What was it she’d said to me the other night?
“You are,” I tried to catch my breath, “way too good at that.”
I sat up and grabbed her waist, pulling her into my lap so she was once again straddling me, and her warm breasts flattened against my chest.
“What would you do to me,” I murmured against her lips, “if you could?”
The wind blew, making the walls of evergreen shiver and undulate around us.
“I think if you’d let me,” she whispered, “I might love you.”
EIGHTEEN
VANCE
Of all the things I’d expected to tumble out of Emery’s mouth, this was not one of them. I went still, hoping if I didn’t move, if I didn’t breathe, it’d let me process what she’d just said. But it didn’t help. My mind refused to understand.
“Is it allowed?” she asked.
I swallowed even though my mouth had suddenly gone dry, and my voice was low and off-kilter. “Allowed?”
Her hands cased the sides of my face, and she stared into my eyes like they were bottomless. “You told me once not to fall in love with you.”
My stupid heart wouldn’t maintain a steady rhythm. As an attorney, I’d been taught not to ask a game-changing question during examination if I didn’t already know the answer, and even though she’d basically said she loved me, I still felt like I was ignoring the advice. I didn’t know how she’d respond. “Have you?”