When he returned, it was with a foil wrapper.
‘I nearly forgot,’ Tilly whispered, her eyes wide.
‘You and me both.’ He opened it and sheathed himself, then brought his body over hers. ‘I have wanted you from the first moment I saw you,’ he said seriously. ‘You have a power over me...’
Her heart squeezed in her chest.
It was the same for her.
Except it was a lie.
Everything she was turned out to be a lie.
He’d been burned by a lover in the past, and the last thing Tilly wanted was for that betrayal to colour what they were. Because her name didn’t matter, did it?
She shook her head and reached for him. Of course it didn’t. This wasn’t a lie. What her name was didn’t matter—nor what he thought it to be. This thing between them had nothing to do with a name. It was inevitable and it was them. Him...her. Their bones, blood, hearts and souls.
His weight was heaven. His body was warmth. He kissed her—gently at first, and then with desperation as his manhood moved towards her, nudging her entrance slowly, gently, cautiously.
Waiting was agony; her body was on fire and only he could douse the flames. She arched her back, lifting herself higher, inviting him wordlessly inside her, and he groaned as he thrust deep, stretching her muscles, plunging to the core of her being.
She cried out in ecstasy, throwing her head back and banging it on the timber wall. He reached up, concern on his features, but she laughed.
‘Maldestra...’ he whispered, and the word ran over her skin.
She didn’t know what it meant, and she had no time to ask. He gripped her hips and pulled her lower on the bed, then thrust into her again, sending her body into a spasm of awareness that travelled through her.
A low murmuring was filling the room; it was her. Tilly was crying out, over and over and over, indecipherable words, simply needing to express what was happening to her. She had never felt more amazing or more afraid. It was almost too much pleasure.
He brought his mouth to hers and his tongue lashed her in time with his body, so that her soul had no chance to recover. She was trembling, digging her nails into his back and even then failing to stay on earth. She was floating high above it. Then she was flying, soaring to heaven, her body barely holding together as release from sexual tension radiated from her.
Her voice was a loud cry and her hands pummelled his back. She gripped onto him for dear life, but nothing could stop the wave. It carried her until she was limp and breathless, but the pleasure didn’t stop. He moved harder, shifting her with him, moving his mouth to her breast, rolling her nipple in the warmth of his mouth, and she sobbed at how good it felt. Her nerves were already over-sensitised.
He drove into her harder now, and she knew a second wave was coming. She could feel it building, as loud as the thunder outside. She tilted her head back and he kissed her neck, grating his teeth over the exposed flesh. She caught his mouth, tasting him, kissing him with all her passion and all her truth. Kissing away the lies she’d told him, making sure he understood.
This—this was who she was. This was real.
She wrapped her legs around him and he thrust deeper. She cried out, and the second her world began to shake he chased after her, linking his fingers through hers and lifting them above her head as their bodies ascended to the heavens together.
It wasn’t sex. It wasn’t making love. It was something else entirely. An experience unique to the two of them and to that moment.
She held him inside her, her legs tight around his waist, her hands pinned by him, their bodies in utter unison. Complete agreement.
His chest was moving with the force of his breathing. He brought his head closer, pressing his forehead against hers.
‘Worth the wait,’ he said, and smiled, his eyes so full of feeling when they met hers that a new wave of guilt lashed her.
‘The wait was pretty excruciating,’ she whispered.
‘For both of us.’
He shifted, and she felt him move inside her, sparking new recognition and desire.
She expelled a shaking breath. ‘Yesterday...’ she murmured, hiding her eyes from his.
He brought his mouth to hers and kissed the corner of her lips. ‘Yes?’
‘You...you said you didn’t want me.’