Oh shit. How the hell had they ended up here? And how the hell had they never talked about this before?
Zach thought her last question was probably—hopefully—the most important, so he answered it first. Theyhadactually talked about this part, but maybe, in this new weirdness of being really together again, she just needed reassurance. “Only been you from the night we met, Ly. I told you that, and I wasn’t lying.”
Still staring at her books and not him, she nodded. “Okay. But ... before that? A lot of fucking?”
“Depends on who you’re comparing me to. Compared to a porn star, not much at all. Compared to a pastor, a lot. In the club, probably about average.” He went to her and took light hold of her chin, getting her to look him in the eye. She looked tired and vulnerable, and he remembered her very shitty day. “Am I gonna get in trouble for shit I did before we met?”
She shook her head and gave him a small, fragile smile. “No ... sorry. Just ... I ... haven’t. Done a lot of fucking, I mean. I’m not a virgin or anything, just ... I don’t really do casual, and I haven’t had many relationships, so ... “
“So ...” he prompted when she didn’t finish her sentence.
“So I ... uh. I don’t know. It just hit me weird right then that you’re a lot more experienced, probably with girls who fuck a lot, too, and maybe I’ll be disappointing.”
Now he understood—she was feeling the same weirdness he was, but for her, self-consciousness became self-doubt.
“Babe.” He took her hands and made her turn completely to face him. Damn, she was beautiful. Everything about her was what he liked best in a woman: the shape of her body, the color of her hair, the fullness of her mouth, the keen cast of her eyes, her creativity, her intellect, the slender thread of humor and insight in the way she saw and commented on the world.Everything. She was fuckingperfect.
Andgod, he wanted her. Two months of jacking off with her on a fucking screen had him about to explode out of his skin. And now his hands were on her. Why were they talking?
“We’ve fucked plenty already, you and me, and it’s been hot as hell. Sometimes Idreamabout the way you come. The way your body moves, the sounds you make. Finally getting to hold you while that happens—disappointing is not the word I’d use.”
He’d chosen his words well, all the better for being true. They worked on her like a magic spell; he could see the doubt falling away. Finally she smiled and stepped in, tucking her body against his. He closed her in his arms and held on.
“I’m so glad you’re finally here,” she whispered.
“Me too.”
With that, all the discomfort dissipated, and it was just them, together again at last—or not again but for the first time. So much had passed between them since the last time they were in the same space that it hardly seemed like they were the same people.
He kissed her head, let the scent of her come into his breath and fill his mind. Intoxicated, he kissed her again, and again, burying his face in her silky waves as his hands slid and slipped over her back, down to take hold of her ass—god, so firm and soft, so perfect. Then she turned to him, and his lips were on her cheek, and then her mouth. Her lips parted, a tiny moan left her on a wisp of minty air, and Zach claimed her beautiful mouth, lips plump as pillows.
He had not appreciated the delights of her mouth nearly enough before. Kissing her now was like ... he didn’t know, couldn’t think, but holding her like this—the way she bent back as he leaned forward, the way she let her body rest in his arms, trusting him to hold her, letting him form their shape, the way her mouth moved with his, the seal between them unbroken, the way her tongue moved against his just so—he’d never felt this way with anyone else. Like, even as he made every move, he was neither leading nor following. Like they were moving together every step.
Wild as he was to have her, Zach felt calm. Centered. Maybe that was the difference between sex and love.
Uh ... not that he was thinking about love.
He found the hem of her tank and drew it upward. Lyra leaned back with a whimper and lifted her arms. He freed her from the top and tossed it away, and there she was. He’d thought he’d learned her body, but he’d been wrong. No screen could possibly do her beauty justice.
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” he muttered and lifted one perfect tit in his hand as he bent to put his mouth on it. A moan floated from her, and she wrapped her arms around his head. He felt her fingers scratching lightly on his scalp, in time with his sucks of her beautiful nipple, and his already throbbing cock began to ache.
“Bed, Zach,” she gasped, and he needed no further prodding. Coming up to claim her mouth again, he walked her backward until they hit her bed, then lifted her and set her on it.
Before he could join her there, she came up onto her knees and started drawing the curtains around her canopy closed. While she did, he made quick work of his clothes, shedding them without worrying about where anything landed. He even let his kutte drop to the floor. But he did find his jeans again and grab a condom. And wished he’d brought his pack up, where he had the whole box.
She was naked, too, when he climbed up. She closed the last side of the curtains, shrinking the room to the size of her bed.
Oh, he liked this—being snugged into such a small space with her, closed off from the whole rest of the world, surrounded by faintly glowing sheets of white.
He’d always thought of canopy beds as chick shit, but guys were missing out. This was awesome.
Slipping the condom under the pillow for safekeeping, he stretched out on his back. She was still kneeling beside him, naked and glorious. Before she could lie down, Zach caught her hand and pulled her close, until she lay mostly on top of him, their chests together, her hair pooling over his shoulders. Her belly was on his cock, and that touch, the feel of her warm skin, the pressure of her body, was going to kill him before long. He couldn’t resist the urge to flex his hips and drive that contact even closer. Her groan echoed his own.
Knowing what he wanted, Zach lifted his head and kissed her. At the same time, he shifted his legs until they were between hers, then drew her farther up his body until his cock slipped between her legs. She was wet, and her smooth, bare pussy was like silk. She moaned into his mouth and sought out that slip again, grinding on him, her slit opening and embracing him, her juices searing him.
It would be nothing to shift a bit more and find the path he’d been dreaming of for weeks.
But not without a condom.