He stepped closer and took her face in his hands. “This situation is fucked, Lex. There’s nothing to forgive. Just tell me you’re with me. Tell me you trust me to protect you and that you’re with me no matter what.”
Her throat rippled as she swallowed. “I’m with you, Nick. I don’t know what it means, but I’m with you. No matter what.”
He looked into her eyes, shining like the summer sky, and knew she meant it.
He lowered his mouth to hers, covering her lips in a feverish kiss. He wanted to make sure she was really in front of him, that she wasn’t a dream, and his tongue took possession of her mouth as his hands traveled down her neck and over her shoulders.
She reached for the towel at his waist without breaking their kiss, her hands scouring his body, like she was afraid something would come between them.
He pulled away from her mouth long enough to lift her into his arms. His cock throbbed between his legs as he carried her to the bedroom and his mouth found hers like a homing beacon finding its mark.
He set her down next to the bed, unzipped her hoodie, and tossed it aside. Then he lifted the hem of her tank top and pulled it over her head. He watched as she reached back and unhooked her bra, then tossed it aside.
Her eyes never left his as she unbuttoned her jeans, sliding them off her hips and pulling her underwear along with them.
Her chest rose and fell, her rapid breathing audible as their eyes locked. Everything that was and would be seemed to pass between them: the decision they were making to be together, the things they were risking, the things they might lose.
She slid her arms around his neck and pressed her naked body against his. He had to suppress a moan as the silk of her skin heated his body, cool from the shower. He felt like a live wire, the current of his desire tripping along his nerve endings until he thought he might explode.
He gently removed her arms from his neck, then bent to kiss the side of her neck.
“You can’t touch me right now, Lex. I want you too bad,” he murmured against her skin.
He reached behind her and slid the elastic from her ponytail, releasing a cascade of dark hair around her shoulders. The smell of her shampoo — coconut and vanilla — drifted through the room.
He kissed his way to her mouth, sinking into the lush paradise of her lips as he held her arms at her side. He took his time kissing her, languishing in the sweet well of warmth, the slow sweep of her tongue against his, then kissed his way along her jawline, still holding her arms at her side.
“Let me touch you,” she begged.
“Not yet, beautiful. Let me enjoy you first.”
Her head fell to the side as he kissed the tender spot behind her ear. He was rewarded with a sigh that sent another rush of blood to his already engorged cock. He sucked her earlobe into his mouth and bit down just hard enough to make her moan with pleasure.
Her arms strained against his hands, her body trembling as he trailed his tongue across her jaw, pausing to dip his tongue into her mouth, savoring the taste of her. He let go of her arms and slid his hands into the hair at the back of her head, slanting his mouth over hers to deepen the kiss, wanting all of her.
She slid her hands slowly up his chest, lingering over his pecs to pinch his nipples. The sensation was excruciatingly pleasurable, the velvety haven of her mouth an echo of the one that awaited him at the center of her sex.
He knew what it would feel like to slide into her, to sink into the sanctuary of her body, and he pushed a knee between her thighs and nudged her back onto the bed.
She lay back, looking up at him with half-closed eyes, and held out a hand, beckoning him to join her.
He took it, and she pulled him on top of her. Her skin was warm and silken against his own. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling the scent that was uniquely hers. It made him think of tight skirts and high heels, of laughter in bed, of sighs in the dark and the way she cried out when she came.
She ran her nails over his back, just hard enough to get his attention, and he lifted his head and let his body nestle between her legs, the head of his cock brushing up against the heat of her center.
He looked down at her, hair spread across the pillow around her face, lips swollen and parted. He stroked the hair back from her face and kissed her long and slow until he couldn’t stand it anymore, until the feel of her body rising to meet his, the swell of her full breasts pressed against his chest, threatened to undo him.
He kissed his way down her neck, relieved to put distance between his throbbing erection and the siren call of her pussy. He rubbed his nose between her breasts, breathing her in, and closed his hand around one of them while he lowered his mouth to the other one.
He closed his lips around the erect bud, sucking it into his mouth while he pinched the other one. She moaned, her back arching, her hips moving under him, reaching for what her body wanted.
He lifted his head and gave the other breast the same treatment, lapping at the pale pink nipple until she was writhing under him.
“Nick,” she gasped.
He kissed the scar under one of her breasts, then touched his lips to her stomach, kissing the scar he couldn’t see.
When he looked up at her, he caught the glimmer of tears at her temple. He propped himself over her body and wiped away the tears, then kissed the trail they left behind.