He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, then replaced his lips with his finger, tracing a line down the center of her back, ending just above the waistband of her panties.
She felt like she was going to die of the slow, erotic torture he was wreaking on her.
“You have a beautiful back, Julia. The first time I felt attraction for you was at the movie premiere, when you had all this skin on display. I didn’t recognize my feelings for what they were. I’d spent too many years ignoring them to identify them easily. But that’s what it was. And it was partly due to this gorgeous back.”
He ran the tip of his finger between her shoulder blades.
Then he reached down and undid the clasp of her bra. It fell forward and down her arms, she took it off the rest of the way, pushing it aside.
He reached around and cupped her breasts, teased her nipples until she was breathing hard. Until she couldn’t think. She kept her eyes fixed on the moon, kept herself from turning around and kissing him.
“Perfect,” he said. “You are so perfect. Now I want you to grab on to your headboard, can you do that for me?”
“Yes.”
She obeyed his command, her heart beating harder now. She wanted to look at him. Wanted to touch him. Wanted to connect with him. This was great, it felt great, but she wanted to see him. Wanted to try to read his emotions. And he wasn’t allowing it.
Then she forgot to be bothered, because as she took ahold of the headboard, he started to tug her panties down, leaving them on just above her knees. Then he gripped her hips and pulled her toward him, pressed an intimate kiss to her damp flesh, slid his tongue through her folds.
Then he straightened, pushing a finger inside her. “Ready for me?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.” She could hear him tearing open a condom packet, could hear him undoing the buckle on his belt and a pause while she assumed he was applying the protection.
Then he was pushing inside her, impossibly deep, filling her to the point of discomfort for a moment, before her body acclimated and pain gave way to pleasure.
“Good?” he asked, his voice rough, his movements slow.
The only response she had was a deep moan as she lowered her head and held on to the bed for all she was worth.
He thrust into her hard, one hand braced just beneath her breasts, the other on her hip, as he found his rhythm. She could feel the moment his control started to shred, when each thrust brought a short groan from his lips, his movements becoming more desperate, harder, faster.
Finally she had to look. Had to touch. Had to taste. She turned and captured his mouth with hers.
When she broke the kiss, she looked at his eyes, blank, bleak. A man haunted. A man possessed. He moved his hand to cup her breast, shifted the other one so that it was between her thighs, stroking the source of her pleasure.
And then that was all she could feel. All she could think about. The release that was building in her, drawing her body so tight she was sure it would break her.
But just as she reached her limit, its hold broke, the tension unraveling, sending her into a free fall as endless waves crashed over her, flooded through her. He moved his hands to her hips, stiffening behind her, a harsh growl signaling his own release.
He lay down, bringing her with him, keeping her so that her back was to him. He held her close, saying nothing, his heart pounding heavily, so much so she could feel it echoing in her own body.
He was still dressed. His shirt was scratchy on her back, his belt buckled digging into her butt. “Could you scoot?” she asked. “Or, why don’t you just take your clothes off.”
She turned over and kissed him, but he didn’t kiss her back. “Ferro?”
He sat up and she thought maybe he was going to get undressed. But then he stood and removed the condom, redoing his belt buckle on his way into her bathroom to dispose of the protection.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m leaving.”
Panic clawed at her, and she tried to calm it down. Because it was useless to get all worked up. Useless to show her pain and her worry over such a simple statement. Except she felt the deeper meaning in it. What he was really saying.
Still, she tried to ignore it. Tried to play it down.
“If you’re worried about not having a toothbrush, you can use mine. And before you say gross, I’m pretty sure we’ve swapped enough germs to…”