“Wait.” I reared back, holding her at arm’s length. “What do you mean, the first time you came?”
She blushed. “I’m saying…I’d never come before.”
“But…” My mind whirled on all the times she’d thrown hints and secrets in my face, daring me to rise to the bait, tormenting me on a daily basis. “You implied. You said—”
“That I’d made myself orgasm to thoughts of you?” She sighed. “Yes, I know. I wanted you to have that mental picture. Sorry.” She winced a little as I glared at her. “The truth is, I did try. I’ve touched myself while thinking about you, but even though I wanted you enough to overlook certain rules, I could never get past the fact that you didn’t want me. Every time I got close, I…I couldn’t do it. The shame would be too much to bear, and I’d stop.”
I rubbed my face with a hand. “So you’re saying you’ve spent your entire life frustrating yourself and never finding a release?”
She laughed under her breath. “I guess you could say that.”
“No wonder living with you made me on edge.” I chuckled painfully, coughing once. “Every time I looked at you, Della, the way you stared at me almost brought me to my knees. The amount of times I lectured myself that I was imagining it, picking up on things that weren’t there.” I shook my head, reliving the agony of sharing a house with the one person I couldn’t have. “You made my life a lot harder than it should’ve been.”
She smiled sinfully. “Yes, but it meant I got you in the end, so I have no regrets.”
I fell quiet, letting the past crash over me but no longer suffering the same guilt as before. Maybe Della was right, and everything had happened for a reason. Maybe I’d never let myself care for anyone else because I knew I’d never be able to share my heart with anyone other than her. And maybe she’d never made herself orgasm because all along she’d been waiting for me to—
I groaned, wedging my fingers against my temples as yet another tormenting thought appeared.
“What? What is it?” Della scooted closer. “You have that look again.”
“What look?”
“The look that says you want to whip yourself for ever thinking about touching me.”
“First, I’ll never feel that way again. Ever. As far as I’m concerned, your body is mine just like mine is yours. And second, just because you know me doesn’t mean you can predict everything about me.”
“Well, you should accept that last night needed to happen the way it did. It was never going to be slow and sweet, Ren. We’d been edging to exploding for years.”
I nodded, picking up on her wavelength just as I used to do when she was young. “It smashed through our perceptions. Changed the relationship between us.”
“Exactly.” She shifted to kiss my stubble-covered cheek. I hadn’t shaved in a few days and didn’t have the urge out here. “And now, stop changing the subject and tell me what you’re truly thinking.”
She was right. Last night was never going to be anything more than a feral battle because we had far too much history between us. History that held different dynamics and ages and pent-up secrets we hadn’t shared.
Now, things were out in the open.
And we had so much to look forward to.
Cupping her cheeks, my touch sent goosebumps ricocheting down her arms. “I’ve taught you almost everything you know. Just like you’ve taught me.”
Her breath came feathery and light. “Yes.”
“Would it be sick of me to teach you something else?”
Her gaze hooded as she leaned into me. “Teach me what?”
I licked my lips, drawn to her, unable to stop the way her heart hooked mine. “How to come. Not just when being ruthlessly taken but with my fingers inside you, my tongue licking you, my cock fucking you. So many different ways. I want to be the one to teach you all of them.”
She gasped, then shook her head slowly. “I-I wouldn’t mind.”
The shy happiness in her tone undid me.
Bringing her close, I kissed her hard. “Good answer, Little Ribbon. Let’s start now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
DELLA
* * * * * *
2018
REN’S KISSES WERE something made of fantasy.
Hard and rough. Swift and sexy. Deep and lingering. Whenever he kissed me, it didn’t matter if it was a peck or a meal, he completely hijacked my thoughts and body.
And that was how I went from standing in my jeans and bra to him undoing my belt and zipper, pushing the denim down my legs, then reverently removing my black bikini briefs before pulling the sports bra over my head.
Once I was naked, he kissed me harder, plucked me from the ground as if I weighed nothing and carried me in arms that bunched and trembled with an intoxicating mix of love and lust.