Tingles ran up her spine, so she tried to shuffle away. A squeak flew up her throat when he hauled her back, a singular movement that pressed her against him. Awareness cruised in when she felt every inch of heat and hardness in her sober, painless state. Then shock clenched her stomach when something harder took center stage: a bulge below, digging against her butt, his erection so prominent and…large. He was awake.
But this had to be a dream. It had to be a fantasy, considering heavens knew how much this man had occupied her waking moments and how curiosity had driven her to a rumination or two over physical aspects. But having it up close felt like an electric bolt to the system, sending waves of exhilaration down her sensitive parts. She fisted her hand and tried once more to scoot away, but the firmness of his grip was cemented when his hand skimmed down and his mouth kissed her neck. A low groan leaped out, designed to clamp on to her until her core throbbed.
“Nico?”
He didn’t answer. But he kept kissing her back, sluggish, and his hand found the hem of her dress. The movement was excruciatingly slow as he lifted it, enough to slip his hand inside. It coasted in between her pressed legs, skimming until she parted them.
Curiosity became anticipation when his hand journeyed higher, then a downward spiral into madness when it pressed against her entrance. At the first graze of a finger, lust bolted down in her system, and all pondering trickled into nothingness as the need to smother the last ugly nights became a pounding in her blood.
She ground against him when his finger thrust and felt his answering surge of hardness on her ass. He ground back at the next finger thrust until rhythm became non-existent and she could only rely on instinct to seek her pleasure. It rang deep and hard as he continued, finding the spots that dazzled. It curled her toes, washing her in a way she wished would go on forever. The hardness of the next finger thrust had her driving her body back, aching for more. His body didn’t drive back but stilled, a gradual stiffening—and that was when it clicked that he hadn’t been awake, after all.
Anne stayed as she was, afraid to move. So did he, but it was his voice that pierced through the silence first.
“Fuck. I’m sorry. I…Anne.” The husky, rough tone signaled he was just as aroused awake as he had been in his sleep. “I was having a dream. A stupid dream. It’s just…you are wet.”
The baffled declaration had her startled. So did his moving fingers. When they stopped, a whimper came out of her lips before she bit the next one in and grabbed his wrist. His muscles flexed, then trembled.
“Nico.”
There was only a charged serenity after the whisper of his name. His arm ceased trembling and began to relax, every second of it thrumming in her veins. Then his fingers moved once more, taking away the ache as he tapped against her entrance. Her world upended when his other hand wriggled its way to the front, grazing her breast. When she arched, he cupped, the only permission he needed as his hand grew more dominant. His thumb brushed, finding the stiff peak before he rolled it between his fingers until she was shuddering.
“I suppose you need this after those hours of pain,” he surmised, close to her ear. When his lips nibbled her lobe, she arched back, unprepared for when he rose and thrust back firmly.
A cry fell from her lips. She turned her head towards the pillow, crushing it against her cheek as she muffled the sound. But it went on and on as his hands did wicked things to her nipples and core, following a rhythm only he knew and she could only succumb to. There wasn’t room for anything else as he worked her up, the erratic sounds of his breathing signaling that she wasn’t the only one affected. His erection was another proof, pulsing to life at every motion.
“Anne,” he said shakily, hooking his finger inside her…pausing. “I’m close. If this is a mistake, if you don’t want this to happen, tell me to stop.”
She couldn’t tell him to stop, not if her life depended on it. She couldn’t think beyond the pleasure, growing white-hot until there was no other option. Her hand slapped the ground before her, the pebbles prominent under the tent’s floor.
“Don’t stop,” she managed to say—the only thing she could say.
A second later and she was rolled around, a maneuver so fast that she could only blink. Then she was facing him, a surreal moment as she saw a hooded expression, a tense body, and muscles so bunched that she knew he was holding back. But there was no mistaking the fire burning in his eyes, molten hot and bound to eviscerate her to ashes. She didn’t care. She only knew the need and held on to it, clashing with that searing look.
“Okay,” was all he said, and she had no doubt that words were over.
They watched each other. Their hands reached out, his resuming what they had been doing and hers covering the bulge that strained against his pants. He gritted his teeth, then exhaled deeply, expression turning darker when she untied the drawstrings. But it wasn’t until she wrapped her hand around his bare form that a helpless lurch came over him, and she understood that he was as much of a slave to this as she was.
They pumped and caressed, his skilled touch a contrast to her rusty, clumsy one. It didn’t matter as his body curved towards her touch, liking what she did no matter how she did it. She read his body language, anyway, assessing which pace made him muffle his groan the hardest. When he grew even harder and she determined it was the fastest pace, she kept to it until Nico was pumping his hips against her.
“Anne.”
Her name said so desperately, yet so hushed, turned her on so much that it added to his already electrifying touch. He teased until she was at the peak and kept going until they were poised there. He looked into her eyes when his thumb shifted to her clit, a minute pause that told her what was going to happen. But nothing prepared her for the ease in which he plucked it, a back-and-forth that shattered her so abruptly. Anne could only lie there, stupefied, as her orgasm drowned her in pleasure that she hadn’t experienced in so long.
Her mind flew in that land of bliss while her hand still moved. She sensed more than felt when he turned rigid against her before his body bucked, a surrender that yanked her out of that state. Her vision cleared as she watched him spill before her, muscles quivering inside out before he went lax. There was something about seeing a sharp, steady man lose his senses that got to her, enough to have her shaking in turn—and enough to pull up a deeply buried truth until it slapped her in the face.
Anne shot up to her feet, hastily covering her body and in turn, the vulnerable parts. It took him longer to get out of his high, a sluggish coming to life as he sat up.
“Anne?”
“Family,” she blurted out.
He pushed to his feet and strode towards her, a move more instinctive than deliberate. She backed at every step until he stopped, figuring out that she didn’t want him near her. He frowned, visibly latching on to what she had said.
“What about family?” he finally asked.
“I had one.”
Nico looked like he stopped breathing with how immobile he went. She didn’t see the rest as she streaked out of the tent, feeling it close around her and choke her. Anne continued stalking away as she gulped in air, trying to get her emotions under control as panic bloomed. She had just given in to a moment of weakness and had played with a fantasy that should have remained locked tight. She had succumbed so easily to a man who deserved better, and she could never forgive herself—