AERINSIGHEDWITHdeep pleasure as Drake’s tongue tangled with hers in a sexy salsa. Her pulse rate soared, her lower body melting as the molten heat of desire flowed through her. Her hands explored him with increasing boldness, her fingers rolling over the tiny pebbles of his nipples and gliding over the toned muscles of his chest, the washboard ridges of his abdomen marking him as a man who enjoyed hard exercise.
She shuddered as his hand glided up her body to just below her breast. The warmth of his hand against her ribcage so close to the sensitive flesh of her breast drove her wild with anticipation. He brought his mouth to the upper curve of her breast, his tongue circling her pert nipple, her senses reeling at the expertise of his caress. He suckled on her gently, drawing her nipple into the warmth of his mouth, then slowly releasing it. He did the same to her other breast, sending shivers down her spine as his lips and tongue explored her contours in intimate detail.
He moved from her breasts to kiss a pathway to her belly button. ‘Relax for me.’ His voice was deep and husky and his warm breath caressed the skin of her stomach.
She lay back and gripped the bedcovers either side of her body. ‘I’m trying to...’
He glanced up at her, leaning his weight on one elbow. ‘I won’t do anything you don’t want to do. Tell me to stop if you’re not comfortable.’
Aerin let out a shuddering breath. ‘Okay.’
Drake kissed her stomach again, then slowly worked his way down to the juncture of her thighs. Her female flesh was already swelling and twitching in excitement, pulses of lust firing through her like a current. He stroked her with his fingers, long slow strokes that sent her blood skyrocketing through her veins. The liquid heat intensified and the ache of need building in her core rose to an unbearable level.
Drake brought his mouth down to her most intimate flesh and the rhythmic strokes of his tongue sent a torrent of tingles through her body, concentrating in that one exquisite point—the heart of her femininity. The tension grew to a crescendo until she was finally catapulted into a spinning vortex that scattered her thoughts, leaving her without the ability to think, only to feel. And feel she did. Giant waves of pleasure unlike anything she had experienced when going solo. Showers of goosebumps peppered her body, she was dazed and limbless and out of her mind as the aftershocks rippled through her.
‘Oh...’A breathless gasp escaped her lips and she opened her eyes to find Drake looking at her indulgently.
‘Good?’
Aerin let out a long blissful sigh, still trying to grasp how her body had responded to his intimate caresses. ‘I’m not sure I have the words to describe it.’
Drake stroked a gentle hand down the flank of her thigh, sending another ripple of pleasure through her body. His eyes were impossibly dark, his pupils flared wide with lust. Her hand reached for him, stroking his potent length with shy fingers at first but she was emboldened by the expression on his face signalling his growing delight. He drew in a harsh breath and pulled her hand away.
‘I need to put on a condom before we go any further.’
Aerin knew protection should always be a priority unless a couple was actively seeking to conceive. But something about Drake’s tone reminded her that kids were something he never wanted in his life. She understood why, given the bleak circumstances of his own childhood, but it still made her sad that he had permanently ruled out one of the things most important to her. She could not imagine a future without a family. She had grown up in a loving home and had been sheltered and nurtured by parents who loved her and her brother as well as each other.Thatwas what she wanted for her life.
Aerin leaned up on her elbows to watch him apply the condom. ‘How many do you have stashed away in your wallet?’
He glanced at her with a twinkling look. ‘Enough.’
‘Three? Four? More?’
He came back over to her and pressed a long drugging kiss to her lips. He lifted his mouth off hers and looked deeply into her eyes. ‘Enough to get us through the weekend.’
‘What if the snow doesn’t melt in time?’
His eyes flicked to her mouth and then back to her gaze, a shadow passing through his before he disguised it behind a playful smile. ‘I’ll have to get some airlifted in.’
Aerin’s brows shot up in surprise. ‘You can do that?’
He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. ‘You bet I can.’
His mouth covered hers again and sent her pulses racing. His aroused body was pressing against her thigh and it ramped up her need for him all the more. To know it was her who had made him so turned on thrilled her. It gave her a sense of power she had never experienced before.
The kiss deepened, became more urgent, their limbs tangling with an erotic choreography as if they had made love in another lifetime. The alignment of their limbs for that ultimate moment of physical connection was simple and yet complex. Natural and yet strange. It was like learning the steps of a dance, one leg this way, the other that way, one arm here, the other there. Their chests close, their hips even closer. There was no shyness or hesitancy on Aerin’s part. It felt completely normal to be in bed with Drake Cawthorn, his mouth clamped to hers, his hands caressing her breasts with exquisite tenderness. He made some guttural noises as her hands continued to explore him. Deep masculine sounds that spoke of a man who was keeping himself on a tight leash of self-control.
Drake dragged his mouth off hers, his breathing heavy. ‘I want to be inside you, but I don’t want to rush you.’
She lifted a hand to his hair, brushing it further back from his forehead. ‘I’m ready for you. I want you.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course I’m sure.’ And she was. Right now, this was all she wanted. She refused to think about her checklist...about all the points on it Drake didn’t tick. Wouldn’t tick. Couldn’t tick. Maybe she had been a bit too pedantic constructing a checklist in the first place. Maybe the Mr Perfect she longed for might never come along. She might have to learn to settle on something a little less than perfect even if it jarred with her perfectionistic outlook on life.
But nothing about Drake’s lovemaking was less than perfect.
Her body sang arias under his touch. Her flesh tingled from head to foot and her senses did cartwheels of delight.