Drake gently probed her entrance, allowing her time to get used to him just being there. Close enough for her to feel the heft and weight of him without overwhelming her.
Aerin stroked his back and shoulders, loving the feel of him against her, his bulk against her slim build a heady reminder of all that was different between them.
He slowly entered her, waiting for her to relax before he went any further. ‘Are you okay with this?’
‘Perfectly...’ A shiver coursed over her as her intimate muscles began to stretch to take hold of him.
He began a slow rhythm that sent pleasure rippling through her body, the friction of male against female making her aware of her body in a way she had never been before. Nerves she’d had no idea were so intricately laced into her body were firing up, fizzing with life and sensual energy. Muscles that had been inactive for most of her life were now being subjected to a deeply pleasurable workout that had one sure goal. She could feel the anticipation of it beating in her blood. A tribal, primitive drumbeat that throbbed with increasing urgency.
‘You feel so damn good,’ Drake groaned against her mouth.
‘So do you,’ Aerin said, sweeping her tongue over his lower lip.
He thrust a little faster, a little deeper, his breathing as hectic as hers. A restless ache was building in her female flesh, a low dragging ache that was almost unbearable.
But as if Drake could read her silent pleas for more of that delicious friction, he slipped his hand between their bodies and sought the tightly budded heart of her arousal. The feminine bud of nerves that spread from that tightened point all throughout her pelvis. The stroking of his fingers against her slick wetness, with his own body tightly encased inside hers, sent her into a freefall of spinning, whirling, dizzying sensations. They ricocheted through her in giant shudders, making her lose her grasp on conscious thought. Sothiswas mind-blowing sex. Sending her to a place almost beyond consciousness. Fireworks went off in her head, in her blood, the vivid colours bursting behind her squeezed-shut eyelids as she rode out the waves.
Then there was the slow wash of a wave of lassitude...like the tide finally quietening after a ferocious storm at sea.
But then, Aerin could feel another storm building, not in her flesh but in Drake’s. His thrusts becoming more urgent, more desperate, his breathing laboured, as if his control were hanging by a gossamer thread. She could feel the exact moment he let go through the silkywalls of her feminine flesh. The pitching forward of his bulk, the ecstatic groan forced from him as powerfully as the life essence from his body. Something about that primal groan and those deep shudders of his sent a shiver across the floor of her belly like a breeze whispering over a lake. They were still joined intimately, their bodies in a tangle of limbs that made her feel safe and protected.
Drake’s hand stroked the hair away from her face, his gaze searching. ‘How are you feeling?’ There was a chord of concern in the lower pitch of his voice, the same concern she could feel in his touch.
‘I feel...wonderful. You didn’t hurt me at all. It was amazing.’ Aerin didn’t have the words to truly express how he had made her feel. But would he want to hear them in any case? He was used to casual encounters that probably didn’t include discussing how mind-blowing the sex was. She was supposed to be keeping her feelings out of this. Feelings were not a part of their weekend fling. Feelings were not a part of any of his encounters. They were not a part of his life...and yet she wondered if one day he would allow them to be. He had so much to offer. He was kind and gentle and far more sensitive than she had given him credit for in the past. Behind his cynical façade was a wounded man who cared deeply but was guarded about showing it.
Drake continued to look at her unwaveringly. ‘No regrets?’
Her only regret was he was not interested in anything more than a weekend fling. Making love with him once or twice was not going to be enough. He had awakened a hunger in her that was not going to be so easily satisfied. It was tasting an exotic fruit for the first time and wanting more. ‘Not so far.’ She painted a smile on her face. ‘You?’
He drew in a deep breath and released it on a rough-edged sigh. ‘Only that this feels a little strange.’
‘How so?’
He played with a wisp of her hair, winding it around his finger and letting it go again, the soft tug against her scalp sending a shiver rolling down her spine. ‘Being with you like this.’
‘No one has to know about it but us.’
A frown pulled at his brow. ‘You won’t even tell Ruby and Harper?’
Aerin ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. That was certainly going to be a little trickier to navigate than the reunion charade. That had worked on her school friends because she saw them so infrequently, but she worked closely with Harper and Ruby. They saw each other most days and even on weekends when they had a wedding. They knew her better than anyone. How was she going to conceal this from them? Could she conceal it or would it show on her person somehow?
Making love with Drake had been the most incredible experience of her life. Shefeltdifferent, not just physically but—even more worryingly—emotionally. Everyone said you never forgot your first lover and there could be both good and bad reasons for that. But how much harder to forget when that first lover was so tender and attentive and made your pleasure and comfort paramount? How could she not fall a little bit in love with him?
‘If you’d rather I didn’t, then I won’t. But I have to warn you they know me so well that they’re likely to sense something’s happened.’
Drake rolled away to dispose of the condom, then he came back to her, one of his hands capturing one of hers. His thumb stroked the back of her hand in a slow-moving caress that was soothing and yet hotly sensual at the same time. ‘There’s this saying I read somewhere, how you can ruin a perfectly good friendship by bringing sex into the equation.’
‘But we weren’t particularly friends in the first place, were we?’
He gave a half-smile. ‘I guess not. You always seemed intent on avoiding me whenever you could. Tom even asked me a few months back if I’d done something to upset you.’
Aerin gave a shame-faced grimace. ‘I was always so prejudiced against you. Your cynicism was so jarring up against my optimism and plan for lifelong love. I’m sorry I didn’t take the time to get to know you better.’
Drake tucked a strand of her hair behind one of her ears, his touch so tender it made her heart squeeze as if it were in a vice. A flicker of something moved through his gaze like a passing thought leaving a long shadow in its wake. ‘Are you sure I didn’t hurt you when we made love?’
‘I’m totally sure.’
His eyes drifted to her mouth and her pulse picked up its pace. ‘I have this compulsive desire to kiss you again.’