Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits, #1)(77)

Tender hands wove into my hair, guiding my head to hers. I inhaled her delicious, warm scent: cinnamon rolls, straight out of the oven. The first taste of her lips didn’t disappoint. Sweet sugar teased my tongue, heightening my awareness of the gift Echo offered to me.

This girl owned my soul and stole my heart. She’d opened herself to me, giving me love and never asked for anything in return. I deepened our kiss, the words I love you stuck in my mind.





Echo

Noah trailed a line of blazing kisses along the nape of my neck, confusing my brain. Part of me responded to him, clung to him, held him tighter to me. The other part froze in fear, absolutely terrified of the unknown, horrified of disappointing him. “Tell me what to do.”

His warm breath tickled my ear. “Relax.”

But against my will, my muscles did the exact opposite. Underneath Noah’s typically inviting touch, I went rigid. “Please, Noah, I don’t want to do this wrong. Tell me how to make you feel good.”

He shifted so that his body rested beside mine, his leg and arm still draped over me. I felt small under his warmth and strength. His chocolate-brown eyes softened. “Being with you feels good. Touching you—” he tucked a curl behind my ear “—feels good. I have never wanted anyone like I want you. There’s nothing you can do wrong when just breathing makes everything right.”

I wanted to believe him, but Noah was experienced and I … wasn’t. He could be trying to make me feel better, yet bored with my lack of knowledge.

His hand framed my face and his tone was edged with husky authority. “I want you, but only if you want me.”

“It hurts the first time. My friends, they all told me that.” And the second and the third, and eventually, sometimes, it didn’t hurt. “And I should tell you, I’m on birth control. So … you know … I’m protected from …” Babies. “Stuff. But you should use something too—because.”

The wicked smile I loved spread across his face. His lips touched mine, tenderly drawing a response. “Relax and I’ll take care of everything.”

I kissed him back, allowing my arms to wrap around him. His fingers gently massaged my neck, releasing the tension, erasing my unease. The kiss became a drug and I craved more with every touch. Our bodies twined so tightly to one another, I had no idea where I began and he ended.

Noah felt strong and warm and muscular and safe and he smelled, oh, God, delicious. I couldn’t stop kissing him if my life depended upon it: his lips, his neck, his chest, and Noah seemed as hungry as me. We rolled and we touched and we shed unwanted clothes. I moaned and he moaned and my mind and soul and body stood on the edge of pure ecstasy.

And I waited. I waited for that moment of pausing for protection and then the burning pain my friends described, but Noah never stopped and the pain never came, not even when I whispered his name and praised God several times in a row. Both of us gasped for air while kissing each other softly and I struggled to comprehend I was still a virgin.

He shifted off of me and tugged me close to him. My entire body became lazily warm, happy and sated. I listened to his heartbeat and closed my eyes, enjoying the relaxing pull of his hand through my hair. “Noah,” I whispered. “I thought …” we were going to make love.

He tipped up my chin, forcing me to look at him. “We have forever to work up to that, Echo. Let’s enjoy every step of the way.”

My mind drifted this way and that. Mostly between focusing on his heart, his touch and the sweetest word I had ever heard: forever.

One clear thought forced my eyes open again. “You’re putting me to sleep.”

“So?” he asked a little too innocently.

I swallowed. “I’ll have nightmares.”

“Then we’ll have an excuse to do this again.”





NOAH


The familiar ring tone jerked me awake. My arms and legs were wrapped like tentacles around Echo, my nymph who lay sleeping with her back pressed against me. I released my grasp of her stomach to reach for the cell in my jeans, which had been tossed during our earlier activities.

“Hello?” I cleared my throat.

“Noah?”

“Yeah?” I didn’t recognize the man on the other end. Echo remained blissfully asleep. I edged away from her, tucking the blanket tight around her slender form. Millions of thoughts raced in my exhausted mind. Had something happened to Isaiah or Beth? Were they hurt or in jail? Keesha or Mrs. Collins would have called if it were my brothers.

“It’s Owen Emerson. Echo’s dad.” He paused.

Rubbing my head to wake my brain, I kept my mouth shut as I walked to the other side of the basement. It wouldn’t be a good conversation starter to mention that his daughter lay in my bed, half naked.

“I’m sorry to wake you, but Echo left this morning rather upset with me and she hasn’t come home.” I craned my head to check out the clock radio on the floor next to the bed. Two in the morning. Her dad must be on the verge of a coronary. Oddly enough, he didn’t sound like a rabid pit bull. “She turned her phone off and I’ve called her friends. Lila gave me your number and said she could be with you.”

The blanket rose and fell with the steady rhythm of Echo’s breathing. She’d come to me tonight, trusting me. If I told him, he’d come and take her away, breaking my heart and possibly her trust in me. “Mr. Emerson …”