Along Came Trouble(102)

He kissed her again, hot and deep and long. Stood up, spotlit with Ellen in his arms, and carried her inside.

In her room, he laid her on the bed and turned on the lamp. She raised her arms above her head, stretching languorously, and said, “This is more like it.”

He kneeled above her, watching. Thinking about what he was going to take off of her first, and whether to use his hands or his teeth.

“This is the part where you ravish me, right? Because I’ve been thinking about this part for hours.”

“No.”

“No?”

He unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off, eyes on her face as the fabric dropped away. Her appreciation fired him up. Knowing she wanted him, knowing how easily he could make her wet, was an incredible turn-on. But it was nothing compared to what it did to him to make her whimper and moan and beg. To feel her coming apart and know he was the one doing it to her. It captivated him, the way she responded. She was the most passionate woman he’d ever met.

“This is the part where I make love to you. Very slowly, and very thoroughly.”

She bit her lip. “That sounds . . . intense.”

He brought his lips to her throat. “With my hands . . .” He brushed the hair off her forehead. “And my mouth . . .” Kissed her pulse point. “And my tongue . . .” Ran his tongue around the rim of her ear. “And my teeth.” Drew her earlobe into his mouth and bit gently.

Ellen let out a soft sigh and rocked her hips up off the bed. “I hope that’s not all. You’ve got another part I’d like to visit with.”

“Mmm,” he said. “That one, too. But not for a while yet.”

He took his time removing her clothes, wanting to go slow and appreciate everything she already had on display, then everything he revealed as he peeled off her soft T-shirt and shorts. Ellen had no patience. Her fingers tugged at his hair, nails scraping over his shoulders, trying to pull him up between her legs and inside her.

He refused to be rushed.

He’d get there. Eventually. First he wanted to find out how sensitive the backs of her knees were.

Very.

Whether she liked it when he scraped his stubbled jaw along the insides of her thighs.

Affirmative.

Whether he could make her come with just his mouth on her breasts and her hips rocking up into his thigh.

That took a while, but it was another affirmative, and the sounds she made as she went over the edge nearly carried him along for the ride.

When he finally moved inside her, she was trembling. Or he was. Maybe it was both of them. Her face was flushed and glowing, her pupils huge, lips swollen. He pressed into her slowly, pausing a few times because he had to or he’d lose it. There was nothing like this. Nothing in his life that could have prepared him for what it felt like to be joined to Ellen. Every time, it killed him. Every single time.

She closed her eyes, and he asked her to open them.

I love you.

He didn’t mean to tell her. Not really. But he was already telling her with his body, and she must have seen it in his expression—something vulnerable he didn’t intend her to catch sight of—because her eyes went wide and alarmed. Pushing at his shoulders with both hands, she shoved his face away as her legs wrapped tighter around his hips, holding him in place. “Don’t,” she said, turning her face to the side. “Don’t look at me like that.”

With his hand on her cheek, he brought her head back around and waited for her to open her eyes again. When she did, he started to move, and she cried out, panicked and aroused.

He kissed her temple. “Relax. You don’t have to do anything about it. Just let me.”

She closed her eyes again, but she allowed him to kiss her, parting her lips and accepting his tongue. She brought her hips up to meet his, matching his speed. He worried her nipple with his teeth, and she gasped and wrapped her arms around him again, pulling him close. “This wasn’t part of the deal,” she whispered. The fear in her voice tore him up.

“No. Sorry. This is all me.”

As their breath came short and each stroke came faster and deeper and harder than the one before, he moved his arms beneath her and braced his hands over her shoulders. When she started to tighten around him, she said his name and clung to him so tight, he thought she might never let go.

He wished she never would. Heat rushed through him, and he came inside her with that wish ringing like a bell in his head. Don’t let go.

But she did. Afterward, she turned her back to him, curling up into a little ball. He curved his body around her and held her as her breathing settled and she fell asleep.