Lick (Stage Dive, #1)(53)

He still watched. I checked to be sure. Hell, his eyes were huge and dark and focused solely on me. Beside him, his hands gripped the counter as if he expected a tremor to hit at any time, knuckles white.

When I took him into my mouth he moaned. My inexperience and his size prevented me from taking him too deep. He didn’t seem to mind. The salty taste of his skin and the bitterness of that liquid, the warm scent of him and the feel of his hardness, merged into one unique experience. Pleasing David was a brilliant thing.

He groaned and his hips jerked, pushing him further into my mouth. My throat tightened in surprise and I gagged slightly. His hand flew to my hair, patting, soothing. “Fuck, baby. Sorry.”

I resumed my ministrations, rubbing my tongue against him, drawing on him. Figuring out the best way to fit him into my mouth. Doing everything I could to make him tremble and cuss. What a glorious thing giving head was. His hand tightened in my hair, pulling some, and I loved it. All of it. Anything with the ability to reduce my world-weary husband to a stammering mess while giving him such pleasure deserved a serious time investment. His hips shifted restlessly and his cock jerked against my tongue, filling my mouth with that salty, bitter taste faster than I could swallow.

So it was messy. Never mind. My jaw hurt a little. Big deal. And I could have done with a glass of water. But his reaction …

David dropped to his knees and gathered me up in his arms, all the better to squish me against him. My ribs creaked, and his dug into me over and over as he fought for breath. I pressed my face against his shoulder and waited till he’d calmed down some to seek my acclaim.

“Was it okay?” I asked, reasonably certain of a favorable response. Which is always the best time to ask, in my opinion.

He grunted.

That was it? I sat there feeling rather proud of myself and he gave me a grunt. No, I needed more validation than that. I both wanted and deserved it. “Are you sure?”

He sat back on his heels and stared at me. Then he looked around, searching for something. The T-shirt he’d left forgotten on the floor. And then he wiped beneath my chin, cleaning me up. Nice.

“There’s some on your shoulder too.” I pointed at the unfortunate spillage I’d obviously transferred onto him. He wiped it up as well.

“Sex can get messy,” he said.

“Yes, it can.”

“You on the pill?”

“You can’t get pregnant that way, David.”

The side of his mouth twitched. “Cute. Are you on the pill?”

“No, but I have the birth control thing implanted in my arm because my periods are erratic so—” His mouth slammed over the top of mine, kissing me hard and deep. Shutting me up really effectively. A hand cradled the back of my head as he took me down to the floor, stretching out on top of me. The cold, hard flooring beneath my bare back barely registered. It didn’t matter so long as he kissed me. My hands clung to his shoulders, fingers sliding over slick skin.

“I care about your periods, Ev. Honest to f*ck I do.” He kissed my cheeks, my forehead.

“Thanks.”

“But right now I wanna know how you feel about us going bare?”

“You mean more than losing the shirts, I take it?”

“I mean f*cking without a condom.” His hands framed my face as he stared down at me, eyes that intense shade of blue. “I’m clean. I’ve been tested. I don’t do drugs and I always used protection, ever since I broke up with her. But it’s your call.”

The mention of “her” cooled me a bit, but not much or for long. Impossible with David sprawled all over me and the scent of sex so heavy in the air. Plus pizza. But mostly David. He made my mouth water, forget about the food. Thinking wasn’t easy given the situation. I’d said I trusted him and I did.

“Baby, just think about it,” he said. “There’s no rush. Okay?”

“No, I think we should.”

“Are you certain?”

I nodded.

He exhaled a deep breath and kissed me again.

“I f*cking love your mouth.” With the top of a finger he traced my lips, still swollen from what we’d been up to.

“You did like it? It was okay?”

“It was perfect. Nothing you do could be wrong. I almost lose it just knowing it’s you. You could accidentally bite me and I’d probably think it was f*cking hot.” He gave a rough laugh, then hastened to add, “But don’t do that.”

“No.” I arched my neck and pressed my lips to his, kissing him sweet and slow. Showing him what he meant to me. We were still rolling around on the kitchen floor when the buzzer on the oven screeched, startling us apart. Then the phone rang.

“Shit.”

“I’ll get the pizza,” I said, wriggling out from beneath him.

“I’ll grab the phone. No one should even have this damn number.”

An oven mitt sat waiting on the counter and I slipped it over my hand. Hot air and the rich scent of melted cheese wafted out when I opened the oven door. My stomach rumbled. So maybe I was hungry after all. The pizzas were a touch burnt around the edges. Nothing too bad, though. The tips of my broccoli were toasted golden brown. We could concentrate on the middle. I transferred the pizzas onto the cool stovetop and turned off the heat.

David talked quietly in the background. He stood in front of the bank of windows, legs spread wide and shoulders set like he was bracing himself for an attack. Relaxed, happy people didn’t strike that pose. Outside the sun was setting. The violet and gray of evening cast shadows on his skin.