***
"You get enough?" Kendal stood up from the table and reached for my plate. We'd spent the time cooking dinner and eating, talking through everything.
He had a lot on his proverbial plate at UT, and I had some big decisions to make, but one thing was for sure. We were going to work toward being together again. I couldn't blame him for dating my sister. It was the past and not having him in the future left me without another option.
"I did. It was delicious." I got up and followed him into the kitchen, bringing our wine glasses. "So, are you going to talk to the University President about Daisy, Mark and Heather? Seems like a lot to get involved in."
He set the dishes in the sink and turned to face me. "I think so. If I lose my job, then so be it." He reached out and brushed his hands down the side of my face, pulling me closer and leaning down to make love to my mouth.
By the time he moved back, my knees were weak, my stomach tight. "I love your kisses."
"Then you should have more of them." He kissed me quickly and moved around me to walk down the hall. "Bring the wine and meet me in the master bathroom."
"Okay," I whispered softly as nervousness ran through me.
A bath? Or shower together? Sex sounded good, but getting naked and having him stare at me for half an hour or more... terrifying. Would he compare me to Ana? She was so much thinner than I was.
"Stop stalling," he called from down the hall. "I'll happily turn back into a caveman. I've been dreaming about licking every inch of you since we met."
"Shit," I mumbled and grabbed the bottle of wine. If he didn't like what he saw, he would tell me. No, he won't.
He was sitting on the edge of a huge garden tub when I walked in, the smell of strawberries filling the air as bubbles rose in the bathtub. He glanced back. "Hi beautiful."
"Where do you want this?" I lifted the wine feeling like an out-of-place heel.
"On the sink is fine." He turned and pressed his hands to his knees. "Undress for me."
"What? No." I put the wine down and then rethought my response. I grabbed the wine, filled up a glass, downed it and did it again.
He laughed in the background, the sound delicious. "Undress for me, Dana. It wasn't a request."
I turned to face him and took a shaky breath. "I don't know."
"I do. Take off your clothes and let me see you. I plan on spending the rest of my life memorizing every beautiful curve and crevice. Let me start tonight."
I nodded. Him and his poetic language. He could probably talk a nun into sinning. No wonder he and Damon Bryant were friends.
"Just know that I don't want to do this." I reached down and tugged my shirt off, throwing it at him.
He caught it and stood up. "Stop treating this like a moment where I'm going to judge you." He pulled his shirt over his shoulders sensually, leaving miles of smooth, tanned skin on display. The dark trail of hair that lead into his pants had my pulse spiked. “It's about showing off. Teasing your mate. Offering them a moment of pleasure without touching them." He undid his jeans as I took a step back.
I wanted to see every inch of him, bared to me. There was something so intoxicating about it. His willingness to submit and go first. It left my head spinning.
He took his time, sliding his boxer briefs over his muscular thighs and leaving his body on full display. He ran his hand over this erection, gripping it tightly as he watched me. "See what you do to me? This isn't because there's a promise of sex. That exists everywhere. Anywhere. It's because I want to lose myself inside of you. Because I want to hear you moan my name, to know that you belong to me. You turn me on. No one else."
I swallowed the thick ball of regret in my throat. I'd almost lost him over nothing. Over the past.
Reaching back, I undid my bra and pushed it off my shoulders slowly, reaching around to knead at my breasts as his eyes shifted and he nodded.
"Beautiful," he whispered and licked at his lips. "Your jeans."
I unbuttoned them and slid them over my hips before standing up and kicking them off as casually as I could. He was much better at being sexy than I ever would be.
"Panties." His voice was low, commanding. It caused chill bumps to break out across my skin.
He stepped back and got into the bubble bath, still standing and waiting on me as I slid my panties down my thighs slowly. "Like this?" I glanced up and he smiled.
"Exactly. You're the greatest treasure I'll ever know. Let me revel in the sight of you teasing me." He extended his hand. "Come let me wash you."
I walked toward the tub on wobbly knees. It was the biggest bathtub I’d ever seen. We’d have no trouble having a bit of fun. The real problem was that I'd never let anyone wash me before, much less took a bath with someone. "How about I wash myself and you just watch."
He chuckled and took my hand as I stepped into the warm soapy water. "As enticing as that is, I want my hands on you. Maybe next time." A chill ran through me as I moved to my knees and settled myself between his legs. He reached up and brushed his thumb by my lips. "Tell me you're not going anywhere."
The desire in his eyes scorched me. I loved him. I wanted to tell him, but it seemed like it was too soon, as if it would ruin the moment.
"You'd have to run me off." I smiled and turned my back to him, sinking down in the warmth and resting against him.
"That's not going to happen." He ran his hands over my breasts, softly teasing my nipples as he dropped kisses up the side of my neck to my ear. "You're beautiful beyond belief. Why in the world would you even begin to think that I would want anyone but you?"
I stiffened momentarily before leaning up and reaching for the soap. "Old habits die hard?"
"I guess." He took the soap from my hand and offered me his free one. "Move back to your knees and lean up so I can wash your back and butt."
"So bossy." I took his hand and moved to my knees, reaching out and pressing my forearms to the side of the tub as I lifted my ass like the hooker I felt like.
"Hell, yeah," he mumbled and moved up behind me, running his hands all over me, pressing his fingers into my muscles, massaging, teasing. "I want you like this."
"You need a condom." I glanced back and stifled a groan. He had to be the sexiest man I'd ever laid eyes on. I wanted to offer him the world, but I wasn't sure I knew how to come through on it. Our next steps were on shaky ground. One night of sex wasn't going to open the door to anything. We had eight months until I graduated, or one of us had to make a major move.
"Not yet. I'll hold back until we're in the bed." He leaned over, pressing his chest to my back and pulled me more to my knees again. "I want to feel your body explode around mine."
I whimpered and cupped my hand over his as he slid his fingers down my stomach and cupped my sex, rubbing softly as he pressed his cock against my entrance.
White hot need raged through my center, and I pressed backward, forcing a little bit of him inside of me. He moaned in my ear and the world dissipated. He was all I wanted.
"Be easy," he whispered and moved his free hand to my hip, using his grip on me to press in deeper.
"More," I moaned and reached for the edge of the tub, wanting to give him better access to fuck me the way he had our first time. "Don't go easy on me. Please."
He laughed and ran his hand up my back, sliding his fingers into my hair and gripping it tightly. "You have no idea what you're asking for."
"Of course I do." I lifted my hips and bobbed on his cock as he grunted and tightened his hold on me. "I wouldn't have asked otherwise."
"Oh, now you're a tease." His voice dropped low as he thrust, filling me with every inch of him and forcing me to open my legs farther.
"Kendal," I cried out and closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation of belonging to him.
"Mine," he mumbled before he lifted up and drove into me over and over again.
Nothing mattered but forcing myself to be present in the moment while he worshiped my body, forcing me to orgasm until I begged him to stop.