Twenty-One

 

 

Indie

 

Fuck.

He wasn’t lying. Not by a longshot. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. It was torture. Pure torture. And it was divine.

Linc pulled me into his chest and kissed me until I could no longer stand before sweeping me into his arms and carrying me to the bed, where he proceeded to remove my dress at an incredibly relaxed pace. He stood back and pulled his shirt over his head, exposing his toned abs. What I wouldn’t do to trace my tongue around each and every defined muscle on his body. My mouth watered just thinking about it.

He stood in front of me, unbuckled his belt, and slipped his pants down, kicking them to the side. And there we were, standing face to face in nothing but our underwear. I wanted to wrap a blanket around me, but it was definitely not the time to get self-conscious. He’d seen me dressed like this more than once over the last few days. But something in his eyes made me nervous.

“You’re beautiful, Indie.” He walked around and came to a stop behind me. He twisted my hair to the side and placed a kiss on the top my shoulder, dragging his lips across my skin and up the side of my neck to my ear, flicking my earlobe with his tongue, and my eyes rolled back in my head. His breath was hot on my neck. His hands caressed my arms, my stomach, my back. I felt him everywhere. His presence was such a force that I was surrounded by him. His scent, his touch, his warmth, his body.

“Did he touch you here?” Linc skimmed his hands across my stomach.

“N-no,” I barely managed to choke out. His fingers ignited a fire in my belly.

“Here?” My ribs.

“No,” I breathed.

He moved his hands to my back, over my shoulder blades, down my spine to the top of my underwear. Gliding his hands across my lower back, he asked again, and this time I nodded. Linc dropped to his knees behind me. I stiffened immediately. What was he doing? But one kiss on my lower back from his soft lips, and all thoughts left my head. His mouth torched my skin, his teeth grazing as he kissed the width of my back.

He was killing me. Painfully. Slowly.

His hands dropped lower, tracing the edge of my underwear, skimming over the fabric and the curve of my ass. “Here?”

“Y-yes.” I didn’t know what he was going to do. My stomach rolled with nerves and anticipation. Everything was so intense and full on. I was on high alert.

He gripped the waistband of my lace briefs and lowered them about an inch before placing one light kiss on the top of each cheek. Dragging his hands down my legs to my feet, he pulled them back up at a leisurely pace. He was taking his time, exploring my body and setting my nerve endings alight.

“Have I missed anywhere else?” he asked softly, pulling himself to his feet behind me. I expected him to move back in front of me, but he didn’t.

I shook my head. It was a lie. But I wasn’t sure I could handle any more of his touch, his kisses, and his close inspection of my body.

“Are you lying?”

Damn him for knowing me so well. He could always tell, growing up, when I wasn’t telling the truth.

The bed creaked, then his fingers dug into my hips and spun me to face him. He was sitting on the edge of the mattress.

“Are you lying?” He pulled me forward until I was sitting on his legs, my knees on either side of him, my hands on his shoulders for balance.

“Where else, Indie?” He wrapped his arms around my back.

I pointed to my neck, angling my head to the side. Linc’s lips descended and met with my overheated skin, kissing, nibbling, sucking until I couldn’t take any more, and I moaned. His lips were magical. They had to be.

“Is that it?” he asked, tucking my hair behind my ears, a look of adoration on his face. A look that was hard to believe was directed at me.

“No,” I sighed, biting my lip nervously.

“Where?” Linc held his hand out between us. His jaw was clenched, his eyes dark. I knew he wasn’t liking the fact Jack had touched me so often. “Show me.”

Taking a deep, calming breath, I brought a shaky hand to his wrist and lowered it until his hand was cupping one breast.

He raised an eyebrow in question, and my silence was all the answer he needed. A deep, low growl rumbled from his chest. “He’s a dead man.”

Soft and gentle, he explored my chest, cupping and squeezing and massaging, his eyes never leaving mine. My breath caught in my throat, and my head fell back. He kissed down the column of my throat, dragging his lips down my chest and tracing the swell of my breast with his tongue before doing the same to the other. My insides liquified. If it weren’t for his hand on my back, supporting my weight, I would have collapsed in a heap.

“Tell me again. Has Jack touched you anywhere else?” he demanded, his hands back on my hips, his stormy grey eyes penetrating mine.

“Jack who?” I mumbled, still able to feel his touch everywhere.

“Good girl.” He brought his mouth down on mine. Gripping my hips harder, he lifted and shifted me to the side, lowering me until I was lying back on the pillow, with him above me, never once breaking the kiss.

We were in an intimate position. A position I knew led to other things. Things I wanted with Linc but wasn’t sure I was ready for yet. Butterflies erupted in my stomach, and my hands trembled. He could still make me a nervous wreck, but it was Linc. I shouldn’t have been nervous.

“You’re shaking. Why are you shaking?” He broke our kiss and pulled back slightly, holding my trembling hands to his chest. “Are you cold?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Just nervous, I guess.”

“Why? There’s no need to be nervous.” He smiled and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. “I’ve got you.”

“Just…I’ve never—” I trailed off, embarrassed. I knew it wasn’t something to be ashamed of, being a virgin, but it didn’t stop the doubt creeping in. He had been engaged to a stripper, for goodness’ sake, and I’d only ever kissed two people, and one of them was gay.

“I know. And we’re not going to do that.”

“We’re not?” My eyes narrowed, and my mouth dropped. I didn’t even wonder how he knew. He didn’t know what I did while at uni. The door to my bedroom could have been revolving. All I focused on was he said no. He didn’t want me that way? Was something wrong with me?

“Oh, no! Ace, come on. We are definitely doing that. I can’t wait to do that with you. Forever. We’re just not doing it now. Tonight. I want to wait until after we’ve told everyone,” he clarified. Relief washed over me. I wasn’t un-wantable, after all. “Tonight, I just want to kiss you senseless. We have a lifetime of missed kisses to catch up on, and I’m starting now.” He lowered his face to mine and captured my lips with his again.

Pulling back, I smiled. “You called me Ace?”

“A-fucking-plus.” He kissed me again.

“I like it. Ace and stupid ass. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Though we could just shorten it to ass.” I laughed.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. “Can you shut up, so I can get back to kissing my girlfriend, please?”

My heart stopped, and my breath caught in my throat. “Girlfriend?”

“Well, yeah. You sure as hell aren’t my sister.”

“Thanks goodness for that. But I’m your girlfriend?” I wanted to hear him confirm it once more. This was the moment I had been waiting for my entire life. This was what had filled my dreams for as long as I could remember.

“Yes. I figured ‘happily ever after’ kind of implied that.” He traced a finger down the bridge of my nose.

“So, what are you waiting for, boyfriend? Kiss me senseless.” I closed my eyes, wrapped my arms around his neck, and puckered my lips, doing a great impression of a fish.

“Girlfriends are bossy. Maybe I need to rethink things.” He smiled against my lips.