Chapter Twelve

Devin

Against any rational explanation, my life was transformed in that one, single word. Nothing was the same, yet everything carried on, untouched. The earth still in its orbit. The setting sun, like it had done for millions of years, dropped toward the horizon. But not a single cell in my body felt the same. I let the feeling of being completely and utterly seduced by the look in her eyes, the raw need in her voice, bathe over me. My body burned hotter than I’d ever felt before.

Something in my expression must have alarmed her. “Did I make a mistake?”

I reached over and pressed my finger to her lips to silence her. “Do you know how that makes me feel?” She looked at me with wide, questioning eyes and shook her head. “I want you more than I want my next breath.” She shook her head against my finger and I moved it to use my thumb to trace the outline of her lips. They parted slightly as I went. “I feel like I’ve been given the most precious gift I could ever have. Again. As undeserving of it as I am—” I stopped as emotion clogged my throat. “I wanted to do this so you’d have time to figure out if you’d give me a chance, but I’m human and I’m done with this slow shit.” I lowered my voice. “Know this, Micki. I want you, all of you. Lost in me, wrapped around me until you know in every way possible that you’re loved and cherished and wanted.”

Reaching for my wallet, I opened it and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill. Throwing it on the table, I stood and grabbed her hand. “C’mon.”

Hauling her up none too gently, I didn’t miss the ghost of a smile on her lips. I only hoped to God I could make it home without pulling off the road and making love to her in the Jeep.

The ride home was made in silence. The sexual tension that filled the air was more potent than any words could ever be.

Pulling up to the house, I slammed the car in park and got out and went around to Micki’s side before she could slide all the way out of the seat. I don’t know which one of us reached for the other first, but her hands were on my chest and mine were on her arms, drawing her to me. Crushing her lips to mine, I lost any hope of making it tender. The need for her was such that it quickly became a whole lot wild. The intense connection had my blood pumping and head reeling as she pressed her body, all soft and supple, against mine. Instinctively wanting to bring her up higher and closer, I slid one knee between her legs, easing her up, her back against the Jeep. A low moan vibrated in her throat and she dug her nails into my back at the same time I buried my fingers in her hair.

Half afraid I was suffocating her, I started to pull back, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with that. Instead, she wrapped her arms around my neck and lifted first one leg, then the next, and wrapped them around my waist.

I was gone.

It was nothing short of a miracle that I didn’t rip her panties off and unzip my fly right there. A low, hard growl rumbled from the center of my body. “Sweetheart, I’m about five seconds away from losing my fucking mind. Or having a stroke, I don’t know which.”

Her laughter was musical. “Don’t think you’re the only one.”

I moved in for another kiss, vowing it would be hard but quick, before I carried her into the house. And up to my bed, if we could make it past the couch in the living room. My best intentions flew all to hell when she softly nibbled my lips and rocked her hips against my cock. I hissed in a deep breath at the contact. “Are you trying to fucking kill me?”

Her eyes danced. “Is that what I’m doing?”

“You know exactly what you’re doing, my love,” I growled. Just to let her know two could play, I cupped her bottom and deliberately ground her up and down against me. She cried out as her tender flesh stroked my erection.

Her head tilted back and her eyes drifted shut. “Surrender. I surrender.”

My hands stilled. “I hope so,” I murmured softly. We stood like that for a bit. Two souls reconnecting as one, washing away the lost time. I nuzzled her neck with soft, nipping kisses. She tightened her grip around my neck.

With more control than I thought possible, I turned to make our way to the house. The last vestiges of sunlight cast long, deep orange and purple fingers of light in the sky, the darkening golden hues falling on her face as we went. She turned her face to the light, a soft smile on her lips. That image burned deep into my heart. I knew I’d never forget what she looked like as long as I lived.

“You’ve made this perfect,” she murmured.

Yes. It was. She was. I carried her easily up the steps and fumbled with the key at the front door. “Everything is perfect right now,” I whispered against her temple. Inside, I let the keys fall to the floor. Slowly, her legs slid down mine. A fire burned inside me so hot I was afraid I’d scorch her if I touched her. We stood for no more than one full second before our mouths were on each other, our hands grasping, gripping, desperate for more contact.

There was no way in hell we were going to make it upstairs.

Yanking my mouth from hers, I warned her. “There’s a perfectly wide couch twenty feet from us and I want to see you naked in the last bit of sun, so it’s a yes or no, Micki.”

She trembled against me. “How can you even ask that?”

I shook my head. “I need to know because there’s no going back from this point.”

She framed my face in her hands and lifted those chocolate brown eyes to mine. “Yes. Please, God, yes,” she whispered.

Before she finished, I had her in my arms and crossed into the living room, coming to the side of the wide white sectional. Gently setting her to her feet, I kicked off my deck shoes before sliding my hands from her waist to the hem of her dress. Slowly, I pushed the material up her thighs, my eyes on her face with each inch. She tilted her head back, her eyes hooded, watching me as I moved. I reached her hips. My blood pumped hot and hard.

I lifted higher, until I reached a thin scrap of lace. Hooking my thumbs under the elastic, I eased them down the path I’d just come until they loosened mid-thigh and dropped to the floor. Retracing the direction I’d just come, I pulled her dress back up to the tops of her thighs when she reached down and grabbed the bunched fabric and lifted the dress up and over her head, leaving her completely nude in the amber light.

I wanted to fall to my knees and savor every inch of her, but the fire that burned in my gut exploded.

“Christ, you…you’re—” I couldn’t find the words to describe what she did to me. I only knew to show her. Sealing my lips over hers, I let my tongue show her my need. No thought to finesse. This was about raw, primal wanting. My hands drifted down her back until I cupped her ass. I moaned against her lips until she reached between us, wrapped her fingers around my cock, and began stroking it through my pants.

I lost my fucking mind. “We’re done talking now.”

“Thank heavens.” Her fingers flew to the buttons on my shirt, fumbling with the cotton. I started from the bottom up to help her until we met in the middle and neither one could manage the last button. Frustrated, I yanked the shirt so hard the button popped off and rattled off on the tile floor. She was pushing the shirt from my shoulders and down my arms. My hands went to the waistband of my pants and she joined me there, pushing and tugging hard when I got the button undone and the zipper free. Not stopping to wait for me, she shoved my shorts down right behind the pants until I could kick free from them and we were both standing without a stitch of fabric between us. She gave me a look filled with carnal promise and I was lost. I’d have gone to the seventh level of hell to have her. She dropped to one knee, and positioned herself to take me in her mouth.

“Not yet,” I rasped, lifting her firmly by her shoulders. Postponing what I’d fantasized about a million times took more strength than I knew I had. “Not yet.”

Firmly, I held her up when she protested and would’ve dropped back to the floor. Gently, I eased her back to the sofa and reached down and pressed first one thigh open, then the next. Kneeling beside her, I trailed my hand up her lower leg as I began to kiss her thigh. Slowly inching up to where I wanted to be, loving the soft sighs and hushed gasps as I went.

“Oh, my God,” she moaned, beginning to writhe against the cushions. Her fingers grappled for purchase somewhere before digging into my hair with an almost savage movement. It sent me over the edge. Gently spreading her soft folds, I stroked her damp flesh with my thumb, committing to memory how ready she was for me. She sucked in a quick breath as she silently mouthed my name. I ran my tongue over her clit and her hips jerked upward. Sliding my hands to cup her bottom, I lifted her and held her firmly, dipping my tongue and tasting her until she quivered against my mouth.

A low moan drifted from deep in her throat. “Devin—”

I lifted my head and met her eyes as panted, her luscious mouth open, her face warm with color. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No, it’s just—it’s not—”

When she couldn’t articulate what she wanted, I lifted up and kissed my way to the center of her belly until I levered my body higher on hers, bringing my mouth to her breasts. The soft peaks of her nipples stood hard, evidence of her arousal.

“Sweet Jesus, you’re gorgeous,” I mumbled, taking each peak into my mouth, gently worshiping then teasing with the rasp of my teeth. She collapsed back into the cushions, her head thrown back and her fingers ripping through my hair with wild abandon. The rawness of her reactions pushed me to the brink of orgasm.

I pushed my hand back between her legs and this time, they fell open shamelessly. I didn’t have to coax her. First one finger, then a second. She arched her back, moaning, her head thrashing back and forth on the cushion. God, I wanted her to come with my mouth, not my fingers. After one last thorough taste of her nipple, I lowered my head between her legs, gently sucking once, then twice. She curled upward, digging her fingernails into my shoulders, begging.

“Oh my God, oh my God…Devin. Yes, please!” she panted, pulsating against my mouth.

Moving one hand underneath her, I gently slid one finger, then two, inside her. She rocketed upward and hissed in a breath between clenched teeth. I lifted my eyes to hers and moved only enough to slip another finger into her. She cried out and rocked her hips, setting her own pace. I grew closer to coming watching the ecstasy ripple over her. Her head dropped back, her hair moving with her body, and she gasped my name out loud. Her body tensed.

“My mouth. I want you to come with my mouth on you.”

She clenched around my finger and convulsed against me as her orgasm crashed through her. As her body eased, I reluctantly left her warmth and kissed my way up her body. I levered my own across her silky one, steeling a long, lush, wet kiss.

“You taste delicious,” I murmured. She smiled, still in a haze. Lifting her legs to position herself higher on my hips, she nudged her still pulsating, soft core against the scalding hot length of my cock. I sucked in a harsh breath.

“I need to feel you inside me,” she urged. “Now.”

“Hold on, sweetheart.” Never resenting the need for a condom more, I left the softness of her body to retrieve my pants, wherever they’d ended up. And my wallet. I worried for a minute if I still had one in my wallet. Digging through it, I found the one and only one in there.

She sat up and plucked it from my hands, wiggling to get into a better position to roll it down my length. Her fingers shook as she tried and fumbled. Before I could take it from her hands and begin the end of my agony, she leaned toward me and swiftly took me in her mouth.

“Christ, Micki,” I growled.

Urged on by my response, she took as much of me as she could in her hot, wet mouth, licking and sucking until I pulled her from me, learning what mortal pain was all about. “No,” I hissed out between clenched teeth. “Give me the fucking condom.”

Somehow, between the two of us, we got the goddamn thing on. I reached for her and we tumbled backwards onto the sofa, her hands reaching and grasping for my arms, my shoulders, my back. She opened her legs, wrapping them around my waist and the feel of her still wet, tender flesh against me sent a primitive ripple of masculine need through me.

Cupping her face, I kissed her mouth. Gently at first, then she rocked against me, turning the kiss into an inferno. I slid into her with as much control as I was capable of, giving her a chance to adjust. When she tensed, I stopped.

“No, don’t…please don’t stop,” she breathed.

I felt her soften, easing the way. “Jesus, Micki…I’ve touched heaven right here. In you.”

She smiled softly, but it captured my everything. I slid deep, pulling a gasp from both of us. Bracing myself on my forearms, I studied her face while I still had a thread of control. “You okay?”

“I’m more than okay,” she smiled seductively.

I began to move, slowly at first, trying hard to be gentle. She wasn’t having any of it. Slanting her hips, she angled them to meet me thrust for thrust. I moved to grip her hip with one hand and went deeper.

Harder.

Faster.

Guttural sounds slipped from her throat. “God, Devin. Don’t stop. Don’t ever, ever, ever, ever stop…” She bucked under me. Not wanting to hurt her, I tried to pull back. She tightened her legs around me in response. “No, no…more.”

I found her eyes, my vision blurred.

One last thrust sent me crashing over into the abyss.