Chapter Twenty-Seven
I awoke to a hand stroking up and down on my bare thigh. Still hazy from the nap, I remained still and enjoyed the way my skin heated beneath the touch. I was warm and comfortable and felt the steady rise and fall of Landen’s chest beneath my cheek.
The light pouring through the windows seemed to gild the room with gold. We must have slept for several hours. I felt more rested than I had since the day Landen left.
The leisurely slide of his palm on my thigh changed as it glided upward so that his fingers skimmed the bottom edge of my panties, skating close to my core.
I sucked in a deep breath and opened my eyes, tilting my head back to look at him.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“Hey.”
His dark blue eyes were sleepy and hot, staring at me with both reverence and hunger. The arm beneath my neck shifted and his other hand tangled in my hair, tugging lightly so that I arched my neck back even more.
“I want to touch you,” he murmured, his voice rough with sleep and desire.
“I want to touch you too.”
He shifted beneath me, turning his body toward me and lifting my leg so that my thigh rested on his hip. As his lower body came into contact with mine, I could feel the hard length of him against my abdomen.
I slipped my hand beneath the hem of his t-shirt so that my palm rested against his side. His skin was hot and firm under my fingers. His muscles trembled against my palm as my hand moved up and around until I could knead the muscles beneath his shoulder blade.
His gaze never left mine as he used his gentle hold on my hair to lift my face toward his. With our eyes still open, our lips touched, tentatively at first.
After a week of feeling hollow and lonely, it wasn’t long before I opened my mouth and touched the tip of my tongue to his lips. I didn’t even notice when my eyes grew heavy and shut because my entire being was focused on the warm press of his lips and the soft, wet swipe of his tongue against mine.
His free hand slid up my leg, over my hip, to the back of my dress. I heard the quiet rasp of the zipper as he drew it down. I shifted against him as I tugged my arms free from the straps and he helped me push the material down to my waist. The bra I wore beneath the light cotton was nothing more than a concoction of mesh and lace. It was too hot for anything more substantial.
Landen’s fingers curled into the material at my waist and pushed further until I had to bend my knees to free my legs from the bunched fabric of the dress.
Suddenly eager to feel his skin against mine, I grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up, our lips breaking apart as he lifted his upper body and tugged it over his head.
Sitting next to my prone body, Landen tossed the shirt aside and looked down at me, his hand cupping my waist. His eyes moved over my nearly naked form, pausing where the sheer material of my bra cupped my breasts.
He moved then, kneeling between my thighs so that he hovered over me.
“I like this,” he muttered, skimming a single finger across the top edge of the bra and making me shiver.
I sucked in a sharp breath as his thumb moved downward and swept over my nipple through the mesh. The extra layer of material added friction to his touch as he lightly pinched the tip of my breast between his thumb and forefinger, making a line of fire magically appear between my breast and clit.
“Landen,” I whispered.
His eyes lifted from my breasts to my face and I shuddered at the hungry expression on his face. He didn’t speak as he slowly leaned forward and closed his mouth over my nipple, sucking strongly. His tongue lashed me through the material and my back arched at the slightly rough sensation.
My hands cupped the back of his head and my nails scraped his scalp as he continued to lick and suck at my nipple. When his teeth closed lightly over me, I clenched handfuls of his hair and moaned low in my throat.
I lifted my legs, my bare thighs scraping at the denim on his legs, and I remembered he was still partially clothed. My hands shook as I released his hair and ran them down his sides to the waistband of his jeans.
I fumbled with the button and zipper for a moment before they gave way to my clumsy fingers. Landen lifted his head and studied my damp breast as he helped me shove the denim down his hips and thighs. I placed my foot into the tangled material when we reached his knees and pushed them down past his ankles.
A small smile played around his lips as he kicked the jeans from his legs and I hooked my thumbs into the top edge of his briefs. They quickly followed the same path as his pants until he was gloriously naked.
When his bare skin met mine, I sighed. This week had been painful in many ways. I missed his presence at night when I ate dinner and watched TV. Or when I got ready to go to sleep. But I also missed his skin, the taste of his kiss, and the weight of his body against mine.
As if he read my mind, Landen lowered his mouth to my other breast, muttering against my flesh. “I missed you.”
He nipped at the inner curve of my breast before latching onto the nipple, pulling it deep into his mouth.
I cried out and my back arched at the onslaught of intense sensation. “I missed you too,” I replied brokenly, heat racing through my veins as he continued to torment my nipple with his mouth.
It was as if he hadn’t heard me as he continued to speak. “There were nights I lay in bed and I could almost taste you on my tongue.” His hands moved behind me to the clasp of my bra, loosening it and tugging it from my body. Then his mouth returned to my breasts, giving each nipple a long, slow lick that made a tremor shoot through my body. “And I could almost swear I smelled you in the blankets as if you’d been there.”
When his fingers closed over the waistband of my panties, I lifted my hips so he could pull the scrap of mesh and lace down my legs. Landen’s hands slipped up my inner thighs, pushing them apart. He shifted backward until he knelt over me with his mouth in line with my pussy.
My eyelids were heavy as I watched him look at me, his gaze sweeping up the dips and curves of my hips, waist, and breasts. When our eyes met, his thumbs ran over my damp skin, separating the folds to reveal my clit. Without moving his eyes from mine, he inched forward and closed his lips over the pulsing flesh.
I couldn’t maintain eye contact any longer. My neck arched and my eyes closed as he devoured me. Then my head snapped down as he stopped and his hands covered mine. He lifted them to my breasts, closing my own palms over my skin.
“Play with your nipples while I eat your pussy,” he whispered.
I nodded, watching as he lowered his mouth to the juncture between my thighs. This time, when his lips closed over my clit, he slipped a finger deep inside me, pressing upward and rubbing hard.
My thighs shook and I groaned as my pelvic muscles flexed and trembled. My hands remained over my breasts, merely holding them tightly. Then Landen lightly bit my inner thigh, a sensual punishment.
“Play with your tits, Chelsea.”
Panting, I moved my fingers over my breasts, kneading the flesh, and Landen finally lowered his mouth back to the place I needed him most.
He was voracious, suckling and flicking my clit with his tongue until my hips bucked from pleasure. As the tension coiled inside me, growing tighter and tighter, I closed my thumbs and index fingers over both my nipples and tugged hard.
I squirmed and moaned as he continued his assault, pushing me higher then I’d ever been before. Then he kept me hovering on the edge for what seemed like hours, knowing just when to lighten his touch to keep me from exploding.
My own hands massaged and played with my breasts and nipples until my flesh ached with need.
“Landen,” I rasped, my hips jerking beneath his mouth as he slid another finger inside me. “Please, I need—”
I didn’t finish my sentence. As soon as I said please, he drew my clit into his mouth and lashed his tongue against it hard and fast.
I cried out as I finally, finally went over the edge. My muscles locked and my body went rigid as the first waves of my orgasm burst over me. They went on and on until my voice was hoarse and I twitched wildly in an effort to escape from Landen’s mouth.
He gave my clit one last lick and I nearly screamed, strangling the sound until it came out as a long, pained moan.
Then he was over me, reaching into the nightstand to grab a condom. His eyes burned as he tore the wrapper apart and placed the latex at the end of his cock. I lifted my hands and took over the task, rolling the condom over his length before giving him a firm squeeze.
He grunted, his fingers curling around my wrists. He levered my arms over my head, pinning them down with one hand as he reached between us with the other.
His eyes never left mine as he positioned his cock and pushed slowly inside my body. I was wet from my release and he slid home with no resistance. A rough sound escaped my throat as he thrust deep and stopped only when his hips slammed into mine. The hand between us moved, his thumb brushing the side of my already sensitive clit as he ran it up my body.
I gasped and felt my muscles clench hard around him.
Landen’s head fell forward and he groaned at the sensation. “Don’t do that. Not yet.”
I couldn’t control the pulsing of my core any more than I could control the erratic beat of my heart. “I need you to move,” I demanded, my thighs lifting to grip his waist.
He didn’t answer. At least not aloud. Instead, he dropped his head and closed his teeth around my nipple. I tried to tug my wrists out of his grip, to pull away from the overwhelming feeling his mouth evoked. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t purely pleasurable either. The edge of his teeth and the hot, wet lash of his tongue blurred the line between agony and ecstasy until I could no longer tell the difference.
I yelped as his teeth released me and he pulled hard on my nipple. Once again, my pussy clenched hard around his cock and I cried out. “Move!”
Finally, he did. His mouth lifted from my breast and landed on mine as he slowly withdrew from my body and slammed home. I jerked at my wrists again and he released me, the fingers of one hand skimming down my body to my hip before closing over my skin with a bruising grip.
He straightened, sliding his other hand beneath my other thigh and lifting my leg so my calf rested against his shoulder. Then he leaned forward, forcing my knee toward my chest. I hissed as the position allowed him to drive even deeper into my body until it felt as though he were bottoming out inside me.
“Fuck, you feel good,” he groaned, his head falling forward on his neck. The hand still gripping my hip jerked toward him with each thrust. “Touch yourself, Chelsea. I want to feel you come with me inside you this time.”
I slid a hand between us, dipping below my clit to where his cock moved inside me. I gathered the wetness from my body and spread it to my clit, rubbing in light, quick circles. I was so sensitive from his earlier ministrations that I could feel the orgasm approaching within seconds.
Landen grunted as I began to tighten around him, the muscles gripping his cock hard as the tension built within me again. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before, looming inside me like a tsunami approaching the shoreline. I knew when it broke over me that it would ruin me. Destroy me from the inside out.
My mind fought the oncoming storm as my body reached for it. I trembled beneath Landen, my breath burning in my lungs and my muscles aching from the tension inside me.
As if he sensed the battle within me, Landen shoved my leg harder into my chest, opening me completely to his thrusts until he was so deep inside me that I couldn’t tell where he ended and I began.
“Let go,” he demanded.
I shook my head though my fingers never stopped circling my clit. “I-I can’t—”
Landen’s hand shoved mine away and he pinched my clit between his fingers, rubbing firmly, wresting my last vestiges of control.
Sounds came from my throat, unfamiliar and loud, nearly screams, as I broke beneath him. Vaguely, I heard him groan as he pounded into me over and over again. Then his hips slammed into mine one last time and he shuddered, his mouth closing over the muscle that joined my neck and shoulder.
When his fingers released my clit, the echo of my orgasm pulsed within me for several long seconds, making my body twitch with pleasure.
Landen and I were both breathing hard as he let more of his weight settle onto my body. He was heavy but I didn’t care. I’d missed his body, his solid presence all around me, and I welcomed the feeling.
Finally, he lifted his head and gazed down at me, something akin to awe in his gaze.
“That was…incredible,” he said, sweat gleaming on his neck and shoulders.
“Hmmm,” I hummed, trailing my hands over the muscles of his back.
“You okay?” he whispered, moving in until he flicked my ear with the tip of his nose.
“Mmmmhmmm.”
When he raised his head once again, a small grin curved his lips. “Speechless, huh?”
I narrowed my eyes at him and managed to say, “I think you broke me.”
The small grin widened into a smug smile. “Do I need to put you back together?”
I sighed and let my eyes drift shut. “Maybe later. If I survive the aftermath.”
Landen shifted away, pulling out of my body slowly. I sighed again and let my body sprawl on the bed. Then suddenly I was up in the air, cradled against his chest.
“Hey!” I cried. “What are you doing?”
“I know how to revive you,” he stated, hauling me into the bathroom and setting me on my feet in the tub. Then he turned on the taps, adjusting the water until it was the perfect temperature.
He dealt with the condom as I settled into the rapidly filling tub. I grunted when he shifted me forward and slid in behind me, cocking his legs so that I rested between them, my back to his chest.
His hands trailed over my body, gently but idly drawing lines and circles over my abdomen and breasts. When the tub was full enough, Landen reached to the side and turned off the taps. I let my head fall back onto his shoulder and closed my eyes, enjoying the hot lap of the water and the slick slide of his hands over my skin.
We soaked in silence for several long minutes before Landen lifted my left hand, his thumb brushing over my ring finger.
“You realize you’ll have to make an honest man out of me eventually, right?” he murmured into my ear.
Not quite coherent, I hummed deep in my throat before I finally asked, “What do you mean?”
His thumb ran lightly over the base of my ring finger again and my brain caught up with the moment, recognizing not only what he’d said but also what he was doing. “What?”
I felt his mouth curve against my ear. “Not today. Or even tomorrow, but someday soon, you’re going to marry me.”
The man was lucky I was still too limp from two stupendous orgasms or he really would have been in trouble. Instead, I settled for saying, “How about you figure out how to ask me nicely and then we’ll discuss it.”
Landen chuckled. “Or I just won’t stay the night with you until you agree to marry me.”
I reached back with my right hand and pinched his side.
He jerked but laughed. “Okay, you’re right. That wasn’t nice.” His arm came around me, trapping my right hand against my own leg. “I’d settle for you moving in with me for six months first.”
I sighed and twisted my head. “I’ll move in with you on my birthday,” I stated.
He froze, staring down at me. “That was easier than I expected.”
I grinned slyly at him. “Do you know when my birthday is?” I asked.
His body grew rigid. “Um…actually…” he hedged.
I laughed. “I’m a Scorpio.”
“I have no idea what that means,” he admitted, making me laugh even harder.
“My birthday is October twenty-fifth. If we can manage not to kill each other with sex or bickering between now and then, I’ll move in with you.”
Landen’s eyes moved over my face, taking in all my features. “You do realize that’s four months away.”
I removed my left hand from his grip and patted his jaw. “You’re tough. You can take it.”
“For you, I can take just about anything.”
I turned in his arms, straddling his hips in the huge tub. “I love you, Landen Weber,” I said, twining my arms around his neck.
He mirrored my movement, only his hands slid around my waist. “And I love you, Chelsea Archer. Even if you’re too damn stubborn for my own good.”
I leaned forward and put my mouth against his, our lips barely touching as I spoke. “Yeah, but you like it.”
His eyes flashed with wicked humor as he tugged me closer. “Yes, I do.”
Then he kissed me.