Sin & Suffer

I gulped. “You’re not playing fair.”

“Who said anything about playing, Buttercup?”

My eyes fluttered closed. The bonfire faded; the gathering disappeared. It was just me and him and tantalizing sensation.

My legs fell open, inviting him to take more. My heartbeat accelerated as I opened my eyes. People might see.

A flush at doing something forbidden made me blurt, “But you said you didn’t think it was heartbreak keeping him alone. I want to know what you think it was.”

I didn’t care—not really. I just couldn’t get too carried away; otherwise we’d end up having sex right there by the fire.

Arthur groaned, “God, you’re determined to distract me.” His thighs bunched beneath me. “Fine, I think he just hasn’t found his best friend yet, that’s all.”

I sucked in a breath as his fingers stretched lower, gracing ever so teasingly over my clit. “A man needs a woman. A man needs to fuck, love, and protect, but he also needs an equal. And you don’t get an equal unless you have respect. And you only get respect if you have friendship.”

My breathing stuttered as Arthur stroked me. “That’s why I was fucked when I thought I’d lost you. You died. You took more than just love away—you took away belonging, home … trust. I’d seen how good a partnership with the right person could be. No fucking way could I settle after you.”

My heartbeat clanged like a church bell, dispelling cobwebs and ghosts, and filling up the hole inside me forever. “You really know how to melt a girl.”

His teeth nipped at my ear. “I’d say you’re melting pretty quickly, Buttercup.” His fingers worked faster. “You’re wet and it’s turning me the fuck on.”

I couldn’t deny I adored him touching me but I couldn’t shed the nervousness of being on display. “We should stop.”

“Why?” His breath was hot on my neck.

“Because people might see.” I peered into the gloom. Members surrounded us, but each was in their own perfect world—consumed by drink, laughter, and friendship. No one looked over—giving the illusion of privacy.

“I don’t care.” Arthur hooked his finger, dragging more pleasure from me. “Let them watch. Let them see how fucking gorgeous you are. How your inked skin flushes and how your scars glitter when you pant.” He buried his nose in my hair. “God, I want to be inside you.”

I moaned.

Somehow, he stole all my inhibitions.

“You’re far too good at loving me,” I groaned, giving myself completely into his power, neither caring people might watch, nor worrying about inappropriate behavior.

Arthur growled, “I’m only good because I’ve fantasized about touching you for eight long years. Every night, I dreamed how I’d push my fingers inside you and make you come. Every morning, I imagined dropping to my knees and making you writhe on my tongue.”

His voice turned deep and raspy. “And now that I can, I can’t help touching you every second of every damn day.”

My hips arched toward his fingers. “I hope you never stop.” The more time I spent in his arms, the more whole I felt. I was no longer hungry for knowledge or harassed by endless questions.

I could live in the moment.

Right here.

Right now.

And not constantly compare it to the past or fret over the future.

I’m home.

Arthur’s finger feathered harder over my clit.

“You said you could never settle after me.” I tilted my head, seeking his mouth. “I know exactly what you mean.” Pressing a kiss on his five o’clock shadow, I tried so hard not to rock against his hand. “We were young, but we knew. The day you helped me back home from falling off my bike, I knew.”

He laughed; the sound quaked through me. His finger decorated my swelling flesh with tiny circles. I clenched with sparkling waves as Arthur became both seducer and pyrotechnic—whenever he touched me, I turned from human to orgasmic fireworks.

His voice was rough and strained. “What we have is so goddamn special. So strong and consuming … but it’s also not unique. We aren’t the only ones who found our significant other.”

His hand moved faster inside my panties, the tip of his finger entering me.

I cried out, scissoring my legs against bliss. “Wait!”

He panted. “I don’t want to wait. Fuck, I never want to wait again now you’re back in my life.” His hand widened my legs, giving me no room to disagree.

“We should move. We should find a dark corner.” Put us out of our misery.

“I agree. I’m so damn hard.”

My heart flew drunkenly. I was entirely caught in his web—wrapped up in lust and fire and seduction.

His voice caught, his thoughts turning dark and dismal. “But to move, I have to let you go. And I never want to do that. You’re mine forever. I know that. You know that. Shit, we knew that when we were kids. But we aren’t the first or the last to find this.”

I frowned, trying to keep up. “What do you mean?” I rolled my hips, despite my shyness, enticing his finger to slide deeper.

Oh, God …

“I mean everyone has someone designed for them, but very few people recognize it before it’s too late.”

I nuzzled into his delicious body. “It was never too late for us. We were never apart. Not really.” My nipples pebbled as he ran the tips of his left hand down my exposed arm. Having him touch me so sensually, surrounded by murmurs, stagnant humid air, and serenaded by the hum of insects, I’d never been more alive.