It was too much. Too much pleasure, too much sensation. Ella cried out, her fingers curling in his hair. Both hands, because she’d stopped tweaking her own nipple a while ago now. She tugged harder than she should probably. But he didn’t stop. He licked and sucked until she squirmed beneath him, until she thought she would die from the pleasure.

When he lifted his head to look at her, he grinned, arching an eyebrow. “You like that, sweet Ella?”

Her heart hammered. Tiny beads of sweat popped up everywhere on her skin.

“Yes.” She was hoarse. Why?

“Are you scared?”

She shook her head.

“I think you are. But I promise you don’t have to be. We won’t do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I want to do everything.”

His eyes darkened. “Jesus, some of the things that come out of your mouth. What do you want, Ella? Tell me.”

“I want…” She swallowed. “I want you to lick me. There. And I want to lick you.”

“That’s going to happen. Maybe not the licking me part, at least not this first time. But baby, I’m going to lick you until you scream.”

She thought of the video, of the man with his head between the woman’s legs—of the way she’d panted and cried out as he licked the very heart of her—and a shiver skated over her skin. She’d wanted that for so long. Desired it every time she read a new romance novel. Imagined it as she brought herself to orgasm with her fingers.

“I want that,” she said. “So much.”

Cash sat up and grinned. “Today is your lucky day, Princess.”

He undressed her with quick, efficient movements, though he left the bra with her breasts pushed up high and firm over the cups. He stripped off the shirt, skimmed the capri pants down her thighs, dragged her panties off and tossed them on the floor.

“You too,” she said as he started to lower himself onto her again.

“You want to do it?” he asked.

She nodded. He stayed on his knees, spread his arms wide, and she climbed upright and dragged his T-shirt up and over his head, taking care to run her palms up his abdomen and chest on the way.

His eyes were hot when his head emerged from the fabric. She lifted herself up and kissed him on impulse. It wasn’t a bad impulse, because he caught her to him and tangled his tongue with hers. His hot palm splayed over her back, pulled her bare skin against his bare skin.

It was heavenly. Her body felt like hot wax, pliable and formless.

But it didn’t last because he gently pushed her away. “Finish the job, Princess,” he said, dipping his chin toward his abdomen.

She followed his gaze; her belly flipped at the sight of all that muscle. The tattoo over his pectoral, the ridges and bumps of hard muscle. The trail of dark hair that went from his belly button to beneath his waistband.

Ella unbuckled his belt, then unbuttoned him with shaking fingers before sliding his zipper down. On impulse, she pressed her lips to his chest, licked his nipple the way he’d licked hers. He growled and tugged her down to the bed, kicking out of his pants before pressing his naked body to hers.

She opened her legs instinctively, cradling his big body between them. His hot, hard cock slid against the groove of her sex.

“Holy shit, you’re wet,” he groaned. “So damned wet.”

“Isn’t that good?” she asked, confused for a second.

“Yeah, it’s good. Damned good.”

He dipped his head to her other nipple, tugged hard, and Ella cried out. It was almost too much—except it wasn’t. It was just right. Cash teased her nipple into an aching peak before he started his slide down her body, tasting her with his hot mouth as he went.

When he reached her mound, he licked a trail along the top where the waistband of her panties usually lay. She grew light-headed, but he didn’t stop. Instead, he slid down and settled between her thighs.

“Such a pretty pussy,” he said, staring at her. She knew what it looked like down there. She’d studied herself with a mirror. Pretty was not the word she’d use, but the fact he did made her feel beautiful and confident.

“You want me to lick it?” he asked, and her belly flipped again. She had some world-class gymnastics going on inside there.

“Yes. Please.”

Cash slid his thumbs into her seam, pushed her open, and dropped his tongue into her heat and wetness.

Ella bowed up off the bed. “Cash! Oh—”

She couldn’t speak because he licked a trail from the bottom of her slit to the top where he curled his tongue around her clit and sent sparks exploding behind her eyes.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t believe what was happening to her or how amazing it felt. The videos had taught her a lot, but they hadn’t taught her how it felt. Novels did a pretty good job of making it sound wonderful—but this was so much better than she’d imagined.

Cash was relentless, spreading her open, licking and sucking her clit into his mouth and then dipping down to plunge his tongue into her body before climbing back up to her clit again. When he slipped a finger inside her, she whimpered.

“Does it hurt?”

“No.” It didn’t, but her hymen blocked the way before he’d gotten too far.

He got about half his finger into her, but the rest couldn’t get past the barrier. Still, he began to work his finger back and forth, stretching her a little bit as he did so.

The feeling was foreign and intrusive, but it was also overwhelmed by everything going on a little higher up. Cash pulled her sensitive flesh into his mouth, sucked hard enough to make her see stars.

It was good. So good. She grabbed fistfuls of the covers as he attacked relentlessly. Everything within her tightened unbearably. It was almost painful how much she needed release, how desperate she was to reach the apex. His finger still worked to stretch her, but the distraction of it paled as her orgasm slammed into her and stole her breath.

Ella’s body shook, her legs stiffened, and Cash’s name burst from her lips as she came. So many sensations flooded her at once. It wasn’t the same as when she came by herself. Not at all.

This was more intense, hotter, the plunge to the bottom sharper and sweeter by far.

She thought that would be the end of it, that he’d crawl up her body and press his dick inside her. That now was when she would feel the ripping and tearing of delicate tissues.

But that’s not what happened at all. Cash brought her to another orgasm with his mouth, made her hover on the edge longer, and then watched her plunge farther and faster than before.

Ella was spent, and yet somehow she remained restless and achy. In spite of two bone-melting climaxes, she needed more.

This time, Cash did move up her body, licking and kissing her naked skin along the way. When his mouth met hers, she was shocked at first. He tasted salty and a little sweet. It was her taste, and that somehow embarrassed and aroused her at the same time.

“You are fucking amazing, Princess,” he growled against her lips. “So beautiful and responsive.”

She didn’t know how to answer that. He kissed her again and then rolled away and stood. It took her a moment to find her voice.

“Where are you going?”

“Need a condom, Ella.”

He disappeared into the bathroom. A moment later he was back, ripping open a package and taking out a pale rubber disk. She watched him roll it on, thinking she’d never seen anything so beautiful in her life as Cash McQuaid—her husband—rolling a condom on with one hand while his eyes burned intently into her.

“You still want this?” he asked before putting a knee on the bed.

If she’d been in love with him, she would have loved him even more in that moment than she ever had before. “Yes, I want this. I want you.”

---

Hell, he’d given her every opportunity to put a stop to what was happening, but she hadn’t. Cash didn’t want her to either. Every time he asked, his heart stopped while he waited for her answer. Because, hot damn, he really wanted to get inside her. Now that he’d allowed himself to let it happen, he needed it to happen.

He let his gaze slide over her sweet body. His balls tightened in anticipation. Ella was lovely, though she had more angles than he liked. If she were naturally skinny, then fine. But she wasn’t. He was sure of it because of the way she said her aunt restricted her food intake.

He’d like to see her with a few more pounds, see how lush and beautiful she would be then.

Cash considered how best to make this first time happen. How to get past the initial pain of breaching her hymen and on to the good stuff. But he didn’t really know. She was his first virgin. All he knew was that he had to make her feel good. Make her wet.

He glided a finger along the seam of her body as he lowered himself beside her. She gasped and arched her back as he skimmed her clit. She was so wet. So hot.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Princess. It’ll probably hurt at first. I don’t know how to change that. All I know is once you get through it, it does get better.”

Her throat moved as she swallowed. “I know. I’ve read about it.”

“You scared?”

Her eyes went a little wide. “Yes,” she admitted in a soft voice.

“Me too.”

She blinked. “You? What are you scared of?”

He pinched her clit softly, gently. A soft breath escaped her.

“Hurting you, Ella. I don’t want to do that, but that’s how it works.”

“It’s okay, Cash. I’d rather it was you than…”

Her throat moved as she swallowed and a spike of anger pierced him. The thought of her lying beneath Sheikh Fahd, scared and alone, while he took her virginity against her will, made Cash’s chest ache. No woman deserved to be violated like that.

Cash slipped a finger inside her, as far as it would go. It wasn’t far, but he had immense patience. He wasn’t going to push her any faster than she wanted to go.

“I know, Princess. Still doesn’t make it any easier for me to do it.”

He dipped his mouth to hers and kissed her again. The tension in her body melted away, leaving her pliant and warm in his arms. He didn’t stop circling her clit, teasing it, until he felt the shudders of a fresh orgasm shake her. She dragged her mouth from his and cried out. While she was still shaking from the tremors, he rolled onto her body and positioned himself between her legs.

He didn’t have to ask her to spread them. She did it automatically. He pressed the head of his cock against her entrance. Her fingers curled into his biceps and he stilled.

“You can tell me to stop, Ella. I will.”

“I know. Please, Cash. Kiss me.”

He dropped his mouth to hers. And then he began the process of inching forward. Ella trembled beneath him, and it nearly killed him that she did. He wasn’t sure why he felt so protective toward her.

“Just do it, Cash,” she said as she gripped his arms hard. “Get it over with.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” Her eyes were dark pools. He saw fear in those eyes, and trust. It was the trust that undid him.

He glided a hand down her hip and dragged her leg up to wrap around him. She wrapped the other one around him as he gripped her hips and lifted her. Then he pushed forward harder than before. When she squirmed, he didn’t stop. Not unless she asked him to, and she didn’t.

She closed her eyes, her forehead knitting tight as she endured the pain. Cash almost stopped anyway, but then the barrier gave way and he suddenly slid fully inside her. Her eyes popped open.

Their gazes tangled. Something swelled in his chest. Some feeling he didn’t quite understand. This was a first for them both, so maybe it was just an acknowledgment of that.

“Wow,” she said, and Cash laughed. It wasn’t what he’d expected to happen at this point, but that’s also what made it so Ella.

“What’s wow?”

“You. Inside me. I didn’t think it would happen.”

“And how is it? Okay?”

“It hurt at first, but now it’s more of a dull pain. I feel full of you and it aches. But I think I like it.”

He was having trouble thinking as her tight walls gripped him hard. All he wanted to do was thrust until he exploded. But he had to make it good for her. He’d promised.

“Then hang on, baby doll. It’s about to get a whole lot better.”