to it' He plucked at the elastic of her panties and gave her a wistful look. 'I liked it better when you were naked.'
'That was before you made me mad,' she said.
'I could make you forgive me.' He covered her face with soft kisses. 'Let's get those panties off you, and I'll show you what I mean.'
Cold fear tightened in her belly.
'The rules are real clear,' he said. 'Ladies first. It's the law.'
'But I'm not, ah…' She trailed off, miserable.
He gazed searchingly into her face. 'I thought this was what you wanted,' he said slowly. 'You having second thoughts?'
'Good Lord, no! It's just that I… it's not that simple, to make me have an orgasm. I'm not… very responsive, and I don't want to bore you, and I get so anxious when I'm under pressure, which makes me tense up even more, so I was hoping we could skip that part and try some other things, and that way maybe I'll have a chance to loosen up—'
'Erin. Shhh.' He cut off her anxious babbling with a kiss. When he lifted his head, she was dazed and breathless. 'No pressure. And I won't get bored. I have a really long attention span. You have no idea.'
'But I—'
He covered her mouth with his, and all her doubts and fears melted into a vortex of tender confusion. His lips were velvety, coaxing and insistent. His tongue flicked against hers, and he deepened the kiss, sweet and clinging, like he wanted to draw the soul from her body.
He slid his hand into her panties, his fingertips brushing over her soft thatch of hair. She pressed herself against his hand, and his fingers parted her tenderly.
'Oh, yeah. That's so beautiful,' he murmured. 'You're already wet and soft. There's nothing wrong with you, sweetheart. You're plenty responsive. Feel this. You're almost there, right now, and all I did was kiss you. I've barely started touching you. You were made for this. You're melting for it, like hot caramel. Feel this, put your hand right here. Feel how this beautiful clit is sticking out, all swollen and tight like it just can't wait for me to suck on it. Feel this?'
He pressed her own fingers against the hot, throbbing glow of pleasure at the top of her cleft while his fingers delved inside her. She hid her face, panting. Her body moved of its own volition. She thrust herself against his hand. Pleasure swelled, unbearably sweet. She trapped his hand between her thighs and pressed her own down on top of it, her muscles clenching and releasing. The feeling grew, cresting.
'Connor. Oh, God. Don't… don't…'
'I won't leave you,' he soothed. 'I'm right here. Let go.'
Something huge was gathering inside her. She panicked, and fought it. 'Connor… something strange is happening. I… I'm scared.'
'Go with it. It's OK, Erin.'
She shook her head. 'Please. Stop. I can't. I can't—'
'Go with it.' His voice was implacable. He slid his tongue into her mouth, thrust his hand deeper, insisting.
It overtook her. The world dissolved into pulsing black heat.
When she finally opened her eyes, she was surprised to find herself in one piece. Her same old, familiar self.
Connor pulled her face around and smoothed damp hair off her forehead. 'Are you all right?' he asked.
She gazed at him, speechless.
'That wasn't so bad, was it?'
She let her face drop to the side and nuzzled the hand that was stroking her cheek. 'What… what was that?' she whispered.
He looked alarmed. 'Uh… you came, Erin,' he said slowly. 'You're not telling me that was your first time?'
Her body still thrummed with residual pleasure. She closed her eyes and pressed her thighs together, savoring it. 'Ah, no. I mean, yes. I thought that I had, but I've never felt the whole world go away like that. It scared me so much, I think I fainted. I thought I was dying.'
She felt his smile against her neck as he nuzzled her. 'The little death. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen.'
The sweet, rippling shivers slowly gave way to a relaxed glow. She wanted to croon and purr, but when she cuddled closer, she felt the unyielding heat of his erection against her belly, and remembered that there was more to this. 'Connor? What about you?' she asked.
His eyebrow quirked. 'What about me? I'm in heaven.' She reached down, and stroked the long, thick bulge in his jeans. He let out a sharp gasp, and placed his hand over hers. 'Not yet.'
'Not yet?' She was baffled. 'Then when?' He hooked his thumbs into the elastic of her panties, tugged them down, and then slid down the bed. He dragged her along with him, until her legs dangled off the foot of the bed in a tangle of bed coverings. 'Connor? What are you—'
'One orgasm is good,' he said. 'Two are better.'
She pushed herself up until she was perched on the edge of the bed, legs clamped together in a paroxysm of shyness. He knelt in front of her, a faint smile touching his lips. 'Open up for me.' He covered her knees with beseeching kisses, his mouth hot and deliciously ticklish. She giggled and pushed his face away. 'Please,' he pleaded. 'Let me in.'
His smile and his sweet, silly kisses made her heart go soft. She dashed the tears away with a murmur of embarrassment. It took some concentration, but slowly the muscles in her thighs loosened. He pushed them wide, his face fascinated. He drew his fingertip down the folds of her labia, parting them, and thrust his finger deep inside her.
She gasped, and she was outside herself, observing her own behavior with a cold, horrified eye. Legs spread, completely at his mercy. Crazy and wanton. That shrill, lecturing voice echoed through her mind, reminding her of betrayal, Dad and Novak, Georg and Crystal Mountain, all the reasons why she shouldn't—'Don't,' he said.
She met his sharp gaze, startled. 'Don't what?'
'Wherever you were going in your head, don't go there. It's a wrong turn.'
The sharpness of his perceptions made her feel transparent. 'You can't tell me what thoughts to think,' she said.
He slid his finger out of her and licked it, sighing with pleasure. 'I can try, can't I?' he asked. 'Jesus, you're delicious. All I want you to think about is how it feels when I go down on you. That's it, Erin. No other thoughts are invited. This is a private party.'
He swayed forward and put his mouth to her before she could think of a reply, and all thoughts fled. All that remained was the liquid, swirling sensations of his lips and his strong, eager tongue, lapping and laving her, flicking expertly across her most sensitive flesh. She gripped damp, silky handfuls of his hair and pushed herself against his mouth. His growl of satisfaction reverberated through her body.
He shoved her down onto her back and folded her legs up high. She writhed, struggling in his strong grip, but she was struggling toward something, not away. He drove her onward, toward a tantalizing promise that blazed on the horizon of her mind like the fiery glow of sunrise.
That huge, inevitable wave of pleasure that had so terrified her before gathered again. This time she didn't resist it. The explosion throbbed through her entire body, an endless eternity of rippling pleasure. It took a long time to float back. 'I'm melting,' she whispered.
'Yeah. Like homemade vanilla ice cream scooped over hot Dutch apple pie. Yum.' His smile was so sweet, it made her heart hurt. 'You want some more? I could do that to you all night long. Easily.'
She struggled up onto her knees. 'It's your turn, Connor,' she said shyly. 'Do you want me to, um… go down on you?'
He jerked up onto his elbows, opened his mouth to speak, and closed it, looking shy. 'Uh… that's one of those do-bears-shit-in-the-woods and is-the-Pope-Catholic type questions, Erin.'
