And then she got him completely naked.
With a surge, he grabbed her shoulders and brought her to his mouth, kissing her hard as she started to stroke him for real, her grip moving up and down on his shaft, slow at first, then faster, each pass sweeping over his head and squeezing.
Matthias got utterly lost in what she was doing to him, and in that awesome disorientation, he licked into her lips, going deep, burying a hand in the thick hair at the base of her neck. More—he needed more—
In a quick shift, he pulled her over his chest and followed through on the roll, mounting her.
“I want in you,” he said against her mouth.
She nodded immediately. “Let me see if I have something.”
With a quick kiss, she left the bed and went for her purse. Rummaging around, she muttered a prayer. “Thank God.”
When she turned around, she had a pair of condoms. “Just so we’re clear, these were a friend of mine’s—and I carried them for her when we went out. That’s the truth.”
And he believed her.
Enough with the talking, though. “Come here,” he demanded, holding out his hand.
Things moved at warp speed as the necessities were taken care of; then they were right back where they had been, her thighs split, him poised over her core.
While he kissed her, plying her soft lips, she used that talented hand of hers to guide him right to the heart of her. And he took it from there. With a powerful surge, his hips pushed forward, and the penetration was something he felt to his marrow, the slick heat of her taking him all the way to the base, holding him in a grip that somehow managed to make him even harder.
In response, Mels cried out, her nails biting into his back, her body jacking up against his own, her sex spasming clearly as she orgasmed.
“Oh, God,” he groaned, crushing her to his chest as he started to move in the midst of her release.
He meant to go slowly. He really did.
But when she linked her legs around his ass and worked herself against him, something snapped. All at once he went ferocious on her, his hips swinging loose at the base of his spine, the urgency ratcheting up until he was positively pounding into her.
And God bless her, she was with him, every step of the way, wanting everything he had to give, taking him as he came—
His release shattered him sure as that explosion in the desert had—blowing him apart, sending him sky- high.
The difference was that instead of rocketing him into a hell on earth, it took him straight to heaven….
As Mels felt Matthias’s erection kick deeply inside of her, she held him tight, absorbing his orgasm, finding another of her own. Embracing him, she turned her face into his neck and shoulder, feeling the power in his flesh as his once broken body became whole again.
It was a…miracle.
There was no other word for it.
When she finally came back into her own head, she found him staring at her, his face grave…if not downright grim.
“I’m okay,” she said with a smile. “You didn’t hurt me.”
He opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but then he just kissed her softly.
He was still hard.
Rolling them over, he kept them joined. “I don’t want this to end,” he said gruffly.
Neither did she.
Moving quickly, they dealt with the particulars, getting the second of her friend’s condoms into place.
This time, she was in charge.
And she wanted to straddle him.
As she settled into place over his hips, she planted her palms on his shoulders and started riding him, his arousal going in and out of her, turning up the heat again. As the tempo increased, they were together in it, lockstep, the momentum of the sex taking on a power of its own.
They came at the same time, his release going right into her, her sex milking him, the pleasure so acute and sustained, it was a kind of pain….
And then, after what had seemed like a century, it was over.
Mels collapsed on him; then eased onto her side so they were lying together.
Staring into her eyes, he said, “You are incredible.”
“Wrong pronoun.”
He brushed a strand behind her ear. Then, with a gentle finger, he traced her face, as if he were memorizing it by touch.
“You’re leaving in the morning, aren’t you,” she whispered with sudden dread.
His nod was slow and steady.
Mels closed her eyes and fell back against the pillows. Putting her forearm under her head, she stared at the ceiling.
Man…this hurt—
“I’m in love with you,” he said quietly.
Her head jerked around. Matthias was still staring at her, those eyes level and penetrating, his harsh face dead serious.
For a moment of pure stupidity, she just wanted to slap him. He was pulling out of town for parts unknown, never to return, and he hit her with that?
Fuck. Him.
“I just wanted you to know.”
“Before you leave,” she muttered.
“Some things are worth saying.”
She turned back to him and tucked her hands in—in the event they acted on that impulse. “If that’s true, then why leave?”
“It’s not up to me.”
“So someone else is buying your bus ticket and forcing you on a Greyhound?” God, she sounded like a bitch. “Ah, hell…look, I don’t want you to go. But you know that—so, we are where we are.”
He loved her.
And as she looked into his face, her feelings were crystal-clear as well.
Reaching out, she put her hand on his cheek—and not in a slap. “What am I going to do without you?”
And P.S., how the hell had someone she’d just met come to mean this much? It wasn’t like she was a teenager in the heat of the crush years, when any passing guy could become a tragedy of
“Will I ever hear from you?” she asked.
His answer was to kiss her, and as he did, her eyes stung so badly she had to blink fast.
This time the sex was slow and gentle, but no less devastating than the passion had been: As he touched her, as he reentered her, as they moved as one, she told her brain to remember every single gasp and groan, each and every shift and sigh.
It was going to have to last for a lifetime.
Chapter Forty-Chapter Forty-four
Sitting buck naked on the dock at the boathouse, Jim took his cigarettes out of his jacket pocket with hands that shook. Same thing with his lighter. And putting the flame to the tip wasn’t a coordination party either.
