“I like a woman who speaks her mind.”
“Good, because communication is my thing.”
“When I said I wanted to linger, that didn’t exclude going fast, because we can follow with slow, and then slower.”
“You’re promising a lot.”
“I look forward to hearing if you think I delivered.”
“You’re okay with my sharing my opinion? You’re not...threatened by that?”
“I’m confident. And if something doesn’t work for you, I will enjoy trying again and again to get it right.” He dipped a kiss along her neck, the barest brush of his lips over her skin.
Tendrils of pleasure curled down her spine.
She shivered in anticipation. “That flows both ways. What do you want?”
His eyes lit with passion as he pulled her closer. “To watch you find pleasure. More than once.”
Her breath caught. Not just at the sensual promise. But that he wanted pleasure for her. That he could put her first even now when they’d both held back for so long.
Her fingernails curled against the fabric of his shirt. “Considering how long we’ve been waiting and wanting, I don’t think that will take long.”
She hummed with sensation and they hadn’t even peeled off their clothes yet. His touch was bound to send her reeling.
“Then, if I can add to my list of wants, seeing you naked ranks right up there.” He kissed her temple, breathing the words lightly against her ear.
“Well that’s easy enough to accommodate.” She stepped back, keeping their hands linked.
“I want to help with removing your clothes.” He tugged her gently.
She slipped her hands free and shook a finger at him. “I think my list of preferences tonight is that I watch your eyes...” she slid a thin shoulder strap of her dress down, revealing a strapless bra “...as you see me.”
She shrugged the other shoulder free and shimmied the dress to pool around her feet, the satiny fabric whispered along her heated skin and made her all the hungrier for his touch.
His expression was ample reward and aroused her as much as she could see that she’d stirred him. His light blue eyes darkened to an indigo flame, the hottest gaze. It flicked over her, searing her with need. How had she denied herself—and him—this long?
He tugged at his necktie, making fast work of loosening the knot and pulling it off. He started on the shirt buttons and she sauntered forward, brushing his hands aside, freeing the buttons one at a time, her fingertips savoring the soft cotton of his undershirt.
Not that he was passive. He unfastened his belt buckle. She tugged his shirttails free and flattened her hands underneath, splaying her fingers along the heat of his skin. He was as deliciously muscled as she remembered, the planes and ridges of his body creating contours she longed to explore with her hands and lips.
Their hurried encounter in the boathouse had been so shadowy—intense—but without the time to get to know each other’s bodies. He was right, they deserved to linger.
The word “linger” hummed through her mind and along her sensitized nerves.
His calloused fingers rasped over her skin to her back, unhooking her satin bra. A hiss of appreciation slid between his teeth a second before his hands slid away her bra and cupped the weight of her breasts.
Her reaction was immediate and intense, tingling tightness spreading throughout her. She told herself the feeling had nothing to do with pregnancy hormones. She was probably just late. Brushing aside the thought as quickly as it feathered through her brain, she refused to let it distract her from this moment she so desperately wanted to experience.
Then his mouth was on hers as they backed toward the bed until her knees bumped the mattress. They fell in a tangle of arms and legs and passion. The night was everything she’d fantasized it could be...and more.
The last of their clothing was swept away and sent sailing to the floor as they touched and tasted, exploring every inch of each other. Learning the plains and valleys of each other’s bodies in the warm glow of the lamplight.
When her body reached a fever pitch, she whispered her need to him, urging him on. Trystan pulled a condom from his wallet and neither of them spoke.
He sheathed himself and stretched over her, propping up on his elbows to hold his full weight off her. She slid her heels up his legs, hooking her feet around his waist and pulling him closer, deeper, and... She lost track of her thoughts as he moved inside her. His fingers in her hair. His chest brushing against her breasts with each synched move of their bodies, which were fast becoming sweat slicked and flushed with rising tension.
Nipping his bottom lip and nudging his shoulder, she whispered her wish to be on top and he quickly accommodated, taking advantage of the opportunity to touch her more expansively. Then his hand drifted lower, lower still, to the core of her need, tempting and teasing her until her head flung back, her hair skimming her spine as—yes—she couldn’t hold back any longer.
Her orgasm splintered in an explosion of sensation, a moan escaping her lips. Trystan rolled her again to her back and with a deep thrust, his hoarse cry of completion joined her sighs.
Bliss melted over her in the afterglow as they held each other wordlessly. As the passion cooled from her body, she listened to Trystan’s rhythmic breathing beside her as he drifted off to sleep, holding her against him.
There was something so intimate about sleeping together, which sounded silly given all they’d just shared. But sleep was...vulnerable.
The warmth of his body and the softness of the sheets sent a chill up her spine as worry paced in her heart. Gazing across the dark room to the window, she focused on the stars. The roll of waves against the shore.
Rather than being a simple escape or offering answers, having sex with Trystan had
