She looped her arms loosely around his neck. She liked the way he held her. How big and strong he was, and how small and safe she felt in his arms. She liked how honest he was, too.
“It is romantic, and I like it very much.”
His forehead pressed to hers as they kind of swayed together, bodies making delicate contact, excitement heightening with every brush of fabric against fabric. The swell of his growing erection excited her, created a buzzing in her veins.
“Nothing needs to change tonight, baby. We don’t have to rush a thing. I want you, but I can wait until you’re ready.”
Her heart skipped and her belly dipped. She loved that he would wait for her. But she didn’t want to wait any longer. “Kiss me, Zach. Please.”
“What kind of kiss, beautiful? I need to know. If it’s a sweet kiss and then we go watch a show or two, that’s fine. But if you want the kind of kiss that turns into more, I need to know that too.”
Kayla didn’t have to think about it. They’d gotten married today, and they were alone tonight. They weren’t strangers in bed, even if they’d only been together once.
She didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, but tonight she wanted this. She wanted him.
“I expect a wedding night, Zach. The usual kind, where we have lots of sex and fall asleep together.”
He let out a breath. “Damn, I didn’t expect you to say that. I’m fucking over the moon that you did, but it’s not what I thought you’d say.”
Kayla’s pulse thrummed as she slipped out of his arms and turned around, pulling her hair over her shoulder and baring the back of her dress as she watched his face. “Can you unzip me?”
“I’m dreaming,” he said, his voice low and thick, and then he seemed to snap out of it, grasping her zipper and tugging it slowly down. He bent to kiss her bared shoulders, then made his way down her spine as he pulled. When he got to the bottom, right above her tailbone, he pressed a kiss into the small of her back where her tattoo was, his mouth warm and wet as he slid his tongue over her skin.
Kayla whimpered.
Zach stood and peeled the dress apart, let it slip down her body. But he didn’t let it fall into a wad at her feet. Instead, he held it up as his mouth found her shoulder.
What was he waiting for? Her body was electric. She was already wet, her clit throbbing with arousal. She wanted him to go faster, and she also didn’t because she wanted to enjoy every moment.
“Step out of the dress,” he said in her ear. “I’ll lay it over the chair so it doesn’t wrinkle.”
She did as he told her. He was back, behind her again, his big hands coming around her body to cup her breasts. He turned them, and she started at the sight of the two of them in the mirror that hung above the dresser. She was small and pale and Zach was big, sun-darkened, his body dwarfing hers.
Her bra was white, lacy, and his hands stood out in stark contrast against the fabric.
“You’re so beautiful, Kayla.”
She shuddered. “So are you.”
His eyes met hers in the mirror. “I have a pretty face. You have a pretty soul.”
His words pierced her. “I don’t know about that,” she whispered, her throat tight. Had anyone ever said such a thing to her before?
He tugged the cups of her bra down, baring her breasts. The fabric bunched beneath them, making them thrust up high. Her nipples tightened, pebbling into points that Zach pinched between his fingers. Little lightning bolts of pleasure ricocheted through her body.
“It’s the truth. You’re sweet and beautiful, and you love your child with your whole heart. You had a shitty childhood, but you’re determined Ana won’t. You love your sister and you’re determined not to disrupt her life if you can help it. Those things add up to a pretty soul in my book.”
“I could say the same about you,” she whispered. “I’ve seen you put others first. You’re doing it now, with me and Ana.”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he dropped his mouth to her throat and she tilted her head to the side to give him better access. Her eyelids fluttered closed as he licked her skin. Her body was a wire strung almost to the breaking point. She moaned softly as his long fingers pinched and tugged her nipples, heightening their sensitivity.
He kept one hand on her breast and slid the other down her abdomen, into the top of her panties. Kayla put a hand behind her and clutched his head. Then she opened her eyes to watch in the mirror as his hand dropped lower, disappearing beneath her waistband.
When he stroked lower still, his finger brushing her sensitive clit, she gasped.
“Part your legs for me,” he told her.
She did, just enough so he could slide into her wet heat, his fingers stroking and teasing relentlessly.
“You’re so wet, Kayla. I want to be inside you so bad.”
“Then do it. Please. I want you, Zach. I don’t want to wait anymore.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kayla had thought he might push her to the bed, strip off his clothes, and slide into her, giving her what she craved. But he didn’t seem in any hurry to do so—and he didn’t stop stroking her pussy as he unsnapped her bra.
“Take it off,” he commanded, his voice dark and delicious.
Kayla did as he ordered, letting the bra drop to the floor. Zach pushed her panties down her hips. His fingers came back to her clit, strumming slowly, and then he inserted one finger inside her as she whimpered.
“We haven’t talked about how we’re doing this,” he rumbled in her ear.
Kayla blinked. “How? I thought you knew how it worked, Zach.”
He chuckled. “That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about safe sex. I’ve been tested—and I haven’t been with anyone since
