“You can’t sleep here.”
“Not with you waking me up every few seconds,” he replied.
He had a good point there. Maybe she should just let him stay. What was the harm? Besides, how many times had she dreamed of sleeping in his arms? Of course, most of those fantasies were preceded by incredible sex! Since that obviously wasn’t about to happen, he was pretty sound asleep, she should just…let him.
His hand around her waist drifted lower, then slid under her cami top, moving higher and higher. Sage held her breath, wondering if he was going to…surely he wouldn’t! When his hand stopped, his fingers spreading out over her soft stomach, only then did she let herself breathe.
“You’re not sleeping,” he whispered in her ear. She felt him gently nip her earlobe.
Sage gasped, her body tightening with awareness and sudden need! He was in her bed and…!
“Sage?” he groaned.
His hand slid higher. His fingers slowly, carefully cupped her bare breast, his thumb skimming over the hard peak. Sage moaned and arched against his hand as bolts of heat surged through her to pool in her groin. She couldn’t stifle the sound and his fingers trailed gently along her skin, regularly returning to tease her nipple. She loved it! Never had a touch felt so absolutely perfect!
“More!” she whispered, then bit her lip, afraid that he’d stop. That he’d take his heat and warmth away, then laugh at her.
Thankfully, he did neither. Instead, he pinched that taut peak, making her writhe. Trying to bite her lip, to suppress the urge to turn to him, to beg him to make love to her, she slapped her hand over her mouth.
“Why are you doing that?” Arik asked, pulling her hand away as he came over her. His legs, already spread out over her thighs, slid between her knees so that her hips cradled his. And that impressive erection was there. Right there! It was so perfectly placed, Sage couldn’t stop herself from rolling her hips, feeling that erection against her core.
“Because I…” she closed her eyes, turning her head away. Sage couldn’t let him see what she was feeling. She couldn’t let him know. She didn’t know how to handle sensations like these, but she knew that he’d make fun of her if he realized how turned on she was.
“Sage, look at me,” he ordered, his hands pausing in their exploration underneath her camisole.
This was it, she thought with resignation. This was where he’d look into her eyes and snicker, then roll over to his side of the bed and go back to sleep, leaving her frustrated and lonely. Cold. Humiliated! It had happened all too often in the past, hence her desire to avoid this kind of a situation.
“Do you want this?” he asked, his hips pressing against her heat to make his point clear. The rhythm felt so perfect, so incredibly wonderful that she couldn’t stop her hips from lifting, matching his thrusts with her own. He wasn’t even inside of her and she was already on the edge of a climax.
“Do I want…” she started to ask, but he pressed against her again and she whimpered. When she had herself somewhat back under control, she turned her head away, closing her eyes. “Do I want what?” she finally finished asking. She knew the game. She knew how to play it. At least, she used to. Okay, so she’d never been very good at it. She’d have to…well, figure Arik out.
“Do you want to make love with me?” he asked, bending his head and nipping at her neck.
“Only if you are interested,” she finally managed to strangle out, not allowing herself to moan with ecstasy when he nibbled at her neck.
Arik lifted his head, staring down at her. “Sage, I want you so badly, I think I might just explode into a million pieces if you don’t give me the green light. I want to kiss you, taste you, and feel every single inch of your incredible body. I want to hear you scream my name when you climax from my mouth the first time,” he bent to kiss her, his tongue moving into her mouth, showing her just what that magical tongue could do. “The next time you scream my name, I want to be so deep inside of you that you can’t tell where I end and you begin.” He kissed her again, thrusting against her. The barrier of his boxers and her panties was nothing compared to the heat of their bodies. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fantasized about being inside of you, feeling your muscles clench around me!”
She whimpered again, a single tear escaping from the edge of her lashes. He saw it. Because Arik noticed everything! He stopped that wonderful thrusting and captured the tear with his thumb. “But only if you want that too, Sage. I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
Sage bit her lip and stared up at him. “You won’t…” she paused, afraid of even voicing her question. But she had to know. She had to know now before he tormented her further. “You won’t stop…or…or leave, until…the end?”
Arik blinked at her, his body so tight he worried he might shatter as he tried to make sense of her words. Leave her? Why the hell would he leave her? Hell, he’d been trying to get into her bed, into her body, for months now! It was going to take a crow bar to get him away from her! Maybe two!
“I’m not going anywhere,” he vowed, wondering what the hell she was talking about. Wasn’t he here with her right now?
In the back of his mind, he made a mental note to ask her about that. Later. Much later. Right now, he wanted to know more about her, about her
