No, he hadn’t meant for this to happen. Had, in fact, promised himself it wouldn’t, and expended more willpower than humanly possible trying to keep the promise, but now that the battle was lost, the only thing he truly regretted was failing to get the job done for her. Letting that failure stand was not an option.
“I’m an idiot,” she insisted. “I didn’t think, until…” As she spoke, she started to push herself up, but he leaned over her, braced one hand by her shoulder, and palmed her between her legs.
“Don’t move.” He stroked her—still warm, still wet—and watched her eyelids flutter and her body sag back onto the bed. “My dick. My responsibility to keep it covered, and my responsibility to protect you.” He changed up the stroke and was rewarded with a little moan of pleasure. As a bonus, her cheeks turned pink. “And it’s my fault this tight, sweet, rudely neglected pussy is still aching. Give me another chance, Roxy. I can make it all better.” A damn sight better.
She shivered when he lightened his touch to the barest of caresses. “What did you have in mind?”
Her, coming so long and hard it erased all memory of her not coming the first time he’d been inside her. “It’s a two-part plan, actually.” Without warning, he flipped her over. Ignoring her gasp, he clasped her hips and repositioned her perpendicular across his bed. Then he dropped to his knees and dragged her closer to the edge. “First”—he guided one leg over his shoulder and kissed the inside of her thigh—“I give you a proper apology.”
Her face popped into his sightline, cheeks flushed, eyes hazy. “What’s a ‘proper’ apology?”
He liked that breathless note in her voice. Liked it a lot. “You’ll see.” He nipped her other thigh, picking a spot slightly closer to his ultimate target.
“Oh…hhh.” Her neck went limp while her knees clamped his shoulders. “A-are you sure this isn’t cruel and unusual punishment?”
“Never cruel,” he assured her and scraped his unshaved jaw along her smooth skin before placing a fleeting kiss against the pink patch left by his stubble. Her back bowed off the mattress. “Unusual? Maybe. That depends entirely on what you’re used to.”
“I’m not used to apologies. I mean, I’ve given a few here and there, but to be honest, I don’t think I ever learned to accept one very…um…gracefully.”
“You’re going to get one now.” He kissed higher. “And I’ll know you’ve accepted when you’re too swept up in the apology to give a thought to grace.” He swirled circles on her skin with the tip of his tongue before drawing back to breathe her in.
“I…oh Lord, if you insist.”
“I do. And once you’ve accepted every last bit of my apology, you know what I’m going to do?”
“Take your shirt back and arrest me for stealing?”
“Get a condom out of my nightstand, put you in whatever position you like best, and give you a proper fucking.”
Her knees clamped his shoulders a little tighter and then fell open. “We could skip right to that part. I’m totally cool with a proper fucking.”
“I’m not.” He moved her so both legs rested over his left shoulder. “Not until I apologize for this.” He kissed the underside of her ass, running his lips along the flesh he imagined still felt tender from bearing the brunt of their first round.
She gasped and flailed in a way that told him he’d found a ticklish spot, but he held her in place and took his time exploiting it, until all she could do was pant his name between shrieks of, “We’re good. All good. No, no, not again. Have mercy…”
“Forgive me for misusing this beautiful ass?”
“You don’t have to apolo…” Her reply dissolved into a moan and her whole body jerked against the restraint of his arms when he sank his teeth into one lush curve. “Oh geez. Yes! Yes, I forgive you.”
He raised his head and admired the faint mark he’d left. “Good. I hope that wasn’t too unusual for you, Roxy, because I’ve got a few more places to make up with.” Without giving her a chance to answer, he ran his tongue along the cleft separating those forgiving cheeks.
That earned him a loud “Ohmigod!” followed by a low, shivery, “Nooo-kaaay…” All of which he took as permission to continue lavishing on the apologies.
She twitched and squirmed under his roving tongue, her breath slowing to long, labored inhales when he flicked his way higher, turning shallow and quick when he roamed lower, and hitching on a cry every time he speared his tongue deep without warning. When she called out his name in that hoarse, breathless voice he liked so much, he eased away and kissed her thigh. With an uneven sigh he liked almost as much as the sound of his name on her lips, her body went limp.
“Forgive me for neglecting all this earlier?”
“God, yes. I swear. There’s nothing to forgive.”
He skimmed his finger lower and rimmed her. “Tell me, Reckless, is this too unusual for you?”
“I don’t…” She gave a weak laugh. “I don’t know. It’s definitely unusual.”
“How about this?” He leaned in and bestowed a soft kiss to the plushest part of her pussy, then another, and another, going longer and deeper each time, occasionally pausing to nip the pillows of flesh protecting the spot most deserving of an apology.
“Umm.” She arched and writhed onto her side, languorous as a cat in a sunbeam. Instead of a purr, Roxy’s contentment came through loud and clear in a series of uncensored moans layered over the sound of his mouth slowly turning every
