A wicked smile tilts at my lips as I reach to touch him again, but he doesn’t let me.

“Take your hose off.”

“Take your pants off,” I counter.

He grins at me but doesn’t move.

Okay, so I’ll go first. I slowly slide my hose down and stand n*ked before him. “Your turn.”

He toes off his boots and pushes his jeans and boxers down at the same time. I stare in awe now that I finally get to admire him in all his glory. I want to reacquaint myself with every part of him. I step forward and run my hands over him, under him, around him.

“Oh, f**k,” he groans again, this time letting his head drop back when my index finger touches that one sensitive spot. His response to my touch only further ignites the sexual energy between us.

“Still want to take it slow?” I taunt.

“You don’t play fair,” he manages through gritted teeth.

I rub my palms back and forth over his penis and stop only to squeeze it tight. Tight enough that I can feel an incredible pulsing. It matches the one between my legs. I do it again and then again. Each squeeze causes his face to bloom in a pleasure he can’t mask.

His hands move quickly to my sex. The sound I make when he plunges a finger inside me is one I’ve never heard and only escalates my urge to have him inside me.

“I think we’re done with the foreplay.” The husky tone of his voice makes a wave of pleasure skip all the way from my head to my toes.

My pulse is racing as we fall to the bed together. He props himself up on an elbow and lets his gaze lazily slide down me, but he stops when he sees the gleaming green shamrock in my belly button. For a moment time stands still. He leans down to softly kiss it and I rest my hands on his head. A spark of uncertainty blossoms between us and I’m almost afraid to look down. When I finally do, I can feel a tear shimmering in my eye and feel another slide down my cheek. He crawls up the bed and with both elbows resting on the mattress he hovers over me and catches my tears with his thumbs.

He swallows hard. “I’m sorry.”

I shake my head. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not sad. What you did was beautiful.”

He kisses my tears one by one and once they’ve all stopped, he finds my mouth. We kiss for a long time. Soft gentle kisses with tender touches. We share a sadness that we both take the time to mourn. His tongue strokes mine, his hands roam my body, and the flame between us reignites. With each touch my body burns hotter for him. When our kisses turn into hard, deep, soul-searching ones, he nudges my legs apart.

He presses his palms into the mattress, shifting his weight. I run my tongue in a frenzy up and down his chest, letting him know I’m hungry for him. His penis throbs between us until finally he slides inside me. He groans at our contact and my back arches to allow him in—all the way in. He slides deep, so deep. We’re both so aroused there’s no friction between us. I feel him everywhere—inside me, surrounding me, in my soul even. I lift my hips, curl my fingers around his shoulders, dig my nails into my flesh, all while his body rocks over me. I’m in sensation overload. He’s everywhere and I want even more of him.

“You’re so wet, so tight,” he whispers in my ear.

“You feel so good,” I moan.

Everything around us disappears; every part of my body feels licked by flames. He moves deliberately, painfully slow, but it feels torturously good. I don’t want this pleasure to ever end. His tongue thrusts into my mouth. I moan when he pulls out and slams back into me. He does it again and I cry out even louder. My hands graze his back, roam down, and push him deeper.

He stills. “The feel of your hands drives me wild.”

I become impatient and thrust my h*ps up. “You drive me wild.”

“Not yet,” he groans. “I want to stay buried deep inside you.”

“Please, Ben.” I’m begging him.

He looks at me and then he rocks harder, faster, thrusting in and out in an unrelenting momentum that makes me feel as if I’ve gone to heaven.

My back arches. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

“You like that?”

I scream out, “Yes, Ben, yes. Take me to heaven,” over and over.

He buries his face in my neck and then I hear my name like a prayer. “S’belle,” he calls out, his body convulsing.

I squeeze my eyes closed, seeing stars everywhere as I come harder than I ever have. My body shakes, pleasure radiates throughout it, and I feel him spasming over and over inside me.

“Open your eyes,” he tells me.

He thrusts one last time and I watch as pleasure covers his face in a way I’ve never seen on a man. He falls on top of me, breathless, panting, and completely spent. He murmurs my name against my neck. After a few minutes he rolls to my side and pulls my body tight to his. He cups my chin to look up at him. “That was . . .” He stops and bolts up. “Fuck, I’m so sorry.”

I sit up, confused.

“I didn’t wrap up.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t wear a condom.”

Laughter bursts from my mouth. “I’m on the pill. It’s fine.”

He darts his eyes to mine. “I hope you don’t say that to all the guys you’ve fuc . . . been with.”

I push his shoulder. “I haven’t actually slept with that many guys and, yes, they’ve always . . . wrapped up.” I laugh even harder.

“Don’t laugh at my choice of words. Why don’t you tell me how good that felt for you?”

I want to be embarrassed but I’m not, so I decide to answer honestly. “Sex with you is like heaven. Plain and simple.”

He grins devilishly and then grabs hold of me and pins me to the bed. “You seem perfectly fine.”

My laughter fades as the heat surges between us again. “I told you I am.”

He dips his head. “Good,” he growls in my ear, “because this time when I take you to heaven, I’m not taking it slow.”

CHAPTER 29

Shape of Love

Ben

The creamy white sheet that perfectly matches her skin tone covers our bodies from head to toe as I caress my hand down her back, dusting light kisses all over her face. She giggles and my heart skips every time. I really f**king love that sound.

“That tickles.” She laughs from inside our cocoon.

I bury my face in her neck and suck on the spot behind her ear I’ve already discovered doesn’t tickle her but encourages her to make those sounds that drive me insane.

Her breathing picks up the minute my lips apply pressure. She might not be ticklish in that spot, but it definitely turns her on.

“Does that tickle?” I murmur in her ear, knowing already it doesn’t. Knowing the more I suck the wetter she’ll get.

“No.” But her voice sounds breathy.

We stay up most of the night exploring each other’s bodies. We fall asleep much later than the six hours she was prescribed to wait and wake up before the sunrise. Aside from water breaks, bathroom runs, and one small food run, we haven’t moved from her bed.

I nip at her earlobe, then roll over onto my back, pulling the sheet from our heads. I blink the brightness of the daylight away. “What time is it?”

She burrows out of the sheet and crawls up to lie beside me on the pillow. “When I called my mom it was ten.”

“That had to be hours ago.” I reach for my phone, but then I look over toward her. With her freckles bright, her smile wide, and her hair a beautiful mess of tangles, I unclench my hand and leave my phone where it is. “You know what, it doesn’t really matter what time it is.”

She takes a grape from the bowl beside her bed and pops it in my mouth before taking another one for herself. Once she’s done chewing she flops back down. “We should probably get something to eat soon.”

I raise myself up on my elbow and look down at her. “Let’s order in. I don’t want you to leave this bed.”

“Pasta?” Her eyes light up at the thought.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, a little.”

I pull the sheet back over our heads and entwine my legs with hers. “Okay, tell me what you want.”

“You,” she whispers.

With a growl I roll her and pin her to the mattress. “I meant what restaurant, but I like your answer better.” I let go of her wrists and glide my palm up her thigh. “Tell me what you want right now.”

She looks at me and covers her face with her hands.

“Why are you so shy during the day?”

She lifts her fingers from her eyes. “I don’t know. I’ve never really had sex with anyone during the day.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Anyone?”

“Other than myself,” she confesses.

The things she says are sexy as f**k. Does she know that? “You’ll have to show me someday.” I offer her a grin.

She flips around so I can’t see her. “The first month we dated and you’d call me, all I wanted to do was listen to your voice and touch myself.”

For her it was a deep, dark confession. One I could relate to. I’d had to jerk myself off many times after hanging up the phone with her. A surge of some kind of emotion that again I can’t clarify flows through me. I push it aside and pull the sheet even higher so we’re covered in semidarkness again. And then I press myself into her back and skim my fingers over her clit.

“I’m here now. And if you’re ready to touch yourself in front of me, then tell me what you want me to do to you.”

Her eyes hood and her lips part. “I like it when you put your face between my legs.”

I crawl over her so I’m facing her and place a soft kiss above her bandage. What I feel when I look at her winds me. It’s more than just lust and desire—it’s a need to make her part of me. And with that sudden realization I kiss her mouth chastely, still trying to skate on the edge of softness. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

I watch the rise and fall of her chest as the heat flares up again between us.

My pulse is racing at an uncontrollable level and I take a second to let it slow and to admire how beautiful she is—her fiery red hair fanning out under the sheets of her bed, her br**sts full and perky. I draw my lips down her neck and stop at the hollow below it. I dip my tongue in and out of the space. Fueled by excitement, I continue down over the curves of her br**sts and stop to suck and lick her already pebbled ni**les. Her back arches and my dick twitches in response. But when my lips skate over her ribs and skim down to her navel, I have to stop the seduction and place a gentle kiss there. It’s not surprising that her body tenses in response. My own does as well. But I quickly push aside the sadness I feel crawling up my throat and move to nibble on her hip before blowing a breath across her clit. A shiver shakes her body. Her legs part and slowly the tension between us turns into passion, turns to nothing but pleasure.

Her body is completely bare of any hair. Even her eyebrows are faint, lighter than the color of her hair. I had noticed on our dates the smooth skin of her arms, and on the few times she had worn skirts, I noticed her legs were just as bare. But when I felt her smooth, bare pu**y at the beach I almost came on the spot. I love this—love the feel of her smooth, soft skin against my tongue. I love the lack of any barrier between us.

A gentle kiss on her thigh, then another and another. I trace a half-moon around her pu**y from one side to the other. She squirms and her fists clench the sheets. I feel a grin cross my lips when I see how turned on she is. When I get to the other thigh, I lift my face but quickly descend to cover her cl*t with my mouth. I suck on it immediately and she cries out, sending adrenaline shooting through my veins. Next I place a soft kiss in the same place I just engulfed with my mouth and suck on it again. She whimpers, alternating between sounds of pleasure and pain—the pained sounds come when I stop; the pleasured moans escalate with every suck. I take my time, wanting her to thoroughly enjoy this. When I use my tongue to circle her clit, I can’t suppress my own groan at her reaction. She almost jumps out of her skin.