Page 37 (1/2)

Shehi with an insistent rhythm that drove her up, far beyond any place they had been before She cried out--his na her deeply, thoroughly, pressing his body into hers without coth between her legs, along the slick cleft that wept for his entry

Then he anchored her with his hands, spreading her and holding her exactly where and hoanted her

"Now," she said, not caring that he’d"Now, dae of the effort it cost hi She ain as the rhythhtened around the empty place where he should have been

The water was cooler than her body now, cooler than the friction theywith the slap of water and skin, the wet slide of his body against hers, coht her up, turning her inward She clung to hi restraint And she went over

She cried out against his lips as the throbbing pleasure took hold, gripping her and leaving her helpless to do anything but dig in, hang on, and ride it out She said his naed hi, didn’t care as long as he kept sliding against her, hard and full

Then the storm passed and she went li, his eyes wide and alle to killthe water; his steps were slightly unsteady as he led her out of the shower "Bed," he grated "Now"

She wasn’t arguing

They toweled each other off and headed for the bedrooh her, ether and he kissed her, his hands fra her face, his heavy erection trapped between theainst her skin

Then he shifted and slipped inside her She saw stars and co of her blood and his as he shifted to ers together

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked down at their joined hands She had lost the bandage in the shower, but the cut must not have been that bad It was barely a faint, faded line now,up with the word tattooed on his left forear a new spear of sensation through her as his eyes an to move within her

It would have been smarter to look away, to close her eyes and lose herself to the physical pleasure Instead, she stayed locked on hi him see too ed against hi ahead, her body bowing beneath his as the leading edge of another orgasht her unaware It took her outside herself, to a place of push and pull, action and reaction, until she would have done anything, given anything, to reach the climax that beckoned just out of reach

Her vision blurred; her eyes drifted shut He whispered to her: "Natalie" Just her name, yet in a soft, moved voice that touched her more deeply than it should have

"I ain, hadn’t really meant to say it the first tiain, hadn’t really meant to say it the first ti shudder of passion, a surging stroke that put her over and took hi to hih her, lit her up ar his name, she pressed her face into the crook of his neck so he couldn’t see into her eyes, where she knew there was no hiding that she had lied when she said she could handle a no-harer of falling before, she edged thather naods, oh, fuck, yeah"

They clung, shuddering, and then easing as their bodies unlocked Then, though she knew she probably shouldn’t, she curled naturally into the too-familiar cuddle they had developed in their six-week stint as lovers

Her heart hurt froainst hers, the touch of his breath in her hair, the pressure where he still held her hand, and the way his grip gentled when he slipped into a doze That in itself was a sign of his exhaustion Always before, he had fallen asleep after her and woken before she was up Not so now His ar slowed and deepened

Cuddling in, she closed her eyes And didn’t co asleep

She ide-awake, her brain churning Oddly, though, she wasn’t overthinking what had just happened between the that stayed tantalizingly out of reach when she tried to focus on it

She frowned and opened her eyes, then eased back to look at hi to find the tiny detail that had caused her instincts to kick in

Rather than softening in sleep, his features had becoo even when unconscious, afraid that soed at her She touched his jaw, tracing the rasp of stubble He hadn’t shaved since they’d broken up, she thought, and wondered whether he’d been out hunting the creatures all that tih to think Restless Itchy Twitchy Like her