Into the Blue (A Wild Aces Romance) (15 page)

It was a fantastic date. One of those dates when you could feel the chemistry just sparking, when you finished each other’s sentences, the conversation flowed freely, and you had to fight to keep a smile off your lips.

Danger zone.

I unlocked my front door, Eric at my back. I stiffened as he lifted my hair off of my neck, pulling it to the front so my nape was bare. I went a little weak in the knees when he pressed his lips to my flesh, when his teeth grazed my skin, when he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me back so I could feel his cock, hard and heavy against my ass.

“I had a great time tonight,” he whispered, his lips grazing my ear.

A shiver ripped through me.

His hands fumbled at my hip, trying to peel back layers and layers of dress.

“How does this thing open?” he mumbled, his voice frustrated.

I grinned. “It’s a wrap dress.”

“What?”

“There’s a tie on the side.”

His fingers struggled with the knot just above my left hip, a few curse words tumbling from his lips. Patience had never exactly been one of his virtues.

I batted his hands away. “Here, let me do it.”

I turned in the circle of his arms, my fingers shaking slightly as I undid the knot, pulling the fabric from my body until I was naked but for the silky red bra and thong I’d bought on the Great Sex Store Expedition. His eyes widened.

“Whoa.”

A flush crept up my cheeks and I tossed him a flirty wink.

“Glad you like it.”

“Babe.”

I figured that one word contained a whole lot of meaning.

He reached for me but I evaded his grasp, wanting to prolong this moment, to bask in the gleam in his eyes. I’d never been big on sexy lingerie, my style tended to be way more conservative, but seeing how much he obviously enjoyed it . . . let’s just say I had a feeling another trip to the sex store might be in order.

His smile dipped. “Are you going to take charge again this time?”

Heat spread across my body. “Did you like it?”

“I like anything that involves you naked, so yeah.” He hooked an arm around my waist. “Scratch that. I like anything that involves you, period.”

God, it was really hard to keep my heart disengaged when he said things like that.

He stroked my back, leaning into me so his face was buried in my neck, pressing gentle kisses to the curve of my shoulder.

I groaned. “I don’t think I can wait much longer.”

“Sorry, you’ll find no sympathy here. I had hours of torture sitting across the table, wishing I could have my way with you, wanting to slip my hand under your dress to see if you were as turned on as I was. You can wait a few minutes.”

“Is this payback?”

He pulled back, his finger trailing down the edge of my bra, a wolfish smile on his face. “Nah, this is just fun.”

He dragged the pad of his finger down the curve of my breast and back again, his smile deepening as we both watched a line of goose bumps flare up on my skin, as I arched my back forward, pressing more of myself into his hands.

I had a feeling he was getting off on tormenting me as much as I’d felt the same way about him last night. It was a weighty thing to watch someone unravel before you because they were desperate for you.

And I was desperate. My arousal burned me from the inside out, a fire blazing below my skin. I needed more than these featherlight touches, more than the way he teased me, each barely there touch ratcheting my arousal up another notch until I couldn’t stand it anymore and I wrapped my arm around his neck, pulling his head down until his lips were mine.

He might have been pretending to go slowly, might have acted like he could drag this night out, but the second our mouths touched, pretense went out the window.

He kissed me like he was dying for my lips, my mouth, my tongue. Like the same madness that coursed through my veins was inside of him, too, pushing to get out. Finesse went out the window and taking it slow became a pipe dream.

He was so good when he was being oh, so bad.

Eric tugged at my hair as he kissed me, as he pulled me toward him, inch by inch, kiss by kiss, until it felt like we were one. Our hands and bodies became extensions of each other as we reconnected, as we came together once again with an inaudible click, as though the rightness of it all overshadowed everything else.

We fumbled for each other’s clothes, laughter filling the room when he struggled with my bra, when it caught on my elbow, when he tripped on his pants. And then the laughter disappeared when we were both naked, standing in my living room once again.

Eric picked me up, wrapping my legs around him, carrying me into the bedroom while I straddled his waist, my nipples rubbing against the hard planes of his chest, my hands exploring his back. We walked toward the bed and I waited for him to lay me down on the mattress, but he didn’t. Instead, he carried me into the bathroom, setting me down on my feet.

I blinked, surprised by the turn of events.

Eric smiled, his mouth swollen from our kisses, red marks already forming along his neck and shoulders from where I’d raked my nails across his body and sucked on his skin.

“I get to play tonight. Let me take care of you.”

The breath whooshed out of me and it was an effort not to sway on my feet. There was something about having sex when I could feel like I was in control, or when we both lost our minds. It felt safe. Like I wasn’t the only one engaging in this madness, and if I lost myself, it would be okay because he would have lost a bit of himself, too. Letting him take control was another thing entirely, and I could tell by the way he watched me, gauging my response, that he knew it.

I had feelings for him, still loved him. I probably would always love him. And I was obviously attracted to him. But that didn’t mean that I ever wanted him to see me vulnerable again. Not after what we’d been through. Not after I’d laid myself bare before him and begged him not to leave, not to end our engagement, and he’d walked away anyway.

It might have just been sex, but I wasn’t sure I was ready.

“Let’s go into the bedroom.” I gave him a forced smile, trailing my hand up his torso.

He caught my hand, unfurling my fingers and linking his with mine until our palms connected.

I fought the urge to jerk back.

I knew what he was doing. He wanted more than casual sex, and he was pulling out all the stops to get back to the couple we’d been before, when there had been no barriers between us, nothing off-limits. I just didn’t know how to go there. Not after everything.

“Becca.”

I heard the plea in his voice, felt a rush of pleasure at the sound of my name said with such aching gentleness. Once again, my head warred with my heart.

“Trust me. Please.”

It was a small thing—a concession to make in the bedroom—and yet, we both knew what he was really asking had nothing to do with sex. He kept sneaking his way past my defenses, and I kept letting him, because no matter how hard I fought to deny it, he had always been my weak spot.

I waited for him to touch me again, to use his body to tempt me. I was so close, so turned on, that I didn’t doubt that it would take little encouragement for me to break down my walls in order to get off. But he didn’t. He didn’t touch me except for the point where our hands met, didn’t speak except for those three words—

Trust me. Please.

And then I remembered why I’d never hidden myself from him, why he’d had every single part of me years ago. Because he was a good guy. He was honest and he was fair, and for all of his flaws, he had never lied to me. Ever. As much as I’d been angry with him for the fights we’d had, for the way we’d broken up, he’d been honest with me there, too. He could have told me things would be okay, could have lied about the demands of military life, and I would have probably believed him considering how little I knew about the Air Force. But he hadn’t. He’d given me the facts, answered my questions, even when the truth had made a future together seem insurmountable. And he hadn’t once tried to convince me to give up my dreams of being a lawyer. If anything, he’d supported me, wanted me to follow my dreams, even when it put us on opposite paths. He wasn’t a player. He wasn’t an asshole. He might have been wild when he was younger, but he’d never been a bad guy. So I gave him this part of me, too, because in the end it had always been his.

“Okay.”

“Thank you,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

I nodded, a lump in my throat, a flutter in my stomach, and a pounding in my heart.

He walked over to the big whirlpool tub and I admired the view before me, anticipation running through my veins. He bent down and turned on the water, filling up the bathtub.

He gestured for me to step in and I did, feeling simultaneously turned on and a little self-conscious. I didn’t know why, but for some reason this felt as intimate as sex, or maybe more intimate in a different way. We were both naked, but I felt like I was even more exposed, like I was
giving him a sneak peek into my daily routine, giving him a part of myself, even as it was something as little as this.

I sat down, sinking back until the water spilled over me.

“Is it too hot?”

I shook my head. It felt so good. I’d had a crazy day at work and I hadn’t had much downtime between coming home and our date, so this was the first chance I’d had to really relax.

“Close your eyes.”

And with that husky, sexy tone, there went relaxing.

My pulse raced and I opened my mouth to protest, but something in his gaze, the sheer force of how much he wanted me, of how much he was enjoying this—and how badly I wanted the release he offered—had my mouth and eyes closing instead.

“Good girl.”

Who was I kidding? At this point he could tie me to the bed and I’d be down with it.

I sat there, the jets pulsing around me, the warm water lapping at my skin, my muscles relaxing. I couldn’t hear Eric anymore, didn’t know if he was standing there staring at my naked body, if the sight of me was getting him even harder. And something about that, the idea that I was just spread out before him, waiting, had my nipples tightening and another pull of arousal pulsing between my legs. And then I heard the low strands of music coming from the radio on my nightstand—“Heart Skipped a Beat” by The xx.

The scent of vanilla filled the room next—the oils and bath salts that I kept on the edge of my bathtub. A little hum of pleasure slipped from my lips. Between the music, the warmth of the water, and the aroma wafting around me, I’d
somehow surpassed relaxed and gone straight to a meditative state.

He gave good bath.

Minutes passed and I waited for Eric to touch me, waited for him to speak, wondered if he was even in the room. I could have opened my eyes, but I was a rule follower to the extreme, and somehow it felt like cheating.

And then I felt something brush against my breast. At first I wondered if it was the water from the jets, but then I felt it again, a stroke down the side and back again. I bit down on my lip.

He’d always had big hands, but I’d never really appreciated how large they were until I was reduced to the feel of him touching me. With each stroke his movements grew bolder, his touch firmer, but still, he avoided my nipples. He cupped my breasts in his hands, testing the weight of them, squeezing, pressing them together. The water caressed me, both soothing and tormenting my aching nipples.

He groaned, another flash of heat filling me at the sound falling from his lips.

“You look so gorgeous like this. So fucking beautiful.”

His thumbs tweaked my nipples, and my head rolled back as a little spasm of pleasure filled me.

Holy hell, he really was fan-fucking-tastic with his hands. He played with me, over and over again, until whimpers escaped my lips, until I was moaning and thrashing, water spilling over the edge of the tub, hitting the tile floor.

He didn’t stop.

His hands glided down my stomach, stealing the breath from my body, and then his fingers found my clit, and the beginnings of my orgasm roared.

He wasn’t gentle and it wasn’t slow. He touched me as
though he knew how close I was and he was determined to take me there.

When it started, when my body began trembling under his touch, his fingers slipped inside me, filling me as I clenched around him. When my orgasm subsided, he lifted me in his arms. My eyes flickered open and I stared at the wall of chest, pressing my lips to his heart, feeling soothed and relaxed, and falling maybe just a little bit deeper in love as he laid me down on the bed.

I waited for him to pounce, but instead he just stared down at me, a crooked smile on his face and so much emotion in his eyes. He reached out, his hand on my knee, holding me steady, and then he spread my legs before him until I was sprawled out on my comforter.

I couldn’t look away.

Eric leaned forward, covering me with his big body, burrowing his head in my neck again, inhaling, his breathing ragged as he pressed a line of kisses down my throat. I felt him against me, the head of his cock brushing against my clit, and then lower until he was pushing inside me with a groan. He went slowly, his muscles tense, sliding in deeper, inch by inch, until he was fully seated inside me.

We’d had the condom discussion and I was on the pill, so as much as this was just another thing that bound me to him, another way my guard went down, I welcomed it, loved feeling him like this, knowing there was nothing between us.

I wrapped my arms and legs around Eric, holding him against me. Our gazes locked, and his mouth opened as though he wanted to speak, and I
knew
, simply
knew
, the three words that would tumble from his lips if I let him. I didn’t know if he saw the answer in my eyes, understood that I wasn’t ready to hear them, wasn’t sure I would ever
be ready to hear them again, even as they blasted through me, but he shut it down.

And then he began to move.

My eyes slammed closed as he thrust in and out, as he took me closer and closer to my second orgasm of the night. I held on to him, our bodies one. I came, and then a minute later, his body tensed inside me and his orgasm followed.