Perfecting the Odds (27 page)

“Jesus
. I’m not gonna last much longer,” he mumbled, his stubbled cheek grazing hers. He rhythmically pumped in and out, dragging his pelvis against her clit. She felt herself building, but needed more of him. She grasped his ass and pulled him balls-deep into her greedy channel. His eyes widened, and he fell forward on his forearms with a groan.

“Harde
r, Michael. Please,” she begged.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” His voice filled with similar need.

“You won’t hurt me
.” She pulled his face down and kissed him like it was her last,
anything
to get him to understand she needed… “More!” she cried. “Please.”

“
Fuck, Karis, you’re killing me.” He bent to take her mouth as he drove into her with so much force, she had to press her palms behind her against the headboard. He then reared up and shifted his hips. With one hand on the bed, he used the other to grip her hip and thrust hard so that his length rubbed the deep spot within her, taking her body higher and higher. Then she exploded, chanting his name over and over, her vision blinded by flashes of white light. With one final thrust, he threw his head back and spilled his hot heat into her, groaning her name in a feral bellow of complete satisfaction.

He
collapsed, spreading half his body across hers with his head on her breast and his legs entangled with hers. They lay in silence, listening to each other try and slow their panting. He then rose to take care of the condom and returned to his position against her breast.

“Michael?”

“Hmm?”

“That was
—” she exhaled.  For the first time in her life, Karis couldn’t think of the word because what she really wanted to say was it was the best she’d ever had. Sex had never blurred her vision, numbed her mind, tingled her toes, every fucking cliché in the book of ultimate orgasms. But this wasn’t just sex, was it? It was more. Unexplored and long-forgotten emotions crept forward.

“
Was it better than ice cream?” He grinned into the side of her breast.

She
couldn’t help but laugh. How did he always know how and when to break the tension? “Michael Finn, I would give up ice cream forever to do
that
again.” He belted a laugh. “Can you think of a word for it?”

He
slowly propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her glistening body. He smiled into her sated eyes. “I don’t think there is one.”

She shook her head. “No, we have to
come up with a word. It’ll drive me crazy.”

He
chortled and looked up, a habit she knew now as his pondering face. “Magnificent?” She wrinkled her nose. “Awesome?”

“Nope.”

“Unbelievable? Wonderful? Glorious? Amazing?”

And in response to each word, she said, “No.
I totally believed you could do that. More than wonderful. Glorious? Duh. Amazing? Obviously.” She paused and nodded her head once. “Perfect.”

He smiled and pressed a soft
kiss against her lips and felt him press his newly hard length against her thigh. “Perfect it is. Probably because you are.”

She blushed and shook her head. “
You’re crazy.”

“
About you,” he said, lying down again. She smiled.

“
Just wait until you see me in the morning. Not pretty.” She wrinkled her nose.

He rolled to his back and placed his hands behind his head.
“Ohh, sweetheart, I fuck best in the morning, and I plan to take full advantage of all your assets before and after the sun rises.” What they’d just done wasn’t his best? Well, shit.

“Oh, really,” Karis drawled with a lifted brow, trying to feign
disbelief. She rolled out of bed, grabbing the sheet, until it was yanked from her hands.

“Hey,
” she scolded and whipped around to give him her
mom
face. She saw his erection, growing longer before her eyes.
Didn’t he just fix that problem?

“Is that your angry face,
Karis, because it’s absolutely adorable.”

It took everything in her not to smile at his comme
nt. “Give me the sheet, Michael.”

“No
. When you’re in our room, you stay naked. It’s a rule.” He smiled deviously at her, and she chose to ignore the “our”.

“Oh, yeah, well I don’t play by the rules
,” she shot back.

“
Yeah, well, I’m stronger,” he said with boyish gibe.

She huffed a breath.
“True, but I’ve warned you before. I’m spiteful. So, I’ll play your game for now, but just be ready.” She turned and walked into the bathroom to shower. She giggled to herself, shutting the door. She hadn’t felt so giddy in so long. He made her feel special, beautiful, smart, and sexy in every word he spoke, every look he gave. She almost could feel her heart heal, but that spot that was still not willing to mend burned within her chest. She held her fist to her heart as she turned on the water and sat on the edge of tub while it filled. She had always been a bath person, which made no sense, considering Eve didn’t understand how a person could get cleaned ‘while sitting in her own filth.’ But I didn’t understand how a person could go to bed filthy and stressed. A bath remedied that.

Michael’s
radiating scent enveloped Karis before she felt him wrap his arms around her. He lifted her slowly. His erection prodded against the small of her back, but it didn’t surprise her; her body was ready for him as well. Silently, he stepped into the tub and held out his hand. She took it and slid down to lay between his legs. He lathered a loofa with his coconut soap and massaged down both her arms. He bent and kissed the valley between her neck and shoulder before dropping the loofa and trailing his hand between her legs.

“
You always smell so good, Karis, like a basket of fruit. I’m not sure if I want you to smell like my soap,” he said, lifting his hands to tweak her nipples.

“A fruit
basket, huh?” she squeaked before lolling her head to the side.

“
Mm-hmm, you smell of strawberries and oranges with a hint of honey.” He nibbled her earlobe. “Absolutely edible.”

***

Michael
couldn’t tear his hands from Karis as she squirmed and moaned between his legs. She had the sexiest body he’d ever seen, curvy, soft, womanly, and he couldn’t help his mind from flickering back to their lovemaking. Karis was right: he’d fucked a lot of women over the years, in every way possible. But what he and Karis had just shared had been more than an act to remedy a physical urge. It was the perfect combination of hunger and making love. And he was certain it would never change. He could make love to Karis for the rest of his life and be satisfied.

Complete.

A fire bloomed within his chest, similar to what he felt when he finally
achieved professor. Lately, although still what he wanted to do with his life, professorship was not enough. What he once thought was his passion, his purpose in life was quickly becoming just a
part
of his life.

It was
Karis. She would bring brightness to his life he never thought existed. She would sustain the fire, and he would burn for her forever. She had opened her body, her needs, and her soul to him. True, she guarded that vulnerability well, but when he had striped her of some of her control, there was no doubt that she trusted him.

She gasped again and pressed her ass against his dick as he thumbed
her rosy nipples.
Fuck
, he wanted her again; a thousand times wouldn’t be enough.

***

              She was a hot mess. His thumbs softly stroked the undersides of her breasts. She could feel him rock hard against her lower back. The man was insatiable and quickly changing her pitiful, lonely widow persona into a bit more...well… nymphomaniacal. That would be quite a bumper sticker, she mused—
Instant Nymphomaniac, Just add Michael Finn
. The man was bound to help her make up for nearly four years of no sex.

He
palmed her breasts again, using his thumbs to circle her wet nipples. She moaned as he teased and pinched, rocking his hips into her backside in rhythm with his fingerplay. Then, he slid them down her belly and through her wet and swollen lower lips. Quiet Michael was back, but it wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable in the least. He conveyed his need perfectly with his hands and mouth.

Then in
one effortless move, he gripped her waist, twisted her around and impaled her with one brutal thrust. And that move said everything he didn’t. Her head lolled back as she released a desperate cry. He grabbed her nape and took her mouth. Neither he nor she had moved yet. Her inner walls stretched almost unbearably as she took his length deeper than before. She began to rock against his pelvis, relishing the sensation against her swollen flesh.

“Touch yourself,
Karis. I want to fuck you hard and fast.” She tentatively slid her fingers down to circle her clit. “That’s it, love, come all over my dick.” He pulled her nipple into his mouth. Nipping and teasing, he brought her to the precipice of release before he gripped her waist and slammed into her over and over. Their perfect rhythm quickly released a synchronous ecstasy, a heady mix of kissing and moaning and drilling. They lay entangled in the tub, soothed by the warm water swirling around them.

Karis couldn’t help but wonder
, would it always be this good
…because truth was, she was smack-dab in the middle of a virtual sexual awakening with a man who had himself wrapped firmly around her heart.

Donning sated smiles, Michael and Karis began their bedtime ritual side-by-side at the bathroom sink. In silent contentment, they grinned at each other as they brushed and flossed their teeth. Perhaps weird to a fly on the wall, but since it felt so right, neither cracked a joke. It was as if they’d been going to bed together for years. 

S
troking his thumb softly over her knuckles, Michael held Karis’s hand and walked them to his bed. She snuggled under the covers, pressing her back to his front. He wrapped his arm firmly around her waist, cupped her breast, and kissed her cheek.

“
Karis?”

“Mmm?” she murmured, well on her way to
slumber.

“Tell me
more about your children,” he said quietly. Delight and panic roused her languid mind. Michael wanted to know more, delve deeper into her life, deepen the connection that felt too strong already.

She cleared her t
hroat. “Well, Robby is thirteen. He’s quiet unless someone threatens his morals or beliefs, and then there’s no stopping him. I love that about him. Let’s see…he’s uncommonly mature and conscientious and so intelligent…and protective. He’s a wonderful big brother. When he’s not in his man-of-the-house role, he’s still acts like a teen. He plays guitar, plays video games, burps and passes gas to get a reaction out of Grace. Oh, and the girls…always calling and showing up on the doorstep—so brazen, girls these days--but he plays the hard-to-get card well.” She frowned. “I know how hard not having his father around is for him, especially now. He’s at that age when a boy needs his father.” Karis paused for a moment, just long enough to push down the lump in her throat.

“He sounds like a good boy,
Karis,” he said and kissed her shoulder blade.

“He is…such a good boy
. And then there’s Grace”—she laughed—“she looks like I spit her out but acts exactly like Robert. She has no verbal filter, says exactly what’s on her mind, no matter the consequences. She’s critical and too damn smart for her own good…a busy body, nosey, but so affectionate. She’s going to be a handful when she’s a teenager. I’ll either be a young grandmother or in a constant state of panic because she’ll decide to backpack across Europe with some hippy boyfriend.” Michael laughed. Karis inhaled deeply as her next thought came forward. “She was so young when he died; I’m not sure if she remembers much.” And once she’d said it, Karis shuddered. Robert used to enter her mind at least once a day, but lying here, next to Michael, relishing in their lovemaking and opening her soul to him once again, she realized she hadn’t thought about Robert in nearly a week, maybe longer. Was she forgetting? The guilt covered her sated mood like a murky film.

“
Tell me about Robert,” Michael said softly. She gasped.

Karis
turned to face him. “Really?”

Michael gave her a small smile.
“Absolutely.” She studied him for a moment longer, gave him a chaste kiss, then snuggled back into him.

“
Well… Robert was a jackass.” Michael laughed loudly, and she chuckled. “In a weirdly good way…most of the time. In addition to all the traits he passed to Grace, the redeeming trait for all his jackassedness was his humor. He’s the only person who could actually make me pee myself laughing at him or because of him. And the man loved that…I think his main goal in life was to get me to pee my pants in public.” She smiled to herself. “Because of the military, he was gone almost six months of every year, sometimes longer for deployments. It was hard. I pretty much lived in a state of fear when he was away, afraid he wouldn’t make it home.”