Page 16 of Consorting with Romance

“Bed?” I asked quietly.

I began to harden at the thought of lying next to him. My heart raced and my breath deepened as I stood and offered him my hand.

Whenwe found ourselves beside the bed, he paused, waiting for me to lead. I focused on his gentle smile as I stripped down to my briefs. His warm gaze left mine to travel slowly along my skin. He’d seen me in the shower at work a hundred times, but this was different. This was deliberate and intimate. I felt like he’d made love to me with only his eyes by the time they reached mine again.

As he began stripping, Irealized I’d never seen more of his skin than his forearms in short sleeves, and even that had only occurred a handful of times as he typically dressed quite formally at the office. He nervously removed everything except his briefs. He was more muscular than I had expected. In the time I’d known him I’d never heard him mention working out, but it was hard to imagine a physique like his could be possible without it. His perfectly chiseled abs wore the lightest trail of dark brown hair that began just below his navel and disappeared into the thin cloth that clung to his hips.

I was shocked at the intensity of my body’s response.

“Jesus, Jess.” I whispered as I fought to remember to breathe.

He blushed.

I wanted to touch him. I wanted to lick and kiss and caress every inch of his perfectly tanned skin. I wanted to see what was in those briefs. The way I wanted him terrified me. My eyes caught his again.

“Hold me tonight?”

I felt absurd making the request, butI’d never been held in my sleep before, and I’d always wondered what it was like. When I curled up alone at night and dreamed of arms wrapping tightly around me and breath on the back of my neck, I imagined it to be intimate and peaceful. Jesse simply nodded, andI slipped into bed facing away from him. He slid in behind me, wrapping his arm around my chest and pulling my body tightly against his. I whimpered. God. How many people had I fucked this way? How many times had I been fucked this way? It was all nothing. This surpassed anything I could have imagined. His body fit mine effortlessly, as though we had been created for one another. His broad chest pressed tightly against my back as his thighs curled up behind mine. His cock was hard as it pressed tightly against my ass, settling between my cheeks as if it belonged there.I could feel it throbbing and my breath caught. I’d let my hair down to sleep and he slid it aside with his chin, buried his face against my shoulder, and let his lips wander across my neck.

“This is perfect,”he whispered softly.

He was right. It was. Eventually, our breath began to slow, and we both began to soften. As attracted as we were to one another, this moment was aboutsomething else. Something more. It just took our bodies some time to understand that. As his heartbeat slowed and his breath became smooth and regular, I fought sleep. I wanted to savor this for as long as possible. He was so warm and perfect pressed up against me.I’d never felt so safe.

Jesse

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d stripped while someone watched me. It had been years. Even then, it had never felt so intimate. Most of my previous partners had been chosen for convenience, each of us taking what we needed from the other for as long as it benefited us both. We’d seen each other naked plenty of times. They’d looked and touched and tasted, just as I had, but no eyes had ever glowed at me as if they couldn’t look away, as if I might disappear if they did. As if they thought they might be dreaming.

I’d never been nervous as I’d stripped before. I’d never worried that the person watching might not like what they saw. Never grown anxious with the thought that they might no longer want me. This was different. He was different. He was everything I wanted, and I wanted to be everything for him in return.

When he swore my name in a whisper, all of my doubts disappeared in an instant, and when he asked me to hold him with a softness inhis eyes that was filled with need and hope and longing, I couldn’t have denied him even if I’d wanted to. I didn’t want to. Holding him was everything I’d never known I’d wanted.

His skin was warm as I slipped my arm around his chest. It burned and tingled as if sparks ran through my skin everywhere we touched. I tightened my arm and pulled his body firmly against my own, pressing my chest to his back and tucking my thighs up under his as I buried my face into his hair. I was so hard I could feel myself throb between us, the damp spot growing against his back with each passing moment as I leaked inside my briefs. The thin fabric was the only thing that separated our skin, preventing my length from sliding against him and settling into the dip of his ass.

I’d never been so hard in my life. I’d never been so close to coming from such a simple touch. It wouldn’t take much. I could rock slowly and gently, letting myself settle even closer, the pressure of our bodies pinning me tightly.

Instead, I sighed into his shoulder, breathing deeply, and basking in the peppermint scent that had tortured me for so long. As much as I wanted to know what it felt like to slide my body into his, I wanted this more. I wanted to hold him. I wanted him to feel safe and cared for. I wanted him to know that he already meant more to me than the pleasure his body could offer. So much more.

In my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined a scenario in which I ended up in his bed, holding him close as if he were mine. How long would he let me stay? How long would it be until he realized how much he had to offer? Before he realized he could do so much better than me? I didn’t care. If all I got was a night, a week, a year, I’d take it, gratefully. I’d hold him close and maybe, just maybe, I’d find a way to keep him.

His hand shifted to rest on my forearm. His fingers curling tightly, digging into my skin as if he believed I was an illusion that might disappear if he let go. I pulled him closer, held him tighter, and his breathing began to slow. His heartbeat thumped slowly as he slept. If I tightened my arm around him and held my breath, I could feel its pulse. I felt my heart slow to match it, felt us come together in the darkness in a way I’d never known.

He seemed so fragile, so hesitant. I wasn’t convinced that he’d still want me when we woke.

I held him and listened to his breath, lost myself in his heartbeat.

I held him until the sun rose.

Chapter 5

Ash

I woke to the startling sensation of a body pressed against my back. What the fuck? Did I fall asleep at work?Did I pass out? Am I ok? I was half seated before I heard a rumbling moan behind me that sent shivers down my spine as an arm tightened around my waist, pulling me back down against a sinewy chest.

Jesse. Fuck.

It hadn’t been a dream. I was in my own home, in my own bed, and Jesse was curled up against me. I flashed back through the past twenty-fourhours,every smile, every touch. I shivered and snuggled closer, pressing back against his firm body. I was glad I’d decided not to see client’s today after we’d made our plans to spend The Holiday together.

Tomorrow would be business as usual, but for this one day, I wanted there to be nothing other than the fact this was real. Someone. No, not someone, the most incredible man I’d ever met, actually cared for me; cared enough to be lying here with me in their arms. He shifted behind me again, pulling me tighter and moaning deliberately as he began to lazily kiss along the back of my neck, unwrapping his arm from my waist for a brief moment to brush my hair to one side exposing my neck and shoulder.

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