Page 22 of Close to the Edge

Could I stop anyway? I’m not sure.

But Tess moans with relief, her thighs squeezing my hips as she arches against my front, and I stagger to the cabin deck with a single purpose in my mind.

The steps groan, and the evening breeze cools our skin as I set Tess down on the wooden rail. Perfect. She’s at the perfect level now.

“Touch me.” Frantic hands yank at my shirt, pulling me closer as her legs spread. “Oh my god, touch me. This has been such a weird day.”

It sure has.

“Been out of sorts?” Slipping one hand beneath her polo, I grin as Tess quivers and thrusts her small boob against my palm. I knead her there, teasing and pinching at her nipple, as the trees rustle all around us.

She scoffs, still arching into my touch. “I’ve been out of my freaking mind. Woke up all electrified, like I stuck my finger in a socket or something, and all shift I had to keep forcing myself not to run out of the door. Just wanted to sprint up the mountain trail and hunt you down and—and—”

“And get this underway?”

I pinch her nipple one more time before stroking down her toned belly and flicking her shorts button open. Tess groans and lifts her hips, helping me shimmy those shorts and her underwear down her legs and away.

“Exactly.”

Me too. Me fucking too, because I might have died if I went another minute without my hands on this girl. And she’s everything I remember from last night, everything I thought couldn’t possibly be real: eager and hot and sweet, tearing at my clothes and scraping her teeth against my throat.

Like she doesn’t care that I’m too big—a freak of nature.

Like she likes my bulk.

Like she’s desperate to climb it, wrestle it, feel it settle on top of her in a bed. What did I ever do to deserve this angel?

“You need softening up?” My blunt fingertips probe along her slit and find Tess slick and needy already, pink and swollen and glistening. “Fuck, baby. You’re good to go, aren’t you?”

“Do it.” She yanks at my belt, tugs my arms, twists my shirt. Pulls at me with all the blind desperation I feel, except it’s so much sweeter on her. “Come on, Ash, please. Hurry.”

Don’t need to tell me twice. I’m already unzipping and pulling my cock out into the pine-scented air; already stepping forward and lining up with her entrance.

“I’ll go slow,” I promise through gritted teeth, my forehead set with a determined frown, then I’m pushing forward into hot, wet heaven.

“Oh,” Tess moans, her ankles crossing behind my back and squeezing me an inch deeper. Her eyes are hazy, staring blindly over my shoulder. “Oh. You’re big. You’re really big. Duh.”

Heart drumming, I force myself to slow down and let her adjust.

Listen to me: I will never hurt this woman. I’d rather saw off a limb.

But Christ, holding back when I’m half-lodged in her sweetness is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Sweat trickles down my back. My abs tremble, clenched so hard that they vibrate, and when I grip the rail instead of Tess’s hips, I squeeze so hard the wood creaks.

Better to leave fingerprints in this rail than bruises on my girl, that’s for sure. I’m right at the edge of my control now, my heartbeat thudding inside my rigid cock. Inside her.

Going to pound her good and hard.

Going to make her sweat and thrash and cry out with pleasure.

Going to claim this woman once and for all.

Just as soon as she’s ready for me.

“Does it hurt?” I pull back an inch just in case, but Tess laughs weakly and shakes her head.

“It doesn’t hurt. It’s just a lot to take in—in all ways. But this is good, I promise. I really want to do this, Ash.”

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