Page 82 of Nikolai (Kansas City Reapers)

Who was I kidding? I knew exactly what I wanted.

“Yeah, there is something I need.” I stepped forward, taking her into my arms and kissing her. It started as all our kisses began, hot and heavy, lips crashing together. But I pulled myself back, softening my touch until our kisses became slow and sensual.

Breaking the kiss, she sighed, breathless. “What was that about?”

I picked her up gently, one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees.

“What are you doing?” she giggled.

“Hush. Let me have my moment, dammit,” I muttered, setting her down gently on the bed.

Moving towards the foot of the bed, I removed her shoes one by one, setting them on the floor by the bed. My hands moved up her legs slowly, committing every curve and line of her body to memory until I reached the waistband of her leggings. Tugging them down slowly, I let myself revel in the feel of her soft skin. Smooth as silk and supple as hell, it was a heady feeling to just let myself enjoy her body this way. It was reverent; it was profound. Hell, it was something I could only describe as worship.

Every other time we had played together, it had been harsh. Clothing ripped from each other’s bodies with an urgency to get to the fun part. But this was not that. There was no urgency here, no rush or heat of the moment. This was exploration without a destination. It was just my hands and body worshiping hers.

Her panties were next, tugged down her thighs, andtossed to the floor without a care before I moved up onto the bed, straddling her body. My hands traced over her curves with a gentleness that surprised me. I had never touched a woman like this before. Well, I had been gentle, sure. But not like this.

She gasped, the moment touching her as much as it did me. Or at least that’s what I told myself. Touching her like this, exploring her; it was breathtaking.

My hands slid up under her shirt, tracing the ridges and valleys of her ribcage as I lifted it up higher. My hands wrapped around her, helping her to sit up so I could remove the impeding clothing. As the shirt fluttered to the floor behind me, I stole her lips. I couldn’t help myself, couldn’tstopmyself any longer.

This kiss wasn’t the fiery, passionate kind that threatened to burn us both alive. Those kisses I knew. I knew them damn well. This was slow. Just the bare flutter of two sets of lips pressing together as I guided her lips to open for me, to allow me access to taste her deeper, to drink her in. Fuck, I wanted to drown myself in her.

Myhand wrapped around the back of her neck, a finger pressing into that spot just below her hairline that made her head fall back and her lips fall open. And I did exactly what I wanted to do: I drank from her, tasting her in a way I never had before. I was half drunk on her very essence.

She whimpered into the kiss softly, and Christ, how I reveled in it. In the way her body felt beneath mine. As much as I wanted kink, as much as it fueled a huge part of me, this was different.

I needed something different. She had opened upsomething inside of me that I wasn’t ready to name. So instead of using my words, I decided to use my body. My hands, lips, and fingertips spoke words my mouth was not ready to say.

My hands pushed her arms up, placing her hands over her head.

“Keep them there for me, Maddy. Please.” It was a word I rarely used during sex, always opting for commands over requests. Her eyes lit up as she nodded. This was not the time for commands. This was not the time for dominance.

This wasn’t dynamic. It was just us. Only us.

Ikissed my way down her body, paying attention to the spot just under her collarbone that made her moan, all breathless and sensual.

My lips moved down, finding her breasts at the same time my hands cupped the small mounds. Her tits were fucking mouthwatering, and fit perfectly in my hands. I kissed my way over the rounded curves until I reached the peak of one nipple. I flicked my tongue over it, teasing it into an aching, stiff peak before wrapping my lips around it with a groan that vibrated from my lips to her skin.

“Oh my God, Niko,” she groaned, her back arching up into me. My fingers found her other nipple, twisting and plucking at the sensitive nub until it, too, hardened under my touch.

“Please,” she whimpered. My cock twitched at the sound, but for once, I didn’t want to lead with my desires. At least not the carnal, kinky ones I usually did. I wanted something more.

“Please what, Maddy?” I asked. I could have used herhonorific. In fact, I considered it. But it felt wrong for this moment.

“Please, more,” she whispered, lifting her head off the bed just enough to look down at me. Our eyes met, and something passed between us. Something that told me I wasn’t the only one feeling this.At least, I desperately hoped so.

“Patience, beautiful girl,” I urged her with a smirk.

It did not escape my notice that her eyes lit up, opening wide with shock as her lips parted softly with a barely audible gasp.

Dropping soft kisses down the length of her body, I moved my hands down over her ribcage, reveling and rejoicing in every line and curve.

My nose nuzzled against her navel, my hands drifting lower to spread her thighs as I kissed down to the tip of her hipbone. I licked into the hollow there as she gasped and began to writhe beneath me. Settling between her thighs, I made myself comfortable. I had no intention of leaving this position for a while. Those luscious thighs wrapped around me, and my kisses moved down to the crease between her thigh and her pussy, feeling her heartbeat pulse wildly beneath her skin.

“Niko,” she gasped as I pressed soft kisses down the length of her wet slit. The pure scent of her nearly drove me to the brink of sanity, urging me to hurry along, to take her, claim her. But I resisted. I was bound and determined to take my time. Her writhing and thrusting hips left me chuckling as I wrapped my arms under and around her thighs, pulling her to me so she could notsquirm out of my grasp. I wanted her here — right here — as I gorged myself on her sweet taste.

“Be still, Maddy. Let me.” They were simple words, the only ones I could manage to utter. Honestly, I was afraid that if I spoke much more at all, I would say more than I wanted to say. More than I was ready to say. Those things, those nameless emotions; I wasn’t even sure if they were true or not yet.

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