Page 102 of Fundamentals in Flirting

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“I’m full of those.”

Hoisting me off his lap, he stood up and pulled me to my feet, while in a swift and surprising manoeuvre he slid my lace knickers down to the floor, lightly holding my hand as I stepped out of them. On autopilot, I began to cower inwardly as he perused my naked body, my anxiety urging me to fold in on myself and shy away from his red-hot gaze.

“Don’t overthink this, Hannah. Eyes on me.” His voice was so deep and commanding that I involuntarily snapped my gaze back up to look at his face. I saw the wonder, and the hunger there. “You are beautiful. Every single last bit of you.”

Trying to dodge this comment and expel it from my brain, Little Miss Logical made an appearance, her tone prim and haughty. “I am naked and you are not.”

“That’s true. Would you be happier if I were?”

“Yes,” I choked out. “Fair’s fair, Teddy.”

With a nod he reached down for the waistband of his boxer shorts and quickly divested himself of them. He stood before me in all his glory, and he was a sight that made my mouth (and other parts) water. I’d never seen anyone as thoroughly breath-taking as him before, and certainly not naked. All previous lovers faded into insignificance, leaving me feeling like an inexperienced virgin all over again.

“My eyes are up here.” Teddy laughed, and for the second time in as many moments, I was forced to meet his gaze.

“You’re magnificent.” As the words escaped, I was already trying to suck them back into my mouth and unsay them. I wanted to try and hide behind my usual air of cool indifference and not let all this naïve honesty spew forth embarrassingly into the ether.

“Thank you.”

If I thought he would tease me about my stupid comment, I couldn’t have been more wrong. If anything, he looked pleased, and relieved. I was left stumped again to see this difference in the real Teddy, to see the inverse of his confident, slightly smug outward persona, knowing now that his overt alpha maleness was just a cover for his own insecurity. But here, now, vulnerable together, the vestiges of the façade had been stripped away, leaving his soul as naked as his body. And he really couldn’t have been any more magnificent to me.

Stepping forwards, he scooped me off the ground and carried me to the bedroom, peppering gentle kisses all over my face and neck until I was squirming and giggling, breathless in the face of his attack. Lowering me onto my back on the bed, he relinquished his hold, running hot fingers from my thighs to my knees. The pads of his thumbs drew small circles on the soft skin on the insides of my legs, applying an insistent pressure until I opened them for him, and he knelt at the edge of the bed.

“Teddy, you don’t?—

“I do. I have to, Hannah. I’ll die if I don’t taste you.”

Pressing my head back against the covers, I closed my eyes and stared at the reddened insides of my lids. My other senses now fully tuned into the warm breath and soft kisses that were decorating my inner thighs, to the glide of his palms, and to the tickle of his beard as he climbed and climbed. And when his hot mouth was on me, I nearly came apart on the spot, his talented lips and tongue flooding my body with sensations that were almost too much to comprehend. I threaded my fingers into his hair and rocked my hips in time, glancing down and meeting his gaze. There was a wicked glint in his eyes as his hands gripped my backside, his fingers digging in and upping the pressure until I couldn’t take any more and an orgasm hit like an explosion. My heart practically leapt out of my chest as my body convulsed, shaking with such intense pleasure that I could no longer work out which way was up.

Crawling up my trembling body, Teddy carried on kissing everywhere so that no part of my skin was left untouched by his lips. Meanwhile, I floated back down to earth, merely a tingling, boneless, weightless creature made entirely of stars and butterflies.

“Prettynice, huh?” Teddy whispered against my lips, kissing me with such fervent desire and need that my body was already gearing up for round two.

How does he do this?

“Oh yeah, that really wasnice,” I replied when he finally let me come up for air.

With a not-so-gentle push, he was on his back and I was on top, leaning down to the drawer in the bedside cabinet and reaching for a condom.

Sitting back up, the golden evening illuminated us both, leaving no shadows for me to hide in. My body was on display, my insecurities pushing to resurface. But there was luminosity in Teddy’s eyes, his hands were resting on my waist while his fingertips were drumming a quick-fire, impatient rhythm against my skin, his desire so obvious it drew me ever closer to him, bringing me back to this moment and out of my own head. I ran my hands up and down his chest and abdomen, following the ridges and furrows, tracing an old appendix scar that was still a little pink. I felt emboldened, allowing my hands to dip lower. “Now then, we should do somethingnicefor you too, right?”

“I only want you to do what you want to do,” he whispered.

“What I want is you. Now. Completely.”

I’d never been so sure of anything in my whole life.

“Me too.”

With a smile, I continued my journey south. I gripped both hands around him, encasing my fingers along the hot, hard length of him, before bowing my head and swirling my tongue around his tip, tasting and teasing him, before taking him into my mouth and watching with satisfaction as his eyes rolled up into his head, and he gripped the bedclothes as if his life depended on it.

“As fantastic as it is, Hannah, I don’t want to come in your mouth,” he rasped, gently pulling my head away after only a few moments, allowing me to sit back up and roll the condom on.

Teddy held me around the waist which helped me to balance as I slid down onto him, our bodies fitting together as if carved only for each other, as if hewn from the same piece of stone. The stretch and pull, the glide and heat, all of it was so right, so entirely needed, so perfect.

Why the hell had I put this off for so long?

---