Page 62 of Beached Wedding

His hands hung at his sides, but his fists curled tight. His voice was strained. “Are you saying?—”

I fought to swallow and barely nodded, but it was enough to make him seem to expand inside his own skin, hardening to granite. He stepped into the water so he was right in front of me. The fierce light in his eyes made the embers of passion still in my belly flare hot.

I’d never felt so exposed in my life, but I met his searing gaze and let him read my guilty secret in my blush. The best orgasm of my life had come by my own hand with thoughts of him delivering it. Flutters of uncertainty struck my middle as I let that hover unspoken but acknowledged between them.

“Why would you tell me that?” His voice was almost scary, it was so gritty. It abraded and caressed at the same time.

“I thought—” I could hardly breathe, let alone talk. “I thought we were being honest.”

“Not that fucking honest!” His voice bounced off the rock wall above them. “Jesus, Ash.”

Then he clasped either side of my head and his mouth slammed down on mine so hard and thorough and powerful, I was nearly driven to the ground by the force of it.

My feet slid and I grasped at his forearms. He shot his arm around me, pulling me up against the solid strength of his body.

It should have felt abrupt or rough or objectifying, but it was what we had both been craving. His full lips became my everything, claiming mercilessly while giving up his entire soul to me at the same time. I tasted his wildness, his greed, but also his helplessness. His agony.

That’s what was in me. Yearning and selfishness and shadows of self-reproach that I pushed to the edges so I couldglory in the golden light. The taste of him. The feel of his warm sides and strong back beneath my splayed hands.

We melded into one another, bodies pressing, arms closing tight. Clinging. Transmitting to each other the fear we would be torn apart.

For a few minutes, it was only this, locked in a stolen kiss that neither of us should want, but neither wanted to end. It was sweet and lurid. Blatant and explicit and so rare, I wanted to hang onto it forever. He was hard and thick against my stomach. The ache that had kept me awake most of the night returned. I knew he felt exactly as I did,knew it, and it made the shared kiss all the more profound.

“Tell me to stop.” His breath wafted against my lips as he nipped at my jaw and took my earlobe in his teeth.

“I can’t.”

He sucked in a harsh breath as though I’d stabbed him. His head went back and he groaned his torment at the sky.

I was shaking and ran my trembling hands over his tensile strength, savoring every sensation, every texture and scent while a distant clock ticked in my head. I had never felt this way, as though the sky pressed down and the earth pressed up and the only escape was into his arms.

“I can’t...not want to touch you,” I breathed and claimed more. The cords at the base of his neck, the balls of his shoulders, the flex of his biceps and the meaty firmness of his twitching pecs all filled my greedy touch. He was so hard and wide and strong. Hot and fierce and tender as he smoothed his hand down my hair and pressed a kiss to my crown as he drew me in tighter and closer, sheltered and held prisoner.

Stopped.

“Ash...”

“I know, I know.” I trembled as he pressed me into this tiny space—this single moment.

But I wasn’t ready for it to be over. I offered my mouth.

With a vanquished groan, he covered my lips with fresh reverence. His fingers against my throat absorbed the vibration of my tortured moan while I drank and drank the sensation of him slaking his thirst for me.

We can’t, we can’t,that infernal voice warned in the back of my head. But when he drew me out of the water and backed himself against a mossy boulder and set his feet wide then drew me to sprawl half over him, I joyfully went. My breasts mashed flat against his chest and my hands found his hairy thighs beneath the edge of his shorts, stroking and making him hiss with pleasure.

His mouth was trailing down my neck now, light fingers sliding the strap of my dress off my shoulder and taking the strap of my bra with it. He claimed all of that real estate with soft wet bites of his mouth and an erotic dart of his tongue into the hollow beneath my ear and along the line of my collarbone.

I held my breath, skin shivering pleasantly while wires of tension drew electric and taut into my erogenous zones. My nipples tightened with anticipation. I hadn’t known something so small could cause so much havoc, making every inch of my skin feel too tight and ultra-sensitive. I melted more heavily against him, stomach taking the impression of his erection. When he tickled his fingertips against my spine, I arched and he groaned with pleasure.

I liked that noise. I wanted to make him do it again and ran my hands under his T-shirt. He picked up his arms and I followed the motion, blindly throwing his T-shirt to the ground, gaze pinned to his mouth.Come back, come back.

He slouched a little further down the rock and cradled my jaw in his big hand as he slanted his head and kissed me deeply. Like it was all we would ever have, but all we would ever need.

I tried to lift my arms to go around his neck and my bra strap cut across my arm. I whisked it down and pulled my arm free of it, then swept the other one away before I twined both arms behind his neck, loving the feel of my naked chest against his.

He kissed me once, brief and hard, then clamped one arm around me while he pushed off the rock with the other. He turned us. My feet caught and stumbled on the uneven rocks, but he held me securely and now my back was against the moss on the rock. He kept one arm behind me to cushion me against it while the other eased the front of my dress all the way to my waist.

I sucked in a breath at the sensation of cool air and the avid heat in his gaze, worshipful yet so visceral he didn’t even have to touch me to make wet heat rush heavily between my thighs. When he caressed with light fingers, gently shaping around the side of one breast, I trembled. He danced the backs of his fingers beneath the other and I bit my lip, knees going soft.

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