With a low chuckle, he slipped one hand between them and rested his thumb alongside her clit. Not rubbing or circling the tender bud, just a tantalizing pressure against the edge.
Charlie mewled into his mouth and writhed in his hold, heart pounding and a fine sheen of sweat breaking out across her skin, fighting the urge to let go of the headboard and dig her fingers into his broad shoulders instead. He had her so close, just a few seconds of the right friction and she’d explode.
He continued to roll his hips against her in an almost lazy motion, his strokes growing a little harder each time. It took all her remaining control to keep her hands on the headboard.
She twisted her head to the side and opened her mouth to beg but then he moved his thumb, caressing just the right spot and the only sound that came out of her was a long, liquid moan of desperate bliss. This was so far beyond physical, the bond between them more intimate than anything she’d imagined.
Jamie was both tender and firm, maintaining complete control over her, demanding her surrender. His one hand stayed locked in her hair, his lips and tongue stroking hers while he drove into her in a smooth, steady rhythm, the thumb between her thighs making the pleasure burn like fire. The pressure grew and grew inside her until she was moaning and shaking, reaching for the orgasm that hovered so tantalizingly close.
“You’re mine, Charlotte.”
Nobody ever called her by her real name. She hated being called that. It was too girly.
And yet, from him in that dark, velvet voice so full of tender possessiveness…it sent her flying.
Blind with pleasure, overcome with emotion, she let go of the headboard and reached for him. Her grasping fingers dug deep into the bunching muscles in his shoulders as her orgasm hit.
Sharp, wild cries tore from her, her entire body bucking while he pinned her there and took her apart. The sweet waves went on and on until the touch between her thighs gently eased, leaving her to sag against the bed, panting, eyes closed.
And her heart was nothing but a puddle of mush nestled safely in his palms.
Jamie’s mouth found hers once more, stroking, licking, both hands now cradling her head. “God, I love you,” he whispered, still thick and hard inside her, each subtle shift of their bodies sending a glow of pleasure through her veins.
Her heart cracked wide open. “Love you too,” she whispered, terror and elation whipsawing through her. She’d never said those words to any man outside her family before. But she’d never meant them more, or in this way. He owned her, body and soul. “So much.”
Jamie’s entire body shuddered. Actually shuddered at her words.
They were everything he’d wanted, and more than he’d dared hope for at this stage. And the way she’d just surrendered herself to him, her unspoken trust in the gesture, was the most precious gift he’d ever been given.
Mine. She’s all mine.He would never let her walk away now. He’d do whatever it took to keep her.
Burying his face in the curve of her neck and shoulder, he nipped at her skin lightly, surging into her harder. The need for release was all-consuming, pounding at him because he was deep inside Charlie and she fucking owned him.
He pushed deeper yet, making low, guttural sounds of pleasure in the back of his throat that he had no control over whatsoever. Her muscles clenched around him, that tight squeeze increasing the friction and heat.
The best part was how Charlie cradled him to her, holding him as close as she could, moving into each thrust, her legs clamping around his hips. His heart pounded out of control, threatened to burst as the sensations sharpened. She tightened her inner muscles around his cock, hummed in pleasure when he sucked in a breath and moaned against her skin.
God.
Fisting handfuls of her hair, squeezing, he sought his own release, the pleasure sizzling up his spine. He pressed as close to her as he could get, tighter still, then plunged deep, his muscles cording as his groans of ecstasy echoed around the room, his face buried against her sweet-smelling skin.
He didn’t know how long he stayed there like that, buried to the hilt inside her, the frantic rhythm of his heart easing back to normal. She was still cradling him as though he was something precious she couldn’t bear to let go of. It gave him hope.
Cool air washed over his damp back. He was heavy, should probably roll off her, but he couldn’t summon the will to move. Being surrounded by her like this was pure heaven and he’d wanted it for so damn long.
But he wanted way more. Wanted everything she had to give, because he was ready to give her the same.
Her gentle fingers trailed over his shoulders, up the back of his neck to his head. She played with his hair for a few blissful minutes, then kissed his hot temple, turning his face to place tender butterfly kisses on each nick and bruise on his skin. “I was hoping it would be like that with you,” she murmured finally, a smile in her voice.
Jamie braced himself on his forearms and raised his head to stare down at her. The light coming from the hallway through the open door illuminated her face perfectly. Her deep, chocolate-brown eyes gazed up at him, soft with trust and satisfaction.
And love.
He felt twelve fucking feet tall.
She shifted, lifted her head to brush a kiss over his lips. “You told me there was another reason why you wanted all or nothing with me. What was it?”
Was she considering it then? She’d told him she loved him, but was she willing to give him all of herself? His heart beat faster. “I lost a good buddy I’d met back in boot camp. Between that and my mom’s diagnosis, I realized life’s too short to settle. I want something real, something that will last. And I want it with you.”