Page 69 of By the Letter

“This. Do you need this?” Twisting my hand, I slid a finger inside her—not deep, not hard—and curled it near her entrance, pressing up.

“Oh,” she cried. “Oh, Wim, please.”

I yanked her against me, giving her more of what made those sounds and words come from her. In return, she rewarded me with moans and sighs. My name, the one she’d first known me by, was a whisper into the air, a ghost of a thing, but I caught it, held it—held her while she shook. Her thighs quivered. Her inner walls fluttered. I opened my mouth over her throat to feel it when she came.

It was a gentle vibration on my tongue. Silky juices on my fingers. Shaking muscles beneath my palm. Shira came apart quietly, beautifully, but it wasn’t enough.

Taking her in my arms, I shifted us up the bed. She let me move her, bring her over my face, and she squeezed her eyes closed. Instinctually, I knew this wasn’t an easy position for her, but once I had her there, I couldn’t let her go.

Giving her no time to spiral into self-consciousness, I took her thighs in my hands, pulled her down to my mouth, and fastened my lips over her hot, swollen flesh. The taste of her…dear god, the taste of her. It was better than I remembered, and I remembered it being the sweetest thing I’d ever had.

She fell forward, holding the top of her padded headboard. Her head was turned to the side, not watching me as I pleasured her, allowing me to look up at her and take everything in. Pink, parted lips, furrowed brow, almost pained. Breasts spilling overthe top of her bra. The gentle swell of her abdomen and newly added roundness of her hips. All of her was intoxicating. If she had let me, I would have continued looking at her and looking at her.

But this wasn’t for me. My focus was on making her feel good. Wringing pleasure from her with my tongue while I caressed her hips and ass with my hands. Keeping her firmly planted on my mouth. Letting her know without words she was exactly where I wanted her.

When she came again, some of the screaming in my head tempered, but I was no less determined to keep giving to her. I went slower, dragging my tongue along her sensitive folds. She’d soaked my lips and chin, but I wanted more—for her sake and mine.

I shifted her again, positioning us so we were lying face to face. Shira curled into me, her head buried under my chin as I held her and plunged two fingers in and out of her. Her hips moved with me, rolling waves of sensuality.

“Wim,” she sighed, her lips brushing my shoulder, making me wish I was undressed so I could feel her skin on mine.

“Let me give you this. One more, Goldie.”

I kissed her face and hair as I held her and fucked her with my fingers. She was safe here, tucked in my arms. She was cared for, my lips all over her. She was never going to be hurt again in my presence.

Hot breath on my throat, fingertips digging into my arm, Shira gave me what I asked for, her inner walls clutching my fingers deep inside her. I kissed her face and rubbed my nose along her temple and hair until she calmed then slowly slipped my hand free.

Shira pulled her face away first, then her hand left my arm. With a heavy sigh, she rolled to her other side but stayed close, her body in the cove of mine. I gave her that. Though it wasn’tmy first choice, if she needed that little bit of space, she could have it.

We lay like that for a while, silent as Shira’s breathing returned to normal. Goosebumps pricked her skin, and I reached down to the bottom of the bed, grabbed the chenille blanket she had artfully arranged there, and pulled it over her shoulders.

Her fingers curled around the edges, and she twisted her neck to give me her profile. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” I grazed my finger over hers. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She chewed on her bottom lip for a beat before rushing out, “I wish you hadn’t heard that.”

“Kit’s speech? Why not?”

“I don’t like you feeling sorry for me.”

“That’s not how I’m feeling.”

“Then what are you doing in my bed, Roman?”

Pushing up on my elbow, I looked down at her. “If I’d heard that about a stranger, I’d have been upset. Hearing it about you…I’m devastated for the little girl who’d learned to be quiet. It kills me to think of what you must’ve gone through. But that’s not why I’m here with you now.”

“Then why?”

“I don’t know if it can be put into words. I thought I was waiting here to talk to you, to apologize all over again for being so unforgivably shitty, maybe give you a hug…then I saw you looking so damn pretty and vulnerable, and all I wanted to do was give you something good.” I smoothed her hair away from her face and lingered with a lock of it between my fingers.Like silk.“Are you okay with what just happened?”

Her nod was slight. Her mouth stayed silent. And I just had to trust she meant it and I hadn’t screwed up in a massive way yet again.

“I’ll give you that any time you need it, Shira. Will you ask me for it?”

She sucked in a breath, her shoulders bunching around her ears. Then she sighed. “Probably not.”

“You won’t ask?”

---