Page 41 of Storm's Embrace

So, he took his time learning the feel of her lips with hard presses mixed with soft passes of his lips over hers that had her whimpering into his mouth, while his hands made a slow exploration of her waist and hips. She filled his hands in the best way possible. And while none of this was enough, a deep satisfaction filled him knowing more would come when she was ready.

He would just need to be patient.

“Mmm…Eli,” Miriam mumbled against his lips as her hands pushed his jacket from his shoulders. He let go of her long enough to shrug out of it. Then he froze, his heart racing in anticipation as her fingers went to the buttons on his dress shirt.

“Miriam?”

“Eli.” She bit her lip and raised her gaze to his, the look of want filling their depths something he’d longed to see for…

Maybe longer than he’d realized.

His breath caught when her hands went beneath his shirt and moved over his needy flesh before going back to his buttons, while he delved in for another kiss. At least this time they shouldn’t be interrupted—thank god. When she had the last button undone and had his shirt shoved over his shoulders, he reluctantly parted from her mouth and worked his arms out of the sleeves and threw it in the floor before grabbing the ends of her top and lifting it up and over her head.

Soon, nothing but their heavy breaths filled the air as their hands stroked and lips and tongues tasted each bit of flesh they’d exposed. It was a mutual silence, broken only with Miriam’s gasp and little murmur of, “Oh, yes,” as he pressed her back into the couch while sucking the hard tip of one breast deep into the cavern of his mouth as he dropped her bra to the floor.

But then he let out his own gasp around her other breast as she palmed his painful cock through his pants. It was almost more than he could take. Then that certainty flew from his mind when the rasp of his zipper lowering filled his ears. Within seconds, a shudder of need ran through him when she gripped him through his boxers.

“I… I’m not going to last long if you keep that up,” he murmured over her flesh before giving her nipple a lick while his buckle and pants buckle came undone. “You little multitasker, you,” he chuckled before lifting his gaze to her heavy-lidded one. “But I refuse to make love to you for the first time on a couch.” He scooted up enough to take her lips in light kiss, then said low, “So, bedroom.”

Her teeth caught the side of her bottom lip, tempting him to soothe over the spot with his tongue, as she pointed over his head. So he hurriedly lifted away from her, then dragged her up from the couch by both arms until they were pressed chest to chest.

“I like how you feel,” she told him.

“I’d like to feel more,” he replied while pushing a hand under the bands of her leggings and panties to the soft hair inside—then deeper to the silky evidence of her arousal.

He grinned as her lids fluttered, but it quickly faded when Miriam’s hand delved inside his boxers and wrapped around him.

“Bedroom. Now,” he croaked when she ran her hand up and down his length.

Then while he held her unwavering gaze as they mutually dropped their hands from each other and finished undressing. A blush spread over her body as he stepped into her soft curves before he lifted her in his arms.

“Eli. You—“

He cut off her complaint with another kiss before turning and carrying her down a short hallway off the main room to Miriam’s feminine but practical bedroom with a queen-sized, white, wrought iron bed taking up most of the space. He laid her out on the soft comforter and came down beside her. This was better. He needed time—time he felt he had wasted.

So that’s what he did.

He roamed over her body—making her his—as he savored every inch of pebbling and blushing skin, every slight gasp or shuddering moan as he touched and tasted.

Then finally—when he had Miriam to the point she had begun to beg, he slid between the welcoming cradle of her thighs.

“Not that I’m complaining,” she groused on a low pant as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “But it’s about time.”

He grinned as he took her mouth in another eating kiss while his hips trembled to keep from taking her. Taking the pleasure he had from mercilessly teasing her had also managed to bring his own body to the point he almost couldn’t wait. And now that he wasthisclose, it didn’t help how her own restless movements were making things doubly hard. No pun intended.

But he had to say one thing before making her his. He lifted his mouth from hers and tenderly brushed her hair back from her flushed cheeks, while doing his best to ignore her wet heat rubbing against him.

“I love you, Miriam,” he said as his hard flesh prodded against her waiting softness. She gasped and pushed against him enough he entered her ever so slightly. He needed to say more, so he pulled back and grinned at her slight groan before giving her another soft kiss, saying against her lips, “I love you more than I thought I’d ever be able to love again.” He lifted his face and held her misty gaze. “I know it seems sudden, but—“

“I love you too,” she whispered, one hand cupping his cheek. He rubbed his face against her palm as that part of his body needing to find relief slid into her. “So much,” she said on a shuddering sigh as she tangled her legs with his.

And then for the first time in eight years, Eli felt complete. He closed his eyes and held himself still inside of her while the sense of finding home flooded over him.

“Eli?” He opened his eyes at Miriam’s whisper, the look of love shining up at him urging him to move. He loved her slowly, savoring the drag of her core over his cock with each thrust and withdrawal. She shivered against him as their bodies found a rhythm, while her little gasps and murmured words of love mixed with his own chased the last bit of pain left in his heart.

Soon she was grasping at his back and falling apart beneath him, her cries of pleasure sending him into his own release. After several long moments, he reluctantly parted from her body, and then pulled her unresisting form into his side where he could wrap his arms around her. He smiled when she snuggled into him and kissed his chest before laying her head on him.

This was not where Eli thought he’d be all those hours ago when he’d believed he’d lost Miriam. Now, there was no other place he’d rather be. They—

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